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BayGBM:
Q: Several years ago, at the height of the housing bubble, I sold my home for a price that, at the time, I felt was probably $10,000 or $15,000 too high. Although I felt slightly guilty, I also knew that the buyers were highly educated people and that they had the wherewithal to consult the same publicly available information about the local housing market that I did.

What were my ethical responsibilities to this couple? From the point of view of the deal as a business transaction, I fulfilled my obligation to disclose everything I knew. But it seems to me that a more rigorous ethical position would hold that if I believed they were doing something that wasn’t in their best interests, I should have spoken up. NAME WITHHELD, BLOOMINGTON, IND.


A: You have an unusually strong ethical compass — and no future in real estate.

Your desire to negotiate on behalf of your buyers’ interests as well as yours is admirable but misplaced, because your view of their interests will never be identical to their own. They might value the house more highly than others because it’s across the street from their office. Or because it was available at the moment they urgently needed to move in. Or because they believed the next buyer would pay still more than they did.

It is not your obligation to help them assess those priorities as they settle on the true price of the house; in fact, it is literally none of your business. (In any case, the only true price of the house is the one both parties arrive at together.)

Representing your home honestly and transparently is not, then, the least you can do; it is the most you can do. The risks of the real estate market — some foreseeable, some not — are more than any individual seller can possibly bear responsibility for. But if everyone in the real estate market had shown your commitment to disclosure, there might not have been a bubble in the first place.

biggerthanuandu:
Most awesome! The view must be nice. Would like to see that.

--- Quote from: BayGBM on April 03, 2011, 07:17:12 PM ---Diamond St. in San Francisco

A friend of mine recently moved to the city and I toured him around to look at neighborhoods and real estate today.  Eventually, we came across this new home—which I have driven by several times—and decided to have a look.  What do you think? 

http://www.1636diamond.com/main.html
http://homesite.obeo.com/viewer/default.aspx?tourid=627911&refurl=www.1636diamond.com
http://www.1636diamond.com/propertybrochure.pdf

At 4000 square feet and vertical living (remember this is the city) it is more room than I would want, and the decorations were not to my taste, but heated floors in the bathrooms, the elevator, outdoor decks, and city views were pretty impressive.   8)

In case, you are wondering the vacant lot next door will likely be sold to the buyer of this house to either keep as a garden or to develop the property.  The asking price started at $2.4 but has since falled to $2.299

--- End quote ---

BayGBM:

--- Quote from: BayGBM on April 03, 2011, 07:17:12 PM ---Diamond St. in San Francisco

A friend of mine recently moved to the city and I toured him around to look at neighborhoods and real estate today.  Eventually, we came across this new home—which I have driven by several times—and decided to have a look.  What do you think?  

http://www.1636diamond.com/main.html
http://homesite.obeo.com/viewer/default.aspx?tourid=627911&refurl=www.1636diamond.com
http://www.1636diamond.com/propertybrochure.pdf

At 4000 square feet and vertical living (remember this is the city) it is more room than I would want, and the decorations were not to my taste, but heated floors in the bathrooms, the elevator, outdoor decks, and city views were pretty impressive.   8)

In case, you are wondering the vacant lot next door will likely be sold to the buyer of this house to either keep as a garden or to develop the property.  The asking price started at $2.4 but has since falled to $2.299

--- End quote ---

Remember this house?  The asking price has fallen to $1.9.  Zillow values it at $1.7

YoungBlood:

I can't see myself living in that. I personally find it ugly.

I also know the city, and that street pretty well, and while not familiar with the exact house, I can probably see it as fitting right in with the rest of the places there.

And given the street, I'm sure you're right near the part of the city your most welcome in. :P

BayGBM:
Remember when the builder tried to sell this new house on Diamond Street for $2.4 million?  The market was declining and it was eventually valued at as low as $1.7 million.  Well, the house is now valued at $3.7 million!  What a difference a few years can make!  :o

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