Why are you starting this all over again? Do you think we've forgotten your earlier (but quite recent) posts, and the answers you got re either lowering the price again or just not listing at this time? Huh?

I think you need to look at your long term plan. You say you can stay in this house another year. What does that mean? Does it mean that you really need to move out next year? Or does it mean you could stay in the same house for several more years?

If you need to be out next year, then I would cut the price and make your house the best bargain in your price range. If you don't need to sell, then you need to decide what you want. Do you want to sell and move on with your life? Or are you just trying the market? Buyers don't care if you can only go so low on your price. They are looking for a bargain. They are only willing to buy your house at a certain price. If buyers don't like your house because of location, then you have to discount for that. I don't know your specific market, but I'd be prepared for prices to continue to go down for a while. If you want to sell, cut your losses and move on.

Are there any industries or major employers in your area? I don't know how well this would work, but you could print up some fliers and target a few businesses that might be hiring new employees. Your house might be perfect for someone new coming into the area.

What if you gave the real estate agents an incentive to sell your house? Could you make it known (maybe on the listing?) that whichever real estate agent brought you a buyer who made an acceptable offer and ended up purchasing your house would be the agent you would use when you purchased your new house?
Not sure if that's legal, but it seems to me that it would be a good incentive to agents to get your house sold.
You may have to have a contract of some sort drafted between you and the agent.
Just a thought.

So now you want to have an increasingly old listing at a price that's too high?

If you don't lower your price, I'd give up the thought of moving. Period.

How much is it worth to you to be able to move to a more ideal location?

It's either worth taking a loss on your house or it's not. If moving is not worth taking a loss on your house, then take it off the market. If moving is worth enough to you, you'll pay the price it costs you to accomplish. You'll cut the price of the house, even if you have to bring money to the table.

People don't buy a $5 candy bar, unless they're trapped in an airport and have no other choices. They have 3 for $1 choices right now.

If you have given yourself a year to sell and it's only been 3 months, then you have another 9 months to go. Remember, it's only been 3 months, so do all you know you can do and stop worrying. I would not chase the market. If you are at your lowest price point, then keep it there for the next 9 months. Someone will eventually buy your home. Keep your chin up!

Because the seller of a house on our block "couldn't afford to lower the price", the house sat vacant for almost 4 years. It just sold at 60% of the 2007 listing price.

Good luck, raya.

A terse response Larke, but I have to agree that the only way to go now is to wait it out or lower the price or both.

We recently sold a house for full asking price which had 2 offers in 3 weeks. Did we ask what I would have liked? No, but it was priced to sell as we were motivated sellers being in the process of building another one.
I think that Raya knows that she has to lower the price but she really feels that she cannot. If you don't need to relocate then the market may be telling you loud and clear to stay put.

Terse, if it hadn't all been gone over and over in a previous thread, with many people trying to help, and the poster coming back with new threads, not just posts, and the saying the same things as today along with others. It was almost creepy to see this new one saying the same things, as if the old one had never existed.

larke,good point. The saying, "beating a dead horse" comes to mind; but this is probably a reflection of the poster's anxiety. She could be in true economic hardship. Sorry, raya, talking as if you are not there!

It's "Groundhog Day"!

over and over and over......

Seriously? This again?

Raya--your house is overpriced. It's not going to sell.

If you didn't receive any traffic at the tail end of the homebuyer's credit during April, your house sure isn't going to get any attention now that the government handout is over.

It's all the same story, keep it all in the same thread. This is "Buying and Selling Homes" Forum, not "Raya's Blog".

I would recommend that everyone just stop responding. You know they say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, but somehow expecting a different result each time.

Folks,

So what if the OP has posted similar questions before? Is she doing anything illegal or against the terms? Scroll on by if it bothers you. Anyone who has ever sold a house knows how stressful it can be even in a good market. We all need reassurance sometimes even if it means having the same conversation more than once. Some of these responses to Raya are very unkind. That bothers me more to read that to see a repeated question.

False reassurances are not helpful to anyone.

Raya has repeatedly asked "What will it take to sell my house" in 20 different ways. In her first 6-10 threads on this subject, people took the time to read her concerns, look at her links, research her market, and compose thoughtful responses to her questions and to offer experienced advice.

