No comps, no sale?

[Koel Gaylord]

Dear BP community,

         My realtor just told me that after six showings and some interest from a few folks, that my duplex wont sell because there are no comps...The last comp was from 2010 and that was when I bought my duplex for 106k and there are no comps since then. The 137k asking price will not happen even though there has been a lot of interest, says my realtor. The property has only been on the market for six days and I'm already thinking about keeping it. The market is up here and I wanted to capitalize on the up swing.

Does anyone have any ideas? Do I need to pay for an appraisal since there are no comps?

Thank you,

KEG

[Mike Nuss]

Ha, some realtors sure make it easy to dislike realtors. Lets try to put this into context as "no comps" doesn't give much insight. Have there been "comparable" properties put on the market over the past 4 years? If so have they been cancelled, withdrawn or are they still on the market? The reason I ask is there are neighborhoods in my area that you will find "no comps" or "few comps". This isn't due to a lack of demand (NW Uptown comes to mind) this is due to a lack of supply. Few properties sell because owners do not want to sell. How can a buyer buy if there are no "sellers" in the market? There are many property owners because the neighborhood is fully developed, but there is no or little incentive to sell because it is such a desirable location. This is just an example, but an idea of the thought process I take when I hear "no comps".

My suggestion would be to talk to another realtor. Well, my first reaction would be to fire my realtor if they can't give me any feed back as to why there are "no comps". I'd also question them about what their definition of a "comp" is. Talking to an appraiser would probably be a good idea as well as appraisers are typically required by their clients to provide comps. Some properties require the appraiser to search high and low and get creative with the "comps", if the sales comparison approach to value is a requirement of the appraisal. 

As a client, telling me there are "no comps" and for this reason a sale will not happen, simply is not acceptable to me. The way you've posted your scenario I have to believe this realtor isn't competent to list your property, especially considering you've had 6 showings over a weekend. Showings are one way to look at demand. If people are looking, demand exists. You have a property on the market so supply exists. A sale will occur in this scenario, it's just a matter of at what price. 

Hope this helps...