The Reality Check

Hi Scott,

I’m in trouble. I am 33 with three young kids, and waiting for my divorce. The thing that is holding it up is our family home, which has been on the market for eight months. My kids and I moved out six months ago to live with my parents in Brisbane, so it is sitting vacant. We took advice from our first real estate agent, who said that we could get $720,000. He was hopeless. After five months we did not get one offer!The new agent started out all happy and confident. He convinced us to list it for $670,000. So far the only offer has been $570,000! We have a $660,000 mortgage ‒ I cannot leave with debt. This week he suddenly changed his tune and is now saying the property is at risk of going ‘stale’ and we need to drop our price. I am sick to the back teeth of real estate agents! What can I do?

Fiona

Hi Fiona,

A divorce doesn’t happen overnight, right?

It can take years of bulldust, blaming and baggage before you finally admit to each other that it’s over ‒ and make the decision to move on with your life.It’s the same situation with your home: it’s time to break up … with your price.

It’s been on the market for eight months with two different agents, and the only offer you’ve received is 20% below your original price. That’s the (real estate) universe telling you that your price is too high. Buyers don’t give a toss what the house has cost you, only how it compares with other properties on the market.

So what should you do?Focus on the things you can control.

Your real estate agent’s job isn’t to dig you out of your financial hole.

His job is to go out and find you the very best price in the current market.

Your job (and your ex-husband’s) is to decide what to do next.Houses aren’t like bread: they don’t go stale. However, it is true that, if a home sits on the market for months, buyers may start to think there’s something wrong with the property, or something wrong with the vendors.

And they’ll lower their offers accordingly.

Sitting around waiting to break even sounds like it’s already broken you.It’s time to act.

Scott