Where Are the Comps?

In all the years I've been a REALTOR I don't remember having such a difficult time finding comparable listings when preparing a Comparative Market Analysis or CMA.  I've always used the same parameters such as area, style of home, bedrooms, baths, etc. and have gone back six months, which is how appraisers prepare their appraisals.

There has been so little activity in most areas of the Chicago suburbs that I'm having to go back 12 months and sometimes even longer to find comparable sold and closed listings.  Yet this information is not very accurate as prices continue to drop in most suburbs of Chicago.  No wonder we're still seeing overpriced properties in today's Seller's Market.

It makes it difficult to offer a good market value for today's sellers and doesn't help much when doing a CMA for a buyer for a property they're interested in.  In fact, many of the homes buyers are considering are showing that they are already in a low price range based on comps from a year or more ago.

I've always been very confident when presenting a CMA but even I am lost with the lack of activity and nothing concrete as far as good, updated pricing data.  In fact, I just listed an Orland Park townhouse that had expired with the previous agent.  The first thing I had to tell the seller was that the comps will not make sense as it appears on paper that the townhouse was priced correctly.  I then explained how the market is telling us that it does not agree since no offers were made during the last listing period.

So I convinced the seller that she needed to reduce the price that the property was listed at before even though comparables justified that price.  She agreed and we're getting some activity and I'm hoping she doesn't have to keep dropping price in the future, but only time will tell.

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