Housing Market Update: Lower Merion, Narberth, Delco April 2012



R5Realty Brought Buyers to Lovely 700 Georges Ln. for $325.000

  When this handsomely remodeled Tudor in S. Ardmore (Delco) appeared on market last month at $325,000, R5Realty Buyers were alerted and an offer successfully negotiated within 24 hours. As full-time agents focused on the Lower Merion, Haverford, Radnor and Philly Family markets, we know a win-win deal when we see one. In this case, this redone single was listed at $345,000 last year then Re-Listed this March for $20k less, with new Central Air!

Street Address	Town	Sold For	Bed	Bath	Sq Ft	List Price
78 Greenfield Ave	Ardmore	$289,900	4	2	1,556	$289,900
103 Linwood Ave	Ardmore	$625,000	7	3.1	4,012	$719,900
2529 Chestnut Ave	Ardmore Pk	$220,000	4	1.2	1,648	$229,900
2225 Avon Rd	Ardmore Pk	$230,000	3	2	1,218	$249,900
835 Cricket Ave	Ardmore Pk	$365,000	4	2.1	1,776	$375,000
34 Aberdale Rd	Bala Cynwyd	$460,000	6	2.1	3,399	$479,000
620 Cambridge Rd	Bala Cynwyd	$900,000	4	3.2	4,162	$925,000
27 Bala Ave	BalaCynwyd	$234,900	6	2.1	3,010	$234,900
325 Pembroke Rd	BalaCynwyd	$395,000	6	2	2,603	$375,000
129 Maple Ave	BelmontHills	$215,000	3	1	1,088	$239,900
3 Arthur Rd	Bryn Mawr	$400,000	3	2.2	2,275	$439,900
525 Fox Run Ln	Bryn Mawr	$840,000	4	3.1	3,924	$899,000
751 County Line Rd	BrynMawr	$145,000	3	1.1	1,185	$169,900
1220 Arwyn Ln	Gladwyne	$685,000	4	3	2,805	$669,000
1007 Black Rock	Gladwyne	$700,000	5	5.1	4,593	$700,000
534 New Gulph Rd	Haverford	$634,200	4	2.1	2,864	$659,000
225 Rose Ln	Haverford	$945,000	5	3.1	3,670	$965,000
1744 Earlington Rd	Havertown	$210,000	3	2.1	1,697	$229,900
1609 Colony Ln	Havertown	$213,500	3	1	1,350	$229,900
300 Edgehill Dr	Havertown	$228,000	3	1.1	1,780	$239,900
1715 Tyson Rd	Havertown	$235,000	3	1.1	1,478	$235,000
308 Brentwood Rd	Havertown	$255,000	3	2	1,488	$274,500
1807 Earlington Rd	Havertown	$290,000	3	2.1	1,873	$299,000
1011 Weller Ave	Havertown	$318,500	4	2	1,990	$330,000
246 Lenox Rd	Havertown	$337,000	3	2	1,977	$339,000
2723 Woodleigh Rd	Havertown	$366,000	4	2	1,736	$364,900
37 E Benedict Ave	Havertown	$475,000	5	4.1	3,150	$489,900
320 Winding Way	MerionStation	$610,000	4	4	2,724	$639,000
322 Woodbine Ave	Narberth	$145,000	3	1	1,304	$170,000
255 Iona Ave	Narberth	$205,000	3	2	1,475	$229,000
308 Iona Ave	Narberth	$205,000	3	1	984	$210,000
17 Shirley Rd	Narberth	$377,000	4	2	1,507	$409,000
71 Wynnedale Rd	Narberth	$525,000	5	1.1	2,074	$539,000
232 Stacey Rd	Narberth	$530,000	5	4	4,174	$495,000
120 Chestnut Ave	Narberth	$560,000	4	2.1	2,401	$569,000
511 Dudley Ave	Narberth	$625,000	5	2.1	3,020	$675,000
426 Brookhurst Ave	PennValley	$349,000	2	1.1	1,320	$348,900
631 Righters Mill Rd	PennValley	$454,000	3	2.1	1456	$499,000
515 Fairview Rd	PennValley	$605,000	3	3.1	2,535	$699,000
926 Conestoga Rd	Rosemont	$205,000	3	1	1,552	$229,000
136 Eachus Ave	Rosemont	$216,500	3	1	1,184	$220,000
6 Braxton Rd	Rosemont	$490,500	4	2.1	1,846	$485,000
407 Barclay Rd	Rosemont	$575,000	4	2.1	2,488	$579,000
700 Georges Ln	S. Ardmore	$325,000	3	1.5	1,618	$325,000
128 Golfview Rd	S. Ardmore	$610,000	4	2.1	3,514	$610,000
2050 Old Gulph Rd	Villanova	$635,000	4	3.1	3,525	$650,000
2044 Old Gulph	Villanova	$814,000	5	4.1	5,836	$899,000
19 Fariston Rd	Wayne	$620,000	4	2.1	2,450	$649,000
1468 Hampstead	Wynnewood	$280,000	3	1.1	1,624	$279,900
511 Ballytore Rd	Wynnewood	$650,000	5	4.2	4,304	$689,000
223 Old Gulph Rd	Wynnewood	$655,000	5	3.1	3,920	$675,000
230 W IndianCreek	Wynnewood	$707,500	5	4.1	3,604	$745,000
221 Cherry Ln	Wynnewood	$762,500	5	3.2	3,961	$895,000



Power Selling Spring 2012: Wynnewood Sellers Offer a Great Deal and Get a Good One in Return

Haverford Rd./ Wynnewood: Full-Price Offer Before Sunset.

