Personally I would pull it off the market and list with someone else. If you have had the same agent since April 8th, somthing is wrong. We had our place on the market for 2 1/2 years, but in a rural area. Finally we got the "right" agent, and sold in 3 weeks. One agent kept promising etc but never came thru or brought clients who in no way wanted what we offered. At this time I would not reduce it again, until you find out what is wrong?

What market are you in? I notice you're a Zone 8. Are you in CA? If so, what is the current DOM for your area? I have to believe it's got to be 1+ years.

/tricia

I'm sorry you are having trouble selling. At least you don't NEED to sell but I'm sure it is frustrating.

People here are really good at offering suggestions if you want to post some pictures. Sometimes it's easy to overlook stuff we are close to.

I started typing out a post then got side tracked. When I sat back down I decided to search the forum to see if you posted a link to your listing, you did. I'm still going to post what I typed up. I think you just need to hold on, hang in there. Except for lowering the price or offering some sort of incentive (like decorating expense or home depot gift certificate) with a signed contract by such & such date, you are doing all you can.

Out of my list below, #2 & 3 are the most important IMO
You might want to have a new tour/pictures done, maybe someone can give input on them. I'm not nuts about the look of the rooms in the tour although I know it is nothing you can change. I don't remember our VT being like that.

If you are not watching your listing you should. He should be doing small price drops every now and then just to freshen it up, so that it shows on emails people are signed up for.

link to post

The main things I want to say are..
1) What area are you in?
2) You can't sell if you aren't listed.
3) Are you watching your own listing?
4) How are your photos?

You are pretty much in the shoes I just got out of, so I know how you feel. We almost lost our new construction home but managed to sell in time.

I would not take it off of the market. We ended up getting busy after Christmas/new year. Had we taken it off, we might still be for sale. February was very busy for us.

I'll see if I can remember..

Listed Memorial Weekend 2007 $239,999
Price drops of not more then $5k, maybe 2 while we were on our 3 month listing with agent 1. Went off of contract right before Labor Day weekend.

Agent 2 - late August 2007 - listed for $229,999
Agent didn't get pictures, I ended up sending him my own.
At some point I got burned out, went and bought baskets for closets, put away my floral stuff. I then decided to make my own flier because I wasn't happy with the one the agents help made.

We lowered the price for the start of selling season in February 2008 which brought traffic. It then slowed, so we dropped another $5k. I was getting sick by this time, told the agent I was going to pay for a tour and pro pictures. He decided to do it. The last price drop started bringing people in, by then I think we were at $220k and started getting offers. The photographer actually came when we were working 2 deals.

Personally I would pull it off the market and list with someone else. If you have had the same agent since April 8th, somthing is wrong. We had our place on the market for 2 1/2 years, but in a rural area. Finally we got the "right" agent, and sold in 3 weeks.

If I have time I'll do some googling, but another agent may not sell it either. The market is crap. Agents have to advertise the heck out of houses.

According to the quick google search I did there are 4 pages of results for her MLS

Here is a link that might be useful: Virtual tour

My friend's 2 BA/2 BR, 1.75 acre horse property closed at the beginning of this week after being on the market for 3 months - and this in one of the areas worst hit by the housing collapse.

The realtor was the one who had done such a good job for DH and I. My friend originally wanted to list at a price the realtor knew was too high for a quick sale (she got laid off and had to relocate for her new job), but we convinced her to list at $350K. She made one reduction, to $320K - roughly the price DH and I thought it would fetch to begin with, and got an offer at approx. 97% of list a couple of weeks later.

According to our realtor, sales were up last month over the same period the previous year, and houses that were priced appropriately for the market were selling.

Good luck - I hope you find a buyer soon :-)

Thanks for posting a link to our listing Roselvr, and thanks for the insights, all.

We are in Wa state, close to Portland Or.

I've emailed the agent to ask about the current DOM, since I don't know what it is currently. :( I will post when I hear back. He told us when we spoke a week or 2 before Christmas that there was 16 mths worth of inventory currently. When we listed, the average DOM was about 5-6 months, I believe. I think it's longer now.

We've gone from $347 to $335 to $327, and now $318. All based on CMA's of current listings & recent sales. We feel we've bent over backwards to make it as appealing (visually) as we can..not to mention being very accommadating to showings.

