Someone's going to be pissed at their agent

Remember 411 Iliana? The house that's sat on the market at $998k for over a year? The owner took the house off the market, relisting it under a new MLS the next day, giving them a new DOM. The price on the new listing was still $998k, but five days later, they got an offer, and it closed on the 11th! The final price? $983,000!

The seller finally found their sucker. I can't believe it. I have to admit, I'm in total shock on this one. The house was nice, sure, but this buyer just guaranteed that if they want to sell, it's going to take a near miracle to unload it quickly, or at least a hefty price cut. I wonder if the buyer knew about the house's history? Do they really believe that house just came on the market? Did their agent ever bother to bring up the fact that they might have some negotiating room? Gosh, I wish I could talk to these people, I'd love to know the story.

Motivated?

507 N Kainalu Dr
Beds: 3
Baths: 2
Sq.Ft.: 1,254
Land; 10,055
Price: $977,000

What caught my eye was the innovative pricing strategy combined with this note in the description: "EXTREMELY MOTIVATED SELLER!" Really? Then why did they RAISE the price?

The seller bought this place for $835,000 in August, 2006. 5 months later, in January, 2007, they put the house back on the market, so it looks like a flip. The MLS says nothing about the occupancy status for this place, but judging by the excessive use of patio furniture I see in the pictures, I'd say it's vacant.

As for the pricing strategy...
Jan 19, 2007, $959,000
Feb 21, 2007, $949,000
May 14, 2007, $939,000
July 5, 2007, $937,000
Oct 13, 2007, $987,000 50k Price INCREASE
Oct 27, 2007, $977,000

Somehow a seller raising the price over what they were originally asking does not look extremely motivated to me.

Fun with numbers

I was reading the Honolulu Board of Realtors report for October 2007, and I came across this statistic:

Number of homes sold in October, 2007: 12
Number of homes sold in October, 2006: 25

Median price of homes sold in October, 2007: $759,500
Median price of homes sold in October, 2006: $995,000

Holy cow, what a difference.

Just for fun, I dug up the numbers for Kailua only, this is what the October 2007 sell prices were:
2,250,000
705,000
670,000
680,000
520,000
775,000
860,000
623,000
779,000
3,310,000
770,000

And for October 2006:
560,000
620,000
685,000
995,000
435,000
1,300,000
875,000
995,000
835,500
1,000,000
1,230,000
700,000
876,000
990,000
955,000
1,040,000
585,000
1,198,000
1,275,000
1,566,000
1,000,000
797,500
898,000
599,000
869,000
3,300,000

Now for some reason, I found 26 houses sold for October 2006, in Kailua alone, while the BOR stats list only 25 for both Kailua and Waimanalo combined. I have no idea what's going on there. Still, the numbers are interesting. Look at all those houses over a million each last year. This year, they aren't over a million unless they're WAY over a million. It looks like the higher end of the market has disappeared for all but the truly wealthy.