House for sale - Lover's Leap

He might be saying the asking price is too high, based on the Zestimate.  However, the Zestimate's in the area are not accurate (big surprise) in large part due to the fact that there are a number of Forest Service cabins for sale nearby.  These cabins are rad, but have a lot of restrictions: for one, you don't own the land, only the structure, and your landlord is the Forest Service. Further, you cannot rent them for more than a week per year, you are not allowed to live in them as your primary residence, and you cannot make any changes to exterior (no expansions).  So, for that reason, these cabins cost less than a fee simple lot you own, and can do whatever you want.  However, you also can't get a traditional loan for those cabins, since you don't own the land.

The cabins have gotten pricey in recent years. If you look at Zillow, you will see several for sale in the 250-300k range.  That is a lot of money for a place you can only really use in the summer. (roads are not plowed, water is turned off).  By contrast, the place I'm selling is on a road plowed by the county, is insulated/winterized, and fully livable year round.  And it costs less than 2x what people want for their Forest Service cabins.  People can decide for themselves which is the better deal.   

Edit to add: the asking price is based on about 8 or 9 homes (not FS cabins) that have sold in the last 2-3 years. So I put some thought into it.  For reference, there is a place down the street that is larger, in ok condition, that they are asking 800k for.  Seems high to me, but maybe not to the right person.  At the end of the day, it's all real estate, and it's business. People are free to not like the price, not make an offer, or get their feelings hurt.  For me, it's a business transaction. But, I do live very close by and would like it to go to a climber and be a transaction everyone walks away from feeling good about.  I would encourage anyone seriously considering buying it (or really any other house) to do their research on the local area.

You don't have to justify your asking price to someone that's not interested in buying it. Or to anyone, really.

But when you post a job offer or a house for sale on MP, you can expect the pot shots.

An asking price is just a starting point.  

That is of course true, but I am interested in being transparent with any potential buyers, because I am trying to sell it myself without using a realtor, and if successful, that person will be my neighbor.  So I am happy to explain the price, the work we've done on the place, and the like.  Yury is not the first person to mention the Zestimate to me, as either a dig or a negotiating point.  I just think (for the above stated reasons) that the Zestimate is way off.  Frankly I wouldn't put much faith in it in any area, let alone a small market like the American river canyon on highway 50, where there is very limited inventory and house quality/condition varies wildly.  

Dave Stallard wrote:

Edit to add: the asking price is based on about 8 or 9 homes (not FS cabins) that have sold in the last 2-3 years.

Can I assume that you understand the difference between prices 3 years ago and today?
Can I assume that you also understand the current trend of prices in such faraway places?

Can we assume your just poking a bear for no real reason. If the price is too high you have couple options:
- Do nothing and live your life knowing that this person valued their home higher than you think it should be and watch it sit on market. Celebrate?
- Make an offer that you feel appropriate.
- Or be a negative Nancy making backhanded comments based off your superior real estate knowledge you have decided to flex on a climbing forum.

just for reference, I sold my aunts FS cabin right up the hill at echo lake for 475 which is about 150 over zillow estimate 1 year ago and 75 over asking. I dont think that's the norm, but its not that uncommon either. 

Yury wrote:

Can I assume that you understand the difference between prices 3 years ago and today?
Can I assume that you also understand the current trend of prices in such faraway places?

Hi Yury, 

It seems you have a problem with the price.  Can I assume you know the market in Strawberry? Can I assume you will not be making an offer?  Can I assume you just want to complain and waste my time?

Dave Stallard wrote:

Hi Yury, 

It seems you have a problem with the price.  Can I assume you know the market in Strawberry? Can I assume you will not be making an offer?  Can I assume you just want to complain and waste my time?

Don't waste your time. Yury is one of the curmudgeons of MP. Good luck on selling your house.

I have never bought or sold a primary residence anywhere near 'zestimate' type estimates. I've always had places on acreage and the main thing estimates do it look at the square footage of the house and use a formula to compare that to other residences. Me and a lot of other people would rather have a 2,000' house on 10 acres than a 4,500' house on 1/2 acre (in the same area), but that is not accounted for accurately. Even a professional appraiser has challenges pricing our residences LOL. I've had good real estate agents who will sit and discuss the property and the market with me and ultimately let me decide on the offer price or listing price. A listing price is a best guess of what the seller thinks the house is worth / what someone will pay for it. Offers may come in above or below that.

Glowering wrote:

Iand the main thing estimates do it look at the square footage of the house and use a formula to compare that to other residences.

In the past, z estimates mostly seem to estimate based on average price per square foot using comps from sold properties in the same or adjacent zip codes. so if you are in a location where the comps are mostly based on people who did extensive remodeling before putting their house on the market, and your house is in original condition, you may be disappointed by what your house fetches compared to the computer generated estimate.

In the future, these estimates may be able to factor in descriptors lifted from the listing description, but I don’t think that’s close yet. 

The Z estimate for our present house is much lower than what it would sell for if we put it on the market today.  I think they serve almost no purpose to the seller. Most people on the buy side will use a buyers agent and if you select one wisely, they typically will advise you of a competitive bid price.

In my lifetime I’ve bought 5 homes and sold 4.  These estimate things never factored into any offers made or accepted.  

A few years ago Zillow themselves tried to use their own “zestimate” values to make money by buying and flipping homes. It was so inaccurate that they lost a bunch of money and had to close the entire project. And this was in cookie-cutter suburbs.

My question to Dave is: how the heck did this place survive the Caldor fire? You must have had a direct line to God. (Does that special blessing convey?)

Strawberry was only saved from Caldor by a huge effort from Cal Fire.  The fire crews were camped in the meadows next to the lodge and worked hard to save the place.  They dug some hand line firebreaks behind the homes, and may have sent low intensity back burns up both sides of the canyon.  We were extremely fortunate! a number of homes and cabins were lost closer to Echo summit. 

I did a quick 10min tour of this house when I was passing by the leap. I'll share some info I found and some of my own opinions.

The house is currently within 500ft of another air bnb. You have to jump on a waiting list if you plan to turn it into a vacation home rental (VHR.) If you live in the property full time and rent out the other rooms then you don't need a permit for VHR,  This info was directly from an agent at El Dorado County VHR division. 

House looked to be in great condition in the 10min I was walking through there. Needed minimal "work", if you could even call it that, more like touch ups. I did handy man/ construction work for a number of years. In the 10 minutes I was there I looked mainly for foundation issues, water pressure, leaky roofs/windows/doors, condition of roof, and rotting wood. All in acceptable condition by my standards. 

Dave was super chill. He answered all the questions I had quickly and (I felt) honestly. Seemed genuine. Would make a great neighbor/climbing partner based on vibes alone, imo. 

Glws Dave! 

Thanks J! Nice to meet you that day. And thanks for the info about the AirBNB. I thought it might be a challenge to get the short term rental permit because of another short term rental nearby (although I think the one in question is actually on the other side of the river!). I have been telling people (truthfully!) that I don't know if it is eligible, because I never looked into it myself.  But this is helpful information.