Pleasanton.... CA?

A link would definitely help. How many is "several" showings in the last two months? If you are getting lookers it is either price or people have realized just how busy the street is and don't want to deal with that. What are current DOM in your area?

There are many negatives to owning long distance. You have to be very sure the people renting aren't going to trash your house. Will they cut the lawn or will you need to hire a service? Are they responsible enough to tell you if a repair is needed? And when something is needed, you will have to long distance hire because you are not there. If you hire a property manager they'll charge you one month rent plus 10% of the monthly rent as a fee. So, figure out how much your negative cash flow will be for the year, plus management and upkeep and then drop your price by at least that much to get it sold!

You could try a lease with option to buy. I have no experience with it myself, but here's a link if you're interested.

Personally I think it's very risky in a slow market to buy a new house before the old one is sold, but hopefully you can overcome the perception that the house is "stale". Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Lease with option explained

being a 'distant' landlord is not a great idea.Since you've already committed to move, drop the price and get rid of it...But i am not certain it's the price, as i truly believe buyers have vanished.That said, at some price point, your house WILL sell...best of luck

Wow! Two comments in less than an hour. Great forum. Yes, Pleasanton, CA. We have had 20 showings. How do I find DOM number (ask my realtor?).I have a BIL close by that could serve as the Property Manager. And this might sound like rationalization, but we believe we got a great deal in Texas, and that we will see good appreciation there. Now I see the link feature, so I'll include one.

Here is a link that might be useful: My listing

Looks like a lovely home! I will echo what other more experienced people have said on these forums...you have way too many photos posted. You want just a few so you can pique enough interest to get people into the home, though I guess that hasn't been a problem considering your number of showings. I don't know anything about CA real estate, so I can't comment on price. Though I think everything boils down to price...people will only offer what the house is worth to them.

I do understand about acting on good deals. My DH and I bought a new house before the old one was sold...in the same town. We found a house that was perfect for us and the price was right, and we just really wanted to move and didn't want to wait any longer. We ended up getting an offer on our old house before we closed on the new one with only two weeks between closings. We got lucky.

One thing I see on the photo page - reuse of pics, have them take the duplicates out.

My area has stopped dead.. I called my agent yesterday, she said everything stopped. We discussed how it appears people are waiting for prices to drastically reduce, I'm talking $50,000 on $200,000+ to $300,000+ house. People hear the market is dropping, they want in on that.

I give it until a month before school starts, then the people that have to move will start being serious about buying. IMO, they will then want a short close...

Talk to your agent, they should be able to give you what ever info you need - DOM, if the market stopped, if people are buying and at what price.

You can also try to put your addy in zillow.com and see if any comps come up.

Wow on the number of photos, and why do some repeat?

If you've had twenty showings (any repeats?) in two months and no offers, it is your price.

Current DOM - ask the realtor.

Maybe you have a bad realtor? It wouldn't hurt to try a different realtor and a different agency?

Of course, that might not help since the market is so bad.

Your best option might be to lease the house until the market improves? At least that way you have some extra income coming in.

The market has cooled in many areas. Buyers in our area are buying bargains, but not much else moving. Many buyers are waiting to see if the market cools down any more. I do think that in August the market will pick up due to buyers wanting to get settled before the school year, but they'll also be looking for good deals and price is gonna sell the home.

The realtor.com listing for you home has only one picture (of the exterior). And I found the agent's site difficult to navigate (but that may be my computer). I would imagine that in your area realtor.com would be a popular tool and I would certainly want my home to be marketed there with more than just a photo of the exterior.

Your neighbor two doors down sold (a bigger house) in 12/06 for 815... The market has only gone down since then. If you want it sold in this market, price it below the comps!

Way too many photos!! The listing description doesn't give anything to want people to come see it. You have a lovely kitchen and the hardwood floors should be mentioned in the listing.

I agree, the realtor's site is not that user friendly. The photos open up in a new screen and it takes alot of time to scroll through them.

Thanks again to all! Although I am pretty Internet savvy, I may have been in denial about checking out the multiple pictures and the lack of anything regarding the interior on realtor.com. Our realtor sent the photographer before the stager had finished, caught me off guard, so I think I was just happy the photographer didn't simply go away(I'm the husband, so you can understand my reasoning). For example, there is no picture of the Master bedroom, giving the impression that the guest room is it! In hindsight, we should have reviewed the pictures posted anywhere with our realtor, and updated these as the stager (and the hardwood floor refinisher) were finished. I owe these insights to this forum, and you folks. We have someone coming for a second look today (our first), so I'll give St. Joe a rub. (Careful! I simply assuming the rabbit's foot works the same way.)

You are correct about the house two doors down. However, they had a family tragedy and wanted to move because of it. But I do agree that sale sets a very close comparison for buyers that we may need to address to sell the house. Your comments are spot on. I suspect our first offer will force us to face this, but I do want to do what we can first to get offers understanding that there will be negotiation.

Your house looks very nice in photos...I actually like lots of pictures when I am looking for a house.

If you would prefer to sell than rent, bite the bullet and drop your price to below what your last comp sold for. It is a bummer that a family tragedy forced a lower comp for you, but a buyer is not going to care. They only care about the bottom dollar they pay.

We sold a ranch like yours last year in S. CA at much lower than what we initially thought we could get. :-( Now the same model on our street is listed at even lower than our sold price, so we are just glad we got out when we did. The market is still really tough.

Good luck with your second showing and I hope you sell soon.

Your house has been for sale for about 2 months.

I'm not sure about your area but aren't most areas taking about 6 months to sell? Be carefule of MLS DOM data. DOM starts back at 0 when they re-list a house.

"I suspect our first offer will force us to face this, but I do want to do what we can first to get offers understanding that there will be negotiation."

If you're overpriced, you may not get that first offer. I know I wouldn't bother with an overpriced house (even if I loved it) until the price was in line. With the staggering amount of inventory out there, over pricing and hoping to negotiate is a thing of the past. Buyers can just move on to the next house, and the next house, etc.

skylyn, I appreciate your persistence. I just want to understand your underlying reasoning. I think what you are saying is that I am getting showings, but no offers. The price for the size is attractive, but the location ( we are at the top of a "T") is souring potential buyers. I need to lower the price enough to offset this when they are at my home. I bought the house because I can walk to work, a great feature for me but something lost on most buyers. So I have month left on my contract. I should realize this "flaw" can't be fixed by the market, and lower the price to create an "outstanding feature" to increase showings to find that buyer that doesn't care compared to the value of the home itself. If even this doesn't work, take it off the market long enough to "refresh", and make sure it's priced in the same way upon relisting. So, I have I capitulated enough?

As far as the DOM go, I know in S. CA you can't just take the house off the market for a few days and relist right away to zero out the DOM.

Our MLS sheet had a DOM number, and a CDOM (continuous DOM), so you can easily see if the house has been on and off the market within the past year. According to our realtor, there is no way for any realtor to reset the CDOM, as it only resets once the house has been off the market for a full year.