Real Estate: Property Listings

Look for stale real estate listings

These are real estate listings which have been around for a long time without the property selling. If a property hasn't been listed long, the vendor is not likely to be interested in selling for a lower price. However, if the property has been on the market for a few months, without much buyer interest, then the vendor may well be anxious to sell and therefore prepared to drop the price. So, check out the stale listings and you might just find that you've got a really good deal.

Real estate listings usually run for 90 days, and towards the end of this time the estate agent will probably start to encourage the vendor to accept lower offers, because the agent will lose their commission if the vendor chooses not to renew the contract when the 90 days have expired.

Most properties do not sell straight away, in fact the majority take at least a couple of months. The length of time for which a property has been listed which you would call stale, varies from a few weeks if the market is ‘hot', to around six months if it is slow.

Look for expired real estate listings

When a listing has not sold it goes ‘off the books, which means that it no longer appears on the agency's computer as an active listing. However it does not disappear altogether, and will be listed somewhere.

An estate agent will usually be able to locate expired listings. They often, in fact, use them to source new listings, so ask them to find some for you and have a look. You never know, you might find a treasure. Maybe the property was reduced in price a few times and then the owner gave up, but could still be keen to sell. Ask the agent to get in touch with the owner and ask them to let them have a one day listing, which gives you a chance to have a look at the property. If you like it, make a low offer, and you may very well be in luck.

Look for reduced price real estate

By this, I mean big price reductions. A small reduction, say $500, is just an attention grabber, but a serious reduction (say $20,000) is worth a look. If the price has been cut a number of times then the owner really wants to sell, and the more frequent the reductions the more anxious he is. If you find a property you like which has been seriously reduced, this doesn't mean you have to offer the reduced asking price. There may still be room for bargaining, so offer less, as you would do in any other negotiations, and see what happens.