Co-op of the Day: 63 Cranberry Street, Parlor Floor
What a difference a financial crisis makes! This floor-through two-bedroom at 63 Cranberry Street in Brooklyn Heights started its listing life less than three weeks ago at an asking price of $1,250,000. Last week that number was cut to $1,150,000 and this week it got another chop down to $1,050,000. Given that it has only…
What a difference a financial crisis makes! This floor-through two-bedroom at 63 Cranberry Street in Brooklyn Heights started its listing life less than three weeks ago at an asking price of $1,250,000. Last week that number was cut to $1,150,000 and this week it got another chop down to $1,050,000. Given that it has only 900 square feet of interior space, the second bedroom is tiny and the kitchen is not dressed to impress, it had no business at its original asking price. It does have location on its side, as well as a 400-square-foot garden. Our favorite room in the house is this dining room, whose beautiful, large windows give it a nice old-school vibe; the living room could probably benefit from a little styling for the purposes of listing.
63 Cranberry Street [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
I happen to have a friend who is a Corcoran broker and what I learned from her is that Corcoran is basically a bunch of totally separate independent contractors who mainly share a very potent website, and name on their business cards. In other words, each of those brokers basically runs their own business, and as a result there can be huge variation between Corcoran brokers. In fact, when we sold, we interviewed different Corcoran brokers (as well as brokers from other firms) and found that even with Corcoran, there were big differences between them re: pricing philosophy. That said, I agree that most of the brokers who happen to work for Corcoran tend to overprice (such as the broker who overpriced this apt), perhaps because they know they have such great marketing potential and reach. But it does not mean there aren’t some good apples at Corcoran. In this market, it is important to choose a great broker given how much harder it is to sell!
cwb–that is exactly my point. Thanks for backing me up.
I don’t think owners should have to be obsessed with real estate, but they should be expected to do a little basic research and see what similar properties are going for in their neighborhood.
Expecting the broker to do all the legwork is fine, I guess, but you should be prepared for an inflated price since obviously the more the house sells for, the more the broker makes, and they don’t necessarily have that much incentive to sell a property quickly.
OK–maybe ridiculous was too strong a word, but leaving that very important decision in the hands of the broker entirely is (if not ridiculous) irresponsible. You don’t have to be obsessed with real estate to spend an hour familiarizing yourself about comps in your neighborhood. But I don’t mean to make too big a point of this. Clearly this apt is priced in a foolish manner and oftentimes Corcoran properties are priced unnecessarily high. Having had a very successful sales process with them (just last month–not the easiest time to sell as we know) where I told them what I wanted to list it at, I know that it is easy to just blame Corcoran without the seller taking some responsibility.
I dont’ think it is ridiculous – part of the responsibility of the broker is inform seller of what a reasonable asking price is. They are the ones who are supposed to know what it will take to get the job done. Not everyone is obsessed with real estate and knows what the market will bear.
Putting the pricing all on the broker is ridiculous. A seller needs to know what the market will bear and ask the broker to price it appropriately.
Corocoran overpriced it from the get go? Tell me it isn’t true.
gkw–your friends clearly did not take the situation as forcefully in hand as they should have. Nobody can make you put any particular asking price on a property. Knowing what you want to get and whether or not this is a reasonable amount in any given market is essential to the sales process. You can’t just let the broker determine the ask.
I amazed how out of touch this broker/seller is. I spent 6 months apartment searching in BH this spring so have a decent feel for the market (and if anything it’s worse now). I’d expect this listing to start at $1m and probably drop from there. Anyone in the market for a $1.25m apartment in BH is going to have much better options. And people looking for the size/type of place are going to ignore it because of the price. She must not want to move any time soon.