Before sunset on the first day of showings, this 4-bed, 2.5 bath contemporary home had already attracted a full-price offer. And that's where things got even more interesting for the Sellers. By the end of the week, two more offers were received, with the Winning bid at more than $10,000 over asking price and the back-up offer $5000 above asking price.

Fortunately for Sellers - who agreed, in principle, to accept that first, full-price offer of $329,000 - those Buyers chose to have protracted negotiations over minor lender and settlement conditions. It's understandable these Buyers and their agent thought they had leverage to steamroll the Seller's concerns about parts of the deal ancillary to price. In a Buyer's Market, such as we have today, one might expect a Buyer making a full-price offer to have his whims indulged by a starry-eyed seller.
Not necessarily the case.

Sellers, in this instance, had a well-thought-out and months-in-the-works Goal to sell and buy a downsizer before the autumn of 2012. Sellers knew that to effectively sell a home on a busy street such as Haverford Rd., they would have to make the house look great and price it aggressively. Throughout fall and winter of 2011, Sellers got painting and other handyman jobs completed so they were able to hit the market in early March, just ahead of our peak home-selling season.

Sellers' list price of $329,000 was nearly 10 percent less than they paid during last decade's apex of the housing hysteria. Not ideal, for sure, but Immensely Practical. Careful review of recent sales, current listings, and others' failed attempts to sell made it crystal clear to Sellers that listing at what they paid in 2006 would be anathema to the sell-and-downsize gambit. So many sellers are understandably either unable to financially posit or even entertain the notion of getting less than they paid 5-7 years ago. But the numbers don't lie. With few exceptions, houses are bought, sold, valued and appraised based on the amounts paid for recent comparable properties. It is what it is, and if the numbers don't look good enough, figure out a way to hunker down for another 5 years when conditions might improve.

In this case, my Sellers had to make the downsize happen in the 2012 market. Rather than overpricing and pining for bids-  like the other half-dozen similar houses-for-sale  in the neighborhood - these sellers chose to work from a Position of Power. Seems counter-intuitive that a lower list price can bring increased power, but it's frequently the case. When the house hit the market looking great and at a somewhat sub-market price, the Buyers circled like sharks at a submerged slaughterhouse. Yowsa.

When the full-price offer came in hours after showings commenced, Seller was gratified but somewhat underwhelmed by the buyer's out-of-state, no-money-down lender (see 'R5Realty News & Notes' March posting: Sellers Beware Thy Buyers Lender).  Nothing can destroy a seller's dreams like a lender with no significant interest in seeing that the transaction executes seamlessly. For days, the Buyers cajoled and prodded to the Seller to accept their Midwestern lender and loan product. The Buyers even balked at providing a back-up lender who could step in if their preferred "unknown quantity"  lender failed to perform in timely fashion.

Why the big deal about the Lender? When your goal is to sell in the peak of housing season so you can then go out and drive a good deal on your downsize, a Lender who overpromises and doesn't deliver can completely destroy a well-conceived Sell and ReBuy plan.

Longstory short, while Sellers continued to lobby for their Ohio lender and resisted inexpensive think-outside-the box alternatives, another buyer jumped in offering in excess of $10,000 more, and  with no fuss regarding minutiae. The original Buyers were aghast when informed they had been blown out of the water by a party who saw Value dangling on a stick and swooped in to snatch it. Within a day after the new 10k-plus, Local Lender deal was signed, a backup offer for 6k over list came in as well.

What's to be learned? Aggressive prices - even in a buyer's market - can be an effective strategy to sell fast and still get a good number, as multiple parties bid up the price. Buyers know its a Buyers Market and are hungry for good values. A good deal is a good deal,  and if Buyers  can get a deal paying list price or above, it's a lot less hassle and stress than a Buyer having to lowball and convince a seller his house is worth less.

Some folks call the strategy of Pricing slightly under market value, "Power Selling".  It's Power Selling because rather than passively hoping someone approaches your above-market price or ventures into an unsavory price-cutting negotiation, now you have a feeding frenzy and You are holding the fish (so to speak).  Even in a Buyer's Market, feeding frenzies happen. I've seen it multiple times in the spring of 2012 and in each case, it's nice to see Sellers sharing in the position of power for a change.