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September 16, 2009

Unrealistic Sellers Withdraw from the Market

27th

When I first reported on 141 27th Street in Noe Valley earlier this year, work was underway on this major fixer located behind my home. It had been purchased in the pre-stock market crash haze of August 2008 for $950,000 (list price was $637,500) by a group that planned to renovate and flip.

The renovations were surprisingly limited to working within the envelope of the building, with no vertical or horizontal additions. I was a bit skeptical that a finished product would result in the $950,000 purchase price making sense.

Indeed, after 116 days on the market at $1,595,000, the sellers of this 3BR/3BA property decided to withdraw the property in mid August.

I think the summer was the time to separate the realistic from the unrealistic. Indeed, there were 209 single-family homes, 476 condos/TICs, and 80 two- to four-unit buildings withdrawn from June through mid September. That’s a lot of properties.

I’m betting we’ll see less withdrawn and more sold properties this Fall, if only because sellers will hopefully learn from others’ misfires.

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