You don't actually believe things will get better in the spring? Yes, it was/is a pain to keep the home "show ready",but i'd bet that prices will be lower in the spring then what they currently are..You have little competition right now,in the spring all those who listen to the forums about waiting til spring will have the signs on their lawns...No doubt it is a very slow time of year to sell,but people do buy at this time of year...FWIW,high 500k is not much to speak of where i currently live, and wouldn't buy you a pile of sticks from where we relocated from..ALL markets are local..

Well, we're under $150K and still no showings. Just sitting here and praying for someone to walk in like those of you in the higher price points. After three weekends I'm done with my daily scrubbing. Too bad if the legos are being used if/when a showing occurs and heaven forbid I have a couple pieces of clothing in my dirty hamper!! I'll do my normal keep it all tidy, but NO more mopping everyday...it's exhausting. Not to mention my back has finally protested and I've spent the last three days cuddled up to my heating pad even though it's hot as poo with the mid 90 temps raging outside. Am I hijacking your vent session??

Anyway, just try to relax a bit on the cleaning and be ok with waiting, especially since you don't have to move.

If you're in the south (with maybe the exception of a few markets) property in the 500's is usually pretty nice and considered upscale. Can totally see how alot of people in these circumstances are MUCH shorter on buyers in this economy than we are in the under $200 range. At least we could pull in buyers who thought they could only rent.

FWIW,high 500k is not much to speak of where i currently live, and wouldn't buy you a pile of sticks from where we relocated from..ALL markets are local..

I remember a few years ago when I posted something when were buying the house we are now selling and made some reference to a price in the mid-500s. Around here that is in the top 5% of prices. Well someone very haughtily responded that I couldn't really expect to get X feature for that since houses in that range were really only starter houses so I shouldn't expect any amenities, etc. This person just couldn't get it that $550 might be a started house where he was located but was higher end where I'm located....

Anyway, things are slow here although we've had 2 showings this month. They seem to be waking up a bit since school starteed a couple of weeks ago. We do keep it picked up but I don't stress too much on it as long as it is neat enough that we could get it ready for a showing on short notice.

You really shouldn't dog your Realtor by being so wishy washy. Either commit to do what it takes to sell, or don't list.

i'm not sure i follow NCrealestateguy's comment.

I think its all about expectations. if the RE agent set expectations that there will be plenty of showings and the market is fine right now etc, I could see why she might be dogging the RE agent.

if houses in your price bracket aren't really moving (I don't know, just what you're saying) you're in for a long haul. I've been doing this for 4 months selling my house and I think we've finally done what it needs to sell. However, its definately a pain and frustrating. if you're not committed to sell save yourself the anguish and keep your house.

southernmum, I hear you loud and clear. Same thing happening here in KS. I have given up on the "maniac" cleaning....it is what it is. I have cataracts and I am sure I am overlooking dust, but it is not cluttered, but I am not going to do all of the daily cleaning that I did for a few weeks...and only 2 showings...and those in the very first 3 days of listing. We lowered our price by $22,100 and still nothing...it is very frustrating. Although it is very depressing, I am thankful that we do not have another mortgage to pay...although we did buy a lot 3 years ago. Oh well, if it comes to it, I can probably resell my lot. Economy is hard...so I need to expect things to be very slow.

I hate to think that anyone here has wasted the valuable first days of being a NEW LISTING by being overpriced at the get-go. If your markets are slow, you need to decide at the outset what you have to get out of the house and list accordingly. (Give yourself a *little* leaway for negotiations.)

If I were younger, I'd be buying RE as an investment. I'm very glad I don't have to be on the selling end right now. Even in non-boom areas, people are still nervous about the economy in general and their own job security.

I think that upper end homes don't have as many showings as homes in lower price ranges. We too have our home on the market (3 months now) priced in the 800's (it's on 85 acres) and we've only had 2 showings. Even if we get our asking price we will lose over $200,000 from what we have invested in building it. So I'm sure someone will say we are overpriced, but certain homes take just the right buyer willing to pay for all the extras. I've resigned myself to not expecting it to sell this fall or winter, but why miss the chance that one special buyer may be come along?

qdwag, interesting point about the lack of competition right now, and the tons of houses that will be listed come spring. i hadn't thought of that... good point. it's interesting to hear others' perspectives. thanks for the responses. even to the person who called me wishy-washy, lol! i am indeed wishy-washy and will admit it to anyone, any day! :) yea, i think i'm just gonna' CHILL on the cleaning and if it shows/sells, so be it. good luck to those of you out there selling! i hope it is short and painless for us all!

