Thank you everyone - especially you, lindac! I really had not considered having hot samples from a crock pot, but that might be the ticket to selling out! I do want to emphasize low fat and low sodium in at least one offering. Around here I think something homestyle and recognizable would be best. I can at least try it one or two market days before we close for the season. I'm thinking beef barley, vegetable burger, Italian Wedding Soup (w/ turkey meatballs), ham and bean, and maybe, butternut squash, mushroom barley, and potato - offering two selections each Saturday. Our markets here state that if you grow it or make it yourself, you can sell it at a farmers' market, labeled with your name and phone number. If the vendors I mentioned can sell chicken salad, quiches, and Brunswick Stew, then I think I can sell soup - offer free small samples and sell frozen or chilled out of a cooler. I'll report back if I try this! Thanks for your support! Teresa

Xamsx, we're not hoping for a bidding war. We just want to sell this year. The builder's specs are in the 900s and we're in the 800s, soon to be high-700s. I just reviewed the latest stats for that town, and there's now about 15 mos. inventory. Ouch. About 10% of the houses sold thus far in 2008 have been in our new price range. Our agent is working the listing, and we have confidence in his marketing abilities. We hope we're giving him (& us) an edge with the new price. You may be right that some potential buyers might wonder if there's something wrong, but that's where a good RE agent and his networking come into play. Our agent knows all of the big agents and many of the smaller ones in the metro area, and I think he can sell the story of why the house is on the market at this price. Our experience in a nearby area was that to have a builder custom build a house of the same size and finish level as his specs would cost at least 15% to 20% more. Even in that price range folks feel the difference that $150K+ makes. Some will gladly pay, as you indicated, while others will be more price sensitive. Since reading comprehension is not the troll's strong suit, the RE agent is not losing $6K. First, we didn't drop the price $100K. $100K was our estimated net loss. Second, FWIW, our total commission isn't 6%, although the buyer's agent will get 3% (the norm here) because our agent volunteered to take less given our history with him. Third, if he brings the buyer, he will cut the commission even more. He truly feels awful that we're taking a hit on the house. But I don't expect the troll to believe that because he clearly bears animus against everyone connected with real estate except landlords of cheap apartments.

We're in contract The difference in NYC (over other places) is that the contract comes SO late. All the negotiating (cut in price to compensate for inspection issues, etc.) is done BEFORE the deal is enforceable. In other areas, those things are done to modify the original contract. But in other states, there is still a little bit of time where the circumstance you describe could happen. Verbal communication saying that "the contract will be signed," and then the signer changes his mind. i've seen many posts here about people who say, "we submitted our bid, and we heard they're accepting, but we don't have the signed contract yet." Often that could happen over the weekend even in another jurisdiction! The agent looks at the offers on Saturday, talks w/ the owners, notifies the buyers of the end result (not price, but yea/nay)--but the sellers aren't in the office to put their signature on the paper. So one of the buyers comes back w/ a lot more money early on Monday morning, and the sellers get told about it when they come in to sign the other contract. Not being idiots, they take the new offer. Sorry and all that, but this is business. And it's not like the disappointed seller has lost that much--it was just the WEEKEND. What, 48 hours at most, and one of them was a Sunday? She didn't pay for an inspection. She didn't pass up lots and lots of other homes because she thought she had this one. There weren't any *real* damages in the legal or financial sense. The process of buying an apartment (and don't say "for an apartment?" christopherh. They are the ONLY HOMES YOU CAN BUY in many neighborhoods of the city; we do not HAVE single family homes in many of our neighborhoods. Or if we do, they are three times the price of an apartment, or more--my apartment in such a neighborhood is supposedly worth $450k; a 3BR is worth $575k, and we're considered "affordable"), esp. in NYC where it is likely to be a co-op instead of a condo, is three months minimum, and usually at least a month between offer and signed contract. So the seller is disappointed, but she is not actually OUT anything. She was not at all damaged, except emotionally. As for damages, if a true contract is breached-- If you sue the seller for "specific performance," you can win. As long as there's not some contingency they can use to squeak out of it (and most contingencies are for the BUYER, not for the seller). You could perhaps use that threat to negotiate letting them out of the contract. You could say, "we will not sue you, if you will pay us the equivalent of OUR deposit, to compensate us for the time we lost trying to buy your house." *maybe* just *maybe* a judge wouldn't find in your favor, but I highly doubt it. If they didn't, you could prove damages in terms of the market going up, your inspection money, and the time you lost. HOWEVER, as you noted, in many instances, if a buyer has to back out bcs of an unpreventable disasters, a seller will refund the deposit out of a sense of karma. and likewise, buyers who see that the seller has had a disaster, will often agree to dissolve the contract out that same sense of karma. They may ask for the reimbursement of true monetary losses.

steph it isn't playing here and in the blurb said it has limited engagement...which in movie speak means la and nyc to qualify for oscars... although after reading the jist of the movie and knowing the genre of our population, i'm kind of surprised...it might be considered a low budget "art" film, since it doean't have "hollywood name" stars...still, i bet at smaller theaters who carry films like this, will be showing after the first of the year...at least it got a B from critics...