We’re Coming Out Of A No Rules Era

Abstract

"Penn Johnson, 62, says he sold his house in affluent Fairfield County, Conn., last year and started renting. He owned a home there for 32 years before downsizing. For sellers, it marks the end of the 'name your price' era. Johnson, who works in residential lending, said more sellers are accepting offers below their asking price. '[Sellers] felt like they had a lot of market power, and I think that market power went away as the market became more balanced,' he said." The American Statesman in Texas. "Real estate agents have been saying the Central Texas market has been showing signs of slowing from its previously scorching level, and the latest home-sales figures from the Austin Board of Realtors for June supported that. The survey says the median list price of homes on the market in Austin is $620,000, and the percentage of listings with price reductions is 32.4%. 'Homebuyers looking to make a move in once-unaffordable cities, like Austin, may finally have the upper hand,' Realtor.com said." From 12 News in Arizona. "Opendoor Technologies Inc. agreed to pay $62 million to the Federal Trade Commission to settle allegations that it misled potential home sellers in its marketing campaigns. The commission alleged that Opendoor tricked customers by promising they could make more money by selling to the company than they would on the open market, according to a statement. 'Opendoor promised to revolutionize the real estate market but built its business using old-fashioned deception about how much consumers could earn from selling their homes on the platform,' Samuel Levine, director of the FTC's bureau of consumer protection, said in the statement." The Silicon Valley Business Journal. "Debra Winger has put the uptown home she shares with her husband back on the market following a price drop and a broker swap.Her two-bedroom, two-bath co-op is in a grand Beaux-Arts building at 300 W. 109th St.It's now asking $1.49 million - down from its $1.77 million ask last November, further down from its $1.95 million ask in 2019. The couple bought it for $1.85 million in 2015." The Nevada Current. "'I have one seller who is not lowering their price because I think they haven't come to terms with where the market is heading right now,' says Dawn Houlf, a longtime Las Vegas real estate agent. Another would-be seller waited on the sidelines, attempting to time the peak of the market. If you're getting no showings and no offers, then you're roughly 10% overpriced,' Varney says of the rules for a normal market.