Our area is considered very stable for jobs. But there are still people is the far suburbs who paid too much. They are now under water and trying to negotiate a short sale. It is happening to the east and to the west of the city.

I am admittedly very conservative, but my advice would be to not try to sell unless you have a ton of equity and don't mind giving up some of it or you can't afford the mortgage. Then negotiate with your bank for permission to do a short sale.

I think it was a good idea to list. How else would you know? After another month without showings, taking it off the market may also be the right thing to do. Meanwhile, I certainly would be scouting out beach houses. You might find a real gem with a desperate seller. Might open up a different lifestyle that more acreage alone wouldn't have.

I had my house on for two months of summer. We paid $5,000 to a stager who was AWFUL and basically made the house look worse, and while we had a good bit of foot traffic through the house we had no second showing (well, maybe one, but just so the spouse could see for the first time). First it was really over priced, I should have trusted my gut because I knew it was over priced but me agent has so much experience I just went with it. Even after 2 price drops we didn't get a sale, and by the second price drop it was well priced even in this market. We ended up taking it off and getting rid of the stagers stuff and putting our stuff back in. We also did some upgrading to the kitchen, and some of our own staging as far as replacing some things and upgrading some furniture. We actually had decided not to put it on again until the Spring but since it is all ready at this point we are going to go with an open house this weekend and see what the feedback is. I'm not sure what to expect from a Fall listing, it does NOT seem like a great time, but I think after maybe 2-3 weeks on the market I will get some feedback and take it off again if it hasn't sold and wait until Spring. Spring will be much better, and I feel pretty good about my chances. To make a long story short, we are out at least $5,000 by having it on those two months, and countless hours of crazy cleaning and me being too stressed out with the kids, but in the end I learned from the experience in a way that will really help me sell it and I think it was all worth it. I also became much, much better at keeping my house organized and free of clutter, something I really like!

The best advice I have, and it is painfully obvious and simple, is that you want to be the absolute best on the market in your price. If something is better than you at that price then fix something, update something, or lower your price. You need to be the best in the market at your price so if one person is looking they will choose you.

Geargirly, what did the stager do that was so awful? I find it very interesting that she/he made the house look worse.

Well the stager replaced some of our stuff with Ikea stuff and the overall look just didn't match our house style at all. He also re-painted the front of a door in my daughters bedroom and not the back, and it made it really obvious and bad looking. There were also some really cheesy pictures of flowers over our bed. I guess I shouldn't say he made it look worse because he probably did some things that improved it and made it easier for me to re-stage with our stuff, but there were also some things I would have expected to be taken care of so I didn't pay as much attention as I should have and I had to go back and fix. Overall his look was neater and more sparse the day he did it, but we were living in it and it just didn't hold up well when lived in, the colors were really bad. My stuff looks much better I think (after I got rid of all of my stuff that was not looking so good), so hopefully I'm right!

"The best advice I have, and it is painfully obvious and simple, is that you want to be the absolute best on the market in your price. If something is better than you at that price then fix something, update something, or lower your price. You need to be the best in the market at your price so if one person is looking they will choose you."

So well said! That is the best advice anyone can give a seller.

Jane

To all the sellers who think that it is wise to take thier listing off the market in the fall and relist in the Spring... If everyone does that, doesn't it make sence to be the one that does not? There will be less competition for the buyers to choose from. Also, in the Spring, you are now competing with all of the sellers who took the winter off, AND all of the new listings. Your competition skyrockets in numbers incredibly more than do the buyers.
Say your question out loud to yourself... "I want desperately to sell my home; Should I take it off the market for 5 months of the year?" There are not too many guarantees in this business, but one of them is that if your house is not on the market, it will not sell.