People do crazy things, right?
I mean, I just started watching the fifth season of “You” on Netflix even though that show totally sucks, and I said I wouldn’t watch the fourth season after I hated the third season.
Don’t tell me how it ends.
But also, don’t tell me that the ending sucks, since this is one area in which I can read the future…
I was talking to a team member yesterday about all the “fires” that arise regularly in our business and how, despite not being able to foresee these fires, we can identify a common thread as to the origin.
People.
I’ve always remarked, “people are the largest variable in our industry,” and they are both the cause of and often the solution to many of the problems that arise. Buyers, sellers, agents, brokers, home inspectors, contractors, mortgage brokers, friends, family, colleagues, you name it. People have a huge impact on everything that goes on in real estate, and because everybody is different, you simply can’t control nor can you plan for every outcome.
People do crazy things.
When it comes to the market out there today, this is especially true.
But what about the market today and yesterday? More specifically, what about the market over the last three years?
What if I told you that there was a listing that has been for sale for three full years and it hasn’t sold?
What would you say is the reason?
Is it the market?
Is it the house?
Is it the location?
Nope. None of the above.
Let me go through the listing history for a west-side Toronto home that has literally been up for sale for three years, and we’ll look at all the different prices, “strategies,” and decisions therein…
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Listing #1: March 25th, 2022
$1,429,999
I know you see the $1,880,000 figure in the picture above, but the listing always shows the most recent price.
The property was first listed for $1,429,999, but of course, with an “offer date.”
But that offer date didn’t bear fruit, so the price was increased by a mere $450,000 to $1,880,000.
In total, the property remained on the market for 33 days.
The listing was terminated.
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Listing #2: April 27th, 2022
$1,199,000
After terminating at $1,880,000, the property was re-lsited for a mere $1,199,000 and without an offer date.
No offer date? Really?
As in – they’ll gladly accept the list price of $1,199,000?
No, of course not!
It was simply listed $600,000+ below what the sellers wanted, with no scheduled offer date.
Totally normal, right?
This listing was terminated after only 9 days on the market.
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Listing #3: May 6th, 2022
$1,199,000
Wait…..what?
Deju-vu?
Nope.
Just another listing for $1,199,000, even though the sellers clearly wanted something in the $1,800,000 range.
I suppose they eventually realized that this isn’t how the market worked, since the listing was terminated after only 14 days.
It’s about 13 days longer than was necessary…
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Listing #4: May 26th, 2022
$1,349,000
Here’s where the second listing brokerage came into play.
New listing, new price!
New strategy!
Listing at $1,349,000 with an offer date, but alas, the offer date didn’t produce a sale.
So then, increase the price to $1,800,000 again?
Nope!
They left the listing up for sale at $1,349,000, which was their “under-listed” price that accompanied the offer date, for a whopping 42 days.
Then…
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Listing #5: July 7th, 2022
$1,600,000
This kinda makes sense, right?
They initially wanted $1,800,000, based on the high list price of $1,880,000, but now they’re down to $1,600,000.
It just took them several listings and several failed offer dates to get here.
And they left the previous listing up at $1,349,000 for 42 days for some reason.
So they’re on the right track. Right?
Unfortunately, this listing didn’t produce a sale, and the listing was terminated after 26 days.
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Listing #6: August 3rd, 2022
$1,449,000
Here’s where things get impossible for the seller.
Listing at $1,449,000, down from $1,600,000, up from $1,349,000 – with an offer date, and up from $1,199,000.
The market and its participants are completely and utterly confused by this point, and there’s simply no way to know what this seller wants.
Think about it:
The seller was listed for $1,199,000 without an offer date, but wanted $1,800,000.
Then, the seller was listed for $1,349,000 without an offer date, wanting something in the $1,600,000 range.
Then, the seller was at $1,600,000.
Now, the seller is at $1,449,000.
I would think much, if not most of the buyer pool would think this is another “boy who cried wolf,” and nobody is really going to think this house is available for sale for $1,449,000 or less.
The seller completely shot him or herself in the foot by this point, but usually, seller knows best.
The listing was terminated after 12 days.
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Listing #7: September 26th, 2022
$1,190,000
New listing brokerage!
New fall market!
New strategy?
Nope!
They listed for $1,190,000, with an offer date, and that didn’t work so they increased the price to $1,498,000.
They couldn’t sell in August for $1,449,000, so why not try it at $1,498,000 in October, right?
May I remind you what happened in the spring of 2022? The market began its descent.
While these sellers are following the market down, they’ve for some reason raised the price in a market that was cooling.
The listing was terminated after 61 days.
–
Listing #8: March 29th, 2023
$1,788,000
“Don’t call it a comeback,” said LL Cool J.
Although he most certainly wasn’t talking about the market in March of 2023, as there was absolutely, positively, no reason to increase the asking price of this house by nearly $300,000.
