Mortgage, Smart Spending

Most Expensive Home Asking Price in US

What is believed to be the most expensive home asking price in the current market came up recently when a waterfront estate in Greenwich, Conn., was listed at $190 million. Does this have any implications for your own real estate investments?

Perhaps not immediately. But stay tuned because you never know.

The reasons for this upscale home price are obvious: It is on a 50-acre site. It has 4,000 feet of water frontage on Long Island Sound.

Do you play tennis? It has a court, of course, but also two greenhouses, a 75-foot-long heated pool with a hot tub and even an apple orchard.

Not quite your typical, three bedroom, two bath model in anywhere suburbia, is it?

Certainly not but some reports say the listing is the latest test of the ultra-high-end property market. So perhaps you should pay some attention to it, which we will do here in this blog.

Some news reports ask whether the house will actually fetch its record price. Probably not if you consider that the asking price appears to be a bid for publicity (highest priced, etc.).

This all raises the question of how much you might get when selling your own investment home.

In the case of this Long Island property, the 50-acres are a selling point. Estimates are that land typically accounts for more than half of assessor’s evaluations (more when it’s on the water, of course, which is the case here).

Of course, there’s always the prospect of buyers or even investors converting the property to other uses. How about another housing development? Not likely in this case. Zoning boards in class-conscious Greenwich may not particularly like that idea.

The upscale pricing evaluated by other high-end property sales indicates that asking prices are generally way above the reality. But does the high pricing strategy work for upscale homes such as this one or one of your own that might be more inclined to be three bedrooms, etc.?

Pricing is an iffy business, as you might think.

It is impacted by various factors, including time of year, believe it or not. There are arguments about the best time to buy and sell but some studies show that winter is the best time to sell for the owner to get his best price.

Homes in general also sell closer to their original price at that time, according to some recent reports.

But at the same time, homes listed in spring sell the fastest, sitting on the market for 15% less time when normal.

Avoiding the untypical $190 million home price, most home listings happen in the spring, according to various studies (winter, bah, the attitude must be let’s just get over it without this fuss). So most sellers are often not aware of this trend.

But in the end, whatever time of year you are selling, the price is ultimately the key item. Price it right is the obvious conclusion.

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