Posted by Hugh James on February 01, 2000 at 15:44:09:
My experience is that they are like everyone else, the longer they’ve had it the better you look. Here in Chicago if they are in any shape at all and not in a war zone, I find they can go quickly. They had a frame 2 flat here a couple of weeks ago in a decent but not great area. Needed maybe $20K in repairs to make it pretty. They were asking $100K and after repaired appraisal would have been around $140-$150K. The first day they were accepting bids the listing agent told me she had 15 offers already on the table. Three agents showed the house while we were there. It was gone by the next morning. The agent would only tell me it was above their asking price.
I’d check the market time and then start writing. I don’t know if they counter. As they say, “It’s not personal, it’s just No.” And you might get a “Yes.”