He might have tried and they might not have gone for it. Maybe they both had very rigid price points or maybe there was something about the location several blocks way they preferred or maybe they decided to go with the first house they saw that they liked or maybe those houses were empty or maybe one of them had some quirky detail like a purple upstairs bathroom that they loved. No way to know, but let's hope those sales heat things up a bit for your property.

Ask him. We had that happen with our last house so we asked. Turns out, it was a widow with four kids. She had a specific need for number of bedrooms. We had a room that could be used as a bedroom or a family type room. The other house better fit her needs.

We had another house down the street that had been on the market for a year under our realtor that just wasn't selling. We asked about it. Realtor said the house had a lot of clutter. The owners wouldn't declutter or follow any of his suggestions so there it sat.

Go ahead and ask the realtor why he didn't sell the house. There may or may not be something you can control about the situation.

How do you know he didn't suggest your house to the buyers?

In any event, I would ask the agent. There are certainly a myriad of reasons that a buyer could ask to see certain houses in a neighborhood rather than others.

On the pricing if the other houses are similar to yours and sole for $20k to $25k less than your asking price, that raises other questions. What was the asking price of these other houses. If the asking price of those houses were significantly below yours then buyers could easily feel prefer looking at the houses listed for less.

In any event, if those houses are so similar then the new sale prices seem to establish much lower comps for your house. Obviously it may depend on how $25k relates to your overall price. That is a difference in sale price to listing price is huge if a house is listed at $150k and is not that significant if a house is listed at $2 million (for example). If you want to sell more quickly you may need to drop your listing price to be closer to the actual selling price of these houses.

We did ask. In the first case, the buyers were just short of the price point that the realtor thought we would sell at. (these are mid $400k homes) My thought was that with both sides of the transaction, the difference in commission could help close the gap to a point where we could at least negotiate. I was told it would not. Hmmm. For the second, the realtor said the buyer loved the layout and location, although it backs up to a 4 lane busy road and we back up to a park. I do understand personal preference, so that must have just been the house for them---but wish they could have just at least looked at ours for comparison.

Realtor has asked us in the past if we would sweeten the pot with a bonus to the selling agent (outside of commission). Said it would increase traffic to our house. We said we would prefer to work directly with an interested buyer instead.

So the implication is that the realtor can steer clients where they should look. If true, why wouldnt a realtor steer real buyers to their own listing....or at least guide them for a look.

Just askin.....

What are you bringing to the table to make your home worth 25K more? Another bathroom and bedroom? A finished basement? A recently refinished expensive kitchen? Nothing? If someone looking for a home in your neighborhood can buy two houses, with one 25K higher, why even look at the higher priced one unless something about the lower priced one doesn't work?

The big question is why you are priced 25K above your comps? That is why you aren't selling. When are you going to reduce your price by 30K?

Most people dont look at homes in $25,000 increments. That is just too big of a gap, it puts them in a different qualifying bracket. If someone tells me they are qualified up to a certain point, I dont show them homes $25,000 out of that range unless I think its possible to get that house for their number. (if its been on the market for a long time, if the owner has moved on and the house is vacant). If your house is similar to the homes that he has shown and sold, then your price is too high.

To answer your question, "why wouldnt a realtor steer real buyers to their own listing".

There is no reason in the world that a realtor wouldnt want to sell his/her own listing if he had the buyer for it, but if your price is too high and he/she knows it and you expect him/her to reduce his/her commission to bridge your gap, whats in it for the realtor? Just sayin... (here comes the attacks) Everyone thinks commission is doubled when you sell your own listing. In a sense, yes, in another sense, no. Yes, you get it all in one check, but he can sell another house and another agent can sell your house and the amount of money is the same. It seems that people have this idea that if their agent sells their house, there is automatically a reduction in commission. Not true.

I think in this tough economy, agents are taking buyers to whatever they think the buyer wants so they can make sales. I don't think they're trying to steer buyers anywhere. They just want them to buy.

I was thinking it's a price problem if the other ones sold for twenty-five thousand lower.

So, your first response when your agent told you that the price point was too high was to lower his/her commission?
Again, we agents can not sell homes... we market them with the greatest amount of exposure to ready, able and willing buyers. We can not force them to view your home.

You're looking for a cashmere sweater for your mom for Christmas. So you hike yourself over to the local Galleria where there are a bunch of stores that will sell what you're looking for. You go into TJ Maxx first, because if you can get a good deal on a name brand sweater there, there is no reason to go into Macy's. You find a sweater that's 90% perfect for what you wanted. It doesn't have the pearl buttons, but you're OK with the color matched ones because the sweater is only $75. You know from looking at their website that you can buy the 100% perfect sweater with the pearl buttons at Macy's for $200, but you're satisfied with saving that money to spend on something else.

Your home is Macy's. The sold homes are TJ Maxx. You've got to price your house like TJ Maxx if you want to compete, or else throw in a "free" sleeveless sweater to make it a twin set for the higher price.

The OP did say "He assures us we are not overpriced although we initiated a reduction. "

So I'd like to know - who set the original asking price - the seller or the listing agent? And why hasn't it been dropped to reflect what homes are selling for in the area?

"The big question is why you are priced 25K above your comps? That is why you aren't selling. When are you going to reduce your price by 30K? "

Ditto that!

If the other homes will be the comps for your house, you need to drop your price now, regardless what anyone says, or the appraiser will do that for you.

The last house I sold, the realtor wanted to price it almost 40% higher than the point where I was satisfied it would move. I refused to even market it at the suggested price, and allowed it to go on the market at a point mid-way between our two figures. It wasn't until it hit the point where I initially wanted to list, that it sold. That being said..........I'd also like to know who came up with the initial sales price? I'd also like to know if you made any comments about being firm on that price?

If I were in the market for half million dollar homes, I don't think I'd let 25K stop me from looking at your home, unless I had the impression the price was not negotiable at all.

One question I don't think was addressed. What was the asking price of the 2 homes that sold for $20,000 - $25,000 less than your asking price? In my opinion if the asking price of them was the same as yours and they accepted lower offers you have a legitimate complaint about your listing agent. You now have 2 new comps to compare for your listing.

She did mention that the one house backed up to a busy highway and hers backs to a park. That could make hers more desirable to many buyers. Well, unless the park is very busy and there will always be a lot of people hanging out right behind the backyard.

So, have you reduced your price yet?

Again, your listing agent is not selling your neighbors homes. She is marketing it and the buyers are choosing these other homes over yours... for some reason. And that reason is the question that you and your agent need to figure out.