We are considering another drop before our listing runs out again in March, but after that, I don't know. DH is fed up with it all. Half our belongings are in storage, we are on edge all the time, avoiding get togethers that might mess up the house, trying for months & months to keep everything "just so"..... As of now, we plan to keep trying till it sells but there is only so low we (or most people) can go with the price. Agent says it's a waiting game, that the right buyer WILL come along. It doesn't help that there are 2 other "similar" homes listed, both lower than us, but neither as nice (IMO) One started just below us pricewise around the same time (then pulled off and came back) and sits about 10K below us. Then another came on at 30K below us! We went to see it, and were not impressed. We thought ours showed much nicer, and one big difference(advantage) we have is the master bath (ours much bigger/nicer) and we have a bigger, more private lot...but honestly, as a buyer, I didn't see a 30K difference. We thought they were under priced and hoped they would sell fast but didn't. Now they have reduced another 20k. making us about 40K more. Ugh. We seem to be competetive with other listings though, sans the foreclosures & shortsales. I can't afford to, nor do I want to, GIVE my home away. We don't NEED to sell, we just want to.

We contenplated switching agents at the end of Nov when our listing ran out, but in the end decided to give him another few months, when we will re-evaluate again. To switch felt like we were blaming him for the market. So much of the inventory around here is sitting no matter who it is listed with. He has suggested dropping by a few thou every week or 2 until we get to our bottom line, but If I saw someone doing that I would just wonder "how low will they go?" and wait it out.....

We did ask about pulling off before another price reduction for a week or so..that way we don't look like we've been sitting alomst a year with out a sale. I dont know if that will really make any difference though.

We are buyers, so Im sure my perspective is very different from yoursÂ

I can't afford to, nor do I want to, GIVE my home away. We don't NEED to sell, we just want to.

From the folks I listen to, the housing market needs to correct to 2002 prices. It may go lower because of the economy and rising unemployment  but 2002 is where it should be based on historical data. IMO (and in my area of So. CA)  houses are still going for more than this so it is still a good time to sell and reap higher yields.

Out of curiosity  what would your house sell for in 2002 compared to now? And, what are the Short and REOÂs going for?

As you have been told  it only takes one buyer and there are those that will be buying. But IÂm sure it is ultra frustrating to be a seller right now.

Good luck.

Jeri

Jeri--

Thanks for posting. I have "buyer's eyes" too, since I've been actively looking for quite some time, even before we listed our place. I have also heard that pricing from years ago is more realistic, but homes here have not fallen anywhere near THAT much. (excluding Bank owned/foreclosures etc) If I could buy for 2002 pricing, I could see selling for them. It just isn't the case here.

We purchased our home in 2001 for 203,500. We had a 7% interest rate too, with excellent credit. We did re-fi a year or 2 later at 5.75. I just looked on the county tax site and found a place like ours, abeit a rundown version, that sold in 2003 for 215K. Then another in 2005 for 310K. That one was in great shape like ours was, but has 1 less bedroom. In late 2006 or early 2007 I saw a listing like ours hit the market for 369K... It was the highest price I'd seen for our floorplan anywhere in town, and although they reduced it once, it sold for 359K, and took a couple months. Our home has upgrades that this home didn't have too. Wasn't it about that time frame when things started to stall?

Each time we make a reduction we think of what we may have to sacrifice on the buying end, but decide it will be worth it to finally get an offer and be able to move on, and hope we can get a deal on the buying end too.....only to be sitting in the same boat weeks/months later. It's maddening! Do you sit and wait it out, or do you just lower it till you can't go any lower and then just give up?

I wish there was a crystal ball to tell you what the right price is so you can decide if you are willing/able to accept it. We follow the professional advice, pay attention to the comps, price within the CMA's, so what else can you do? We don't feel we are pricing unrealisticly, and when I look at homes to buy, I don't expect to get something at 2002/2003 prices either (although, it would be nice, wouldn't it!)

I just hope it picks up with the new year, the low interest rates and the new administration.

We listed for $375 in December 2007 and finally sold in September 2008 for $319. The buyers we sold to were being transferred for work (work paying closing costs), had excellent financing and wanted to settle within 3 weeks---basically our dream buyers. It just took a long time to find them.

Our house was newly rennovated and showed extremely well. However, we were up against dozens (if not hundreds) of similar houses. We had 6+ couples that saw the house 3 times each only to put offers on other houses. Very frustrating. We debated changing agents but we really couldn't find any fault with what our current ones were doing. They advertised the heck out of our house. We had open houses every other weekend for 9 months.

Ultimately, the thing that finally sold our house was pricing it significantly lower than the competition. Our traffic picked up immensely and we had 3 couples have repeat showings within 10 days of our final price reduction. Within 2 weeks we had a very strong offer (only $3K off list).

