About Aspirational Pricing

About Aspirational Pricing

Let’s return to something we talked about a few years ago…When the frenzy of the market was fraying people’s nerves and draining their reserves of rational-thought. I was noticing a widening gap between the public’s popular imagination about how real estate works and how it actually plays out in real life.

There were two parts to the disconnect: First, every single Santa Cruz seller fantasizes about wealthy buyers swarming over-the-hill to pay lots of money for their house. Second, not all Santa Cruz sellers are willing to do what it takes to attract that “unicorn buyer” that’s so easy to conjure up in their heads.

But that doesn’t mean that sellers who choose to skimp on their prep also voluntarily scale back their expectations about what those blue sky buyers will pay, no matter which cultural incarnation they assume: rich techie, Facebook/Apple/Google employee, retiring couple from the mythical 650 area code, Chinese national or virtually anyone driving a new Tesla!

From the looks of it, it also doesn’t stop some sellers from ratcheting-up the expected price tag on their listing long after they’ve balked at spending one more dime to prepare it for sale. Almost like it isn’t necessary to do anything to get the best results. Or even… the less you do, the higher the price should be!

This is this market’s version of magical thinking: aspirational pricing that exceeds reasonable expectation. It’s a trend that can only help to hasten the end of the otherwise amazing upcycle we’ve been on for more than a decade. It doesn’t matter whether it is bitcoin or tulips or real estate, things wind down when there’s not enough “there there” to serve the fantasy.

It all breeds an odd kind of seller discontent here on the tail end of the best Seller’s Market anyone in California has witnessed since the gold rush. No matter how good the results, more people who are selling are decidedly unhappy with their results. Two offers? Maybe there should have been ten. Price bid up $20,000 over asking? We were expecting at least $100,000! Full price? A dismal failure!

There’s an embarrassment of first-world problems out there! And way too much seller’s remorse given how good things actually are. So here’s the thing folks. The market is great but selling in a seller’s market is still hard work. You get out of it what you put into it – and in some cases even more. There are no mulligans in real estate and you can’t take your listing back, once it goes on the market. Why not get it right the first time?