Trulia price reduction report released, what does it really mean
I like Trulia and I like Zillow for their sheer entertainment value. Each are trying to catch the eyeballs of the real estate space with their price reduction reports and zestimates respectively but what does the price reduction report really tell you to the surprise of nobody other than some real estate listings are overpriced and have been reduced.
According to Trulia, "Providing home buyers with access to price reduction data empowers them to make more informed decisions regarding which home to purchase and helps consumers get the most home for their dollar. It also helps home sellers price their homes competitively as more homes come onto the market."
Unfortunately for the do it yourself real estate consumer, you can not get the most home for your dollar just because a listing was reduced in price. You are only able to get a home that was reduced in price and that doesn't necessarily mean that it is a value, it simply means that nobody bought it at the higher price and now you can buy it for less.
As to sellers, they should obviously price their homes competitively if they have any hopes of selling.
And as you'll see, pricing games don't necessarily work all that well. I particularly liked this listing from the Charleston MLS that was just reduced in price. Unfortunately, the Charleston real estate agent listing the home just reduced the price further from $159,900 to $149,900 and didn't change this verbiage from the description.
"This home has just been reduced $10,000 till the end of the tax credit only. This sales price expires 5/1/2010. The new price will be $169,900 the buyer can use the $10,000 any way they would like."