I know the PAIN of price reducing but I'm convinced that it's the only thing that will sell a house in this market. If your house is not selling, it's overpriced. If the house 40K less than yours is not selling then it's likely overpriced as well.

We go back to our old neighborhood and the houses priced higher than ours are still on the market 3 months later. In this market, pricing is everything.

Price, Price, Price. Location. Regional market.

Back to original question. We sold 2 houses this year (my wife's old house which we were renting and our primary).

#1 - listed at $214. Sold in 1 month at $211.
#2 - Originally listed at $630. Immediately dropped to $599 (we are FSBO and we just decided in 5 days that we were too high). Sold in 2 months for $570.

Now as buyers, we were thinking that we couldn't replace the house for that (ie with comparable listings). But - there is so much room for negotiation in the prices now so you can get more that you expect - ie paying $400k for that house listed for $500k.

In our (nearly best in the country) market, there are tons of people who are listed but don't have to sell. One house is on a small lake and is listed at $975 for about a year with no price reductions. The owners built a new house and moved several months ago. They apparently don't need to sell so they won't reduce the price - stupid and stubborn but they are "rich". Many of our comparables that I curriously went back and looked at are still on the market without price reductions. On the flip side - a house came and went in our price range in the neighborhood that we want. We had since decided to build but that house may have been a possibility had we seen it.

My sister owns 2 houses in LA. They moved up in a foreclosure situation last year and have a nice empty house for sale. It is paid off and they aren't going to sell - "until the market returns". I think she is crazy but she has the money. They bought in 1999 for $375. They probably are listed for $800 but could sell at $600. I could try to convince her that $600 bought into the stock market now is a better investment but we don't talk about such things.

My point is that there is tons of inventory listed by people who refuse to lower their price. So looking at listings gives you an unrealistic picture of what you can get for the money. The DOM is sometimes an illusion because of people pulling off the market - now an agent can check for you but if you are looking by yourself, you might get frustrated.

JanJan, It is going to be difficult to find a buyer that is not looking for a bargain. You seem to be pricing at the top of your market based on your house being "nicer" than the rest of the market. Few people pay extra for "nice" especially since "nice" is subjective. In today's market, people are looking for bargains. Your house at the same price as the lowest competitor might get attention because you would be offering a "nicer" house for the same price. You mentioned the updating you did and use that as a reason to keep the price up. Only problem is that buyers expect flooring and paint in good condition and if its new, that's nice, but not worth paying extra for.

If you want to keep your price up, you will just have to wait for a buyer that truly LOVES your house and will pay "extra" for it.

Looking at stuff some more, you have one photo on zillow and the quality could be a little better. At Zillow, I'd also edit as many facts as you can as there isn't any information except that it's for sale. You've done updates to it, add the updates.

I like that you can go to his website and not have to join to see your house, it's also listed as a featured home. I do think you need to read the blurb as I don't think it's correct. this lovely and charming home shows price in ownership that you would expect to find in your new home. I think the word price should be pride

At $318k sales price today and a purchase price of $201k in 2001, you are looking at a roughly 6% appreciation per year (compounded) totalling about 58%.

That is still excellent! For comparison: I bought my previous house in 2000 for $250k and sold in 2006 for $300k. I did much worse than you expect to do but still felt that it was ok.

The doom-and-gloom about the housing bubble, the economy and the financial crisis is not just made up. A huge problem for you is to find a seller who can get financing and who doesn't insist on a bargain.

If financing doesn't loosen your house can drop below $200k or into the low $100s.

I lost a lot (A LOT) of money in the stock market when a stock dropped from $40 to $13 a share in 2008. When it was at $30, I should have sold but I thought it won't go any lower...................

jrldh has a good point. Even if you sold at a lower price, say $300k, you would still come out ahead. Be careful you're not riding the market down - it sounds like that's what currently happening.

I would take a very close look at the prices of recent sales (go back since you put the house on the market) and take a look at the trends. Extrapolate the price for next month and price accordingly.

If it were me (and in 2006, it was), I wouldn't want to be the highest priced house in the neighborhood, no matter how nice. And I definitely wouldn't want to be $40K more than any other similar houses, no matter what. Then, you're just overpriced (even if you're not - if that makes any sense at all) People are looking for bargains right now.

We will likely be relocating out of state and will be dream buyers for someone - corporate relocation. For now we have a commuter marriage with DH in an apartment in the new city and me still at my job and in our house in the old city. Not going to do anything drastic like quit my job or buy/sell homes until the economy stabilizes.