The market did not increase by 19.4%, so I don’t quite know what the sellers were thinking here.
But this was now the fourth listing brokerage!
New contestant to the game, and this one is located even further away from the property, so perhaps he or she knows what all the local agents don’t? Maybe there’s a reason for the $290,000 price increase?
Nah.
The property sat on the market for 56 days.
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Listing #9: June 2nd, 2023
$1,488,000
Question:
If I took a fresh piece of Bubalicious out of the pack, out of the wrapper, and then chewed it for seven straight hours, then I put the gum back in the wrapper, do you think you’d be able to tell that it’s been chewed?
That’s how I feel about houses that are listed for a certain price, then under-listed at a “new” price, along with an offer date.
We’ve discussed this on TRB many times.
I liken it to a doctor prescribing a drug and then telling you explicitly, “This is a placebo.”
Yes, this property was listed for $1,788,000, then re-listed for $1,488,888 with an offer date.
The offer date didn’t work.
The property sat on the market at the under-list price for weeks before the listing was terminated after a total of 27 days on the market.
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Listing #9: July 4th, 2023
$1,728,888
There’s not much to write home about here, folks.
Except for that “3 + 0” bedroom situation happening, which I really don’t undertand.
Are they trying to point out that there’s no basement bedroom?
In any event, this “massive” price reduction from $1,788,888 to $1,728,888 SHOCKINGLY didn’t produce a sale.
The listing was terminated after 38 days.
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Listing #10: February 13th, 2024
$2,000,000
I know what you’re thinking: David must be really tired. He made a typo.
But that’s not a typo, folks.
In February of 2024, after listing ten times previously, these folks decided to increase the list price from $1,728,888 to a whopping $2,000,000.
Can we just back up for a moment?
Remember when the house was listed for $1,600,000 in July of 2022?
It didn’t sell.
Then the price was raised to $1,788,000 in March of 2023.
It didn’t sell.
Now, here we were in 2024 and the price was raised again to $2,000,000.
But all the while, the market was declining from 2022 to 2023 and remaining balanced from 2023 to 2024.
None of this made any sense!
This was a new listing brokerage, by the way. The fifth, if you’re counting.
If you thought the fourth listing brokerage bought the listing, then I don’t know what to say about these folks…
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Listing #12: February 22nd, 2024
$1,288,000
This might be one of the top-3 oddest decisions in the course of this entire journey.
After listing for a ridiculous $2,000,000, the sellers re-listed for $1,288,000, with an offer date.
Again, the chewed gum, the placebo, you know my analogy.
But who in their right mind thinks this is going to work?
Picture this buyer:
“Gee, I saw this house listed for $2,000,000 and I can’t afford that. I can only afford $1,500,000. BUT WAIT! It’s now listed for $1,288,000. I think I’ll make an offer, and if I’m in competition, thankfully I can bid up to $1,500,000. Except, wait, now I’m really excited, it’s offer night, there are pretty girls with pom-poms and we’re all hepped up on goofballs, so now I think I’ll bid $1,750,612, because my wife and I got married on June 12th. I hope I win!”
Nuh-uh.
Not going to happen.
After the failed offer date, the price was raised to $1,788,000 and the listing was terminated after 99 days on the market.
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Listing #13: October 10th, 2024
$1,860,000
New listing brokerage!
The sixth!
Also, a sharp new price: $1,860,000, which is higher than the previous price at which they sat for 99 days.
Does that make any sense to you? No? Just checking.
Also, the listing also features “3 + 3” bedrooms, which means three basement bedrooms magically appeared.
Cool.
SHOCKINGLY……….the property sat for 154 days before the listing was terminated.
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Listing #14: March 31st, 2025
$1,638,000
New year, new listing brokerage!
The seventh.
That’s my lucky number!
But alas, the property didn’t sell, even though it was priced at a “mere” $1,638,000.
The listing was suspended a couple of weeks ago.
–
This is one for the books, folks!
I know I’ve run this feature before on several different houses.
I know we’ve seen properties listed more times, or with more offer dates.
But I don’t recall a house that was listed off-and-on for three years!
And the worst part is: they started this in March of 2022, which was literally the peak of a twenty-year bull market cycle!
Sure, I have the benefit of hindsight now, but imagine them not selling for $1,600,000 in 2022 and then trying $2,000,000 in 2024?
What do you think the buyer pool makes of this?
Who among the buyer pool has any interest in a house that’s been listed fourteen times, by seven brokerages, with six or seven offer dates, and multiple listing prices that were nowhere near what the seller would actually accept?
I would imagine the buyer pool has completely tuned this listing out.
Any agent or buyer looking at this property says, “Yeah, well, that house isn’t really for sale. Who knows what they want, or if they’ll sell.”
And can you blame them?
I am continually amazed by the decisions of some sellers out there.
But something tells me it won’t be more than a few months before I find another listing just like this one…