Over the course of the last three months, Raya has glossed over all of this advice and wisdom, ignoring what she doesn't want to hear and hanging on to well-wishers offering platitudes that appeal to her desire to be comforted.

Basically, a whole lot of people have taken the time to read and respond to her many, many threads and she's done nothing but ignore everyone. Now, speaking for me, I don't want to hear it anymore. If she doesn't want listen to my advice (or at a minimum, respond intelligently to it), then for goodness sakes quit asking for it!

I don't see anyone giving false assurance.

Raya has made some of the changes and updates that have been suggested. She hasn't dropped her price to where the house will sell yet, but dropping a price and seeing your hard earned money go 'poof' is hard for all of us. It's our dreams and security that go with it. I was fortunate when I sold my house last year that I could afford to sell at market price conditions. Not everyone has been so lucky even when they've made good buying decisions.

If a poster needs to be told that they need to drop their price more and bring money to the table, I don't have a problem with that. If it takes saying things a few times so a person has time to adjust to the reality of the situation, I don't have a problem with that either. I don't have a problem with bluntness if something needs to be said. Some of these comments in this thread have been unnecessarily mean and there is no excuse for that.

I'm off to Camp Grandpa for a few days so I don't have time to respond to anymore comments. Have a good week!

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to Listing

BTW - I think the actual thread count is 6 over a period of 2 months. It would have been nice to keep it in 1 thread so everyone could literally be on the same page, but I wouldn't consider this anywhere near abusive in thread starting .

"How long would you stay on the market trying to sell?
We are only advertisied in the newspaper classifieds and online. Would you advertise anymore? "

Personally, I would keep the house on the market through summer even if you aren't lowering the price. It certainly isn't going to hurt anything if you don't really "need" to sell.

BTW - you aren't "giving the house away" when you sell at market price. You are currently waiting and hoping someone will overpay for your place. That if fine if you have the time to do it. If you "need" to sell sometime in the future, you will need to price it accordingly.

Lower the price or take the house off the market.

I am new to this poster--
the point that caught my eye was where the OP said that they wanted to move EAST for better commute or EASE their commute--not sure which--but acknowledged that her location is not where most people want to buy/live...

when you have location that is not the best you have to compensate buyers into taking what they know is less than A-list
that means a price that YOU might think is too low but to them is reasonable...

I did listen and dropped the price $20,000. We are now getting consistent showings. We also are now listed with a flat rate service and offering commission to buyer's agents.

Thank you to everyone who offered positive advice. I really appreciate it!

We had a second showing Saturday morning and were told we are in the top three. Since we are now listed with a flat rate service we don't have a realtor to check on the status. How long do peole wait to make an offer after shwoings? I am starting to think we got passed over.

Check in with the agent who told you you were in the top 3. But, it IS Father's Day and maybe the potential buyers are taking some extra time for celebration or consideration. I'd wait till Monday and if you still haven't heard anything ....

Good Luck.

i'd ask my agent to show/tell me what was selling in my area and at what price
it's one thing for the realtor to tell you what you don't want to hear, but quite another to see for yourself

good luck
your place looks very nice

I took my home off the market after two 6 month periods covering two springs and summers following the market down turn. We used two different agents from separate companies. No luck selling it even though we priced it at their suggested prices and dropped the price when they asked.

We opted not to place it back on the market this spring. We only had 12 people come (averaging 1 person per month) We almost sold it a couple of times, but people ended up buying homes in other areas. (It turned out our HS was torn up and is just now getting finished). These were the only two people who actually ended up buying other homes in the area. The rest were looking but did not purchase while our home was on the market.

The problem is the upper end market in our area has been very slow unless it was newly built and now that market is completely dead.

We took our home off the market and invested some more money in the home last fall to update it. Everything we did will make it more saleable in the future, but we will enjoy it for now (I loved my new gas fireplace insert that we installed this past winter!).

We will try again some day when my husband decides to retire. He decided to extend his retirement age because of the economy.

If you have to sell your home in this market, then sell it ... but accept that you may have to "give it away" to move. If you are lucky you will find another home that is in your price range that you like.

If you really don't have to move.. then stay put and try to wait out the slow market. Hopefully it will turn around in a few years.