We have been looking at houses in the new city. There is a lot for sale and it is not one of the more depressed parts of the country. Of all the houses we've looked at only one has sold on a contingent offer so not sure even that has really sold yet. Some others have lowered their prices a bit - others are still hanging in with the same price after many months.

As a potential buyer, I am most concerned about overpaying in a market that is still in decline. Seeing other homes in the area that are considerably lower priced raises all kinds of doubts - even if they aren't as nice as yours - in your opinion. I do think your house is about as perfect as could be for showing but it is dated (wallpaper, borders, what looks like the pickled wood finish but maybe it's just a light color). Prospective buyers may be thinking they'll have to spend some money to get it to their liking. If that's the case that may make them choose a cheaper house even if it isn't as nice as yours - in your opinion.

I think it would be really hard to keep a home looking as perfect as yours does for nine months. I would have to think long and hard about what is more important to me - enjoying my life now in what looks like a lovely home - or enduring the anxiety of trying to sell in a depressed real estate market.

Your home does look very nice in the pictures and tour listed. It's a tough market. You mentioned that you think your masterbath is much nicer then the house that is listed for 40 thousand less then yours, but I noticed that your masterbath has no door between the sink area and bedroom and also it looks carpeted which most people don't like now.

If you really want to sell you need to lower your price. I suggest lowering it to under 300 thousand but I don't know if that would be enough. That other house would still be much lower. You really don't want to keep chasing the market down. If you really want to sell you need to price it low enough to get people's interest.

We listed in May of 2007 with a local realtor with a good reputation who had been in the business for a few years. Our asking price was $10k less than the house two doors away which was a bit smaller than ours and did not have a new kitchen, bath, and other features ours had. We saw three houses that were in our neighborhood, one listed at $5k more than ours and the other two listed even higher sell in the first 3 months we had ours listed. I'm very realistic and just knew that ours wasn't being marketed effectively. Also, I could look at the good and bad in our home and knew ours was in much better condition and in a better location than two of the three that sold. Two of them were on a busy street while ours was on one of the most desired streets in our town. We ended up cancelling our listing after promises similar to yours of people who were "really interested" never materialized. We were going to forget about moving for awhile and relax about the whole selling situation.

However, I saw an article in a local paper the week after our listing was cancelled about a real go-getter in the RE business. She didn't promise to sell in any specified amount of time but this woman sold houses that others didn't, even after being listed for months. Two months after listing with her and having had three times as many showings as we had in 7 months with the other realtor, we sold our home. The couple who bought our house wanted to look at it after driving by, they hadn't been looking in our area but our home caught their eye. Their realtor called ours after hours and they saw the house at 9:00 P.M. on a Saturday night because they were scheduled to fly home the next morning. When she asked me if I would leave the dining room drapes, I knew we had sold our home. She said she walked in and knew that was it. We had come down in price about $40k, but it was only 5% of our original asking price so I was happy to sell when we did. We had also cancelled a contract we had on another home that we were going to build when our home didn't sell with our original realtor. In the long run, we ended up getting a bit less for our home, but we also bought our new home for less than we would have and received even more builders' incentives so in the long run, things worked out for the best. I know that is hard to hear but I kept telling myself that everything happens for a reason and it is true. We just need a lot of patience to believe that and keep telling yourself that whatever happens is meant to be. I'm not making light of the situation for those who have to sell and haven't been able to but I really do believe everything happens the way it's supposed to in life.

If you're not happy with your realtor, evaluate the situation and think about finding a new one if you don't think they are doing their job. Take a good, hard look at your home with a critical eye and ask your friends to tell you what you can do to improve your home. We had friends offer excellent advice but because we lived with it on a daily basis, we never saw our home the way others did. Most of all, your home has to be priced right. I've noticed in the area we left, homes have come down an average of 5 to 7% since we left and some of them were on the market at the same time ours was. If it's not priced right, it won't sell, no matter how nice it is.

Good luck to everyone and may the new year bring you a buyer for your home!

DH and I listed our house in March '08. We had originally planned to list in May but we could already see what was starting to happen in the market. We were in WA too; east of Seattle. Our agents (2 women with their own business) worked their tails off with open houses and bringing people around. We ALWAYS had people come even if it was bad timing; we cleaned up and took off! DH kept the yard gorgeous and I kept the house clean and
'staged'. We dropped our price about 3 times and finally in July we had a buyer and from start to finish we came down $50K. We felt lucky just to have sold our house ( 4 1/2 mos.) and we had lived in that home a long time so we could make the adjustments. It was stressful; I know the feeling! Good Luck to you :)