It sounds like you have an irremediable defect: the poor school district. You will have to take less because of that defect. Even if you find a buyer without children who would attend the school, the house is just worth somewhat less, and there's nothing you can do about this situation.

I don't know what the future will bring, but if you don't have to sell now, I don't see what you'd lose by waiting. In some sectors the market is starting to move a little more -- more sales, if not always higher prices.

Yes, I'd take the house off and only re-list once you see some movement. Perhaps the other five sellers will eventually sell and cease to be 'comps' for your house.

I'd wait and take it off the market the end of October. The weather has played a huge factor here in folks not looking. It's been so hot and humid no one wants to do much of anything except escape the heat.
If it hasn't sold by the end of October I'd pull it but not till then you may loose out on those who were waiting for cooler weather to look and move!

You can't sell a house that isn't for sale. These days you cannot freshen a listing by temporarily taking it off the market. Anyone looking seriously at your house will be able to find out how long you have had it up for sale.

Seems like groundhog day.

I think now days it is not unusual for houses to be on the market a longer time so people don't necessarily take that into a factor as much. It took 2 years for our house to sell and we pulled it off the market twice. The first time was to do a kitchen renovation and the 2nd was to have the roof replaced. Depending on how badly you need to sell, I would say stay on the market. Like graywings said, you can't sell if it isn't for sale.

Is your reason for pulling it off the market is so future lookers/buyers will think it is a fresh listing? These days, they will easily have access to data that showed previously had for sale, and all the details. So you really should just keep it up for sale.

It makes no sense to take off the market and wait for an upswing in sales. The upswing could mean that YOU missed a sale and instead they bought another home that was for sale.

IMO, maybe drop the price now another $10k if you can afford to do so(or whatever reduction price you can do). Have your agent contact the 3 second lookers that did not yet buy. The new price reduction might make them offer. Others will come looking also with the reduction.

Do not put a "reduced" rider sign and don't note it in the listing description either. Folks will know it is reduced based on the new price and the price history in the MLS system.

I think that if your house ever does sell that you should send a partial commission to this forum.

With that said, prices sell homes.

When I was looking to buy this past spring, there was a gorgeous new home (built in 2008) for sale that had EVERYTHING I wanted in a house. Move in ready, I wouldn't even have to paint (the existing colors were gorgeous). It was in the area of town I wanted, had the right school district...everything.

Thing was, its (short) backyard butted up against a rural but busy roadway.

I ruled it out immediately because of that.

Then...they started the price drops. Over the course of 6 months I watched the price drop from 245k to to 235k to 220k. At that point, it caught my interest again because the price started to come close to making me "overlook" the drawback of the road. I started thinking, "Well, I could fence it in..." etc.

Fortunately, I found another house that I loved that did not have cars barreling past my patio furniture and everyone lived happily ever after.

Moral of the story is...everything will sell--at the right price. You just haven't gotten low enough yet.

...and stay on the market.

Oh, I also want to point out what was obvious to me, but may not have been clear in my first post--

Had that house with the road in the backyard been priced at their lowest to begin with, I may have bought it instead. That house, at the low price, would have been better than anything else I was seeing at the time. By the time they came down low enough in price, though, new houses had come on the market--one of which was the one I loved and ultimately purchased.

Like others have said, even if you pull it off the market, a buyer's realtor can tell how long the house has been on market total. Especially if the realtor is familiar with the area and knows what houses have come and gone.

When I was buying a house, two things popped in my mind when I saw a house that had been on the market more than 100 days:

1. The seller is priced too high, or the seller is unreasonable won't negotiate/doesn't work well with others (The two issues are interrelated - if the seller won't budge on price than they could be considered unreasonable to a buyer).
2. There is something wrong with the house.

I found that it was a mix of 1 and 2. Most aggravating was #1. Houses that aren't in great condition can be repaired and fixed. Cantankerous and stubborn sellers can't be repaired and fixed.

Not saying thats you at all, I'm saying thats what went through my head when looking at houses with my realtor.

It may depend on the area. As I posted in the thread on my house. The average DOM for houses that sell is over 400 days. Even when we bought our house (in a good market) the average time to sell was about a year. These are custom houses on acreage that are unique enough that they tend to take awhile to sell. I don't think that buyers in this area think it is unusual for houses to be on the market for a long time. A sale in less than 100 days is very unusual.

I think it helps to relist. We've been looking at houses for the past few months. The first thing I ask my Realtor is how long the house has been listed. My thinking is the sellers are tired, have to move and will be easier to get the price down.

I never asked my RA to research a house to see if it was relisted. I saw the DOM as a positive to get a better price.

We closed on our home this past March. It was listed in June. By the end of July, my RA agency changed ownership and my house was pulled for two weeks. I had nothing to do with it, all their listings were pulled and put back on. It gave us time to get fresh pictures of the house and property and we decided to lower the price $40,000. When it went back on the market we got lots of traffic. Many were second lookers. We got three offers that week. The buyers had first seen the house in June and made an offer after the new listing/price change.

The strange part of this story was the wife came alone in June and saw the house. Loved it and we thought she was coming back with her husband. In August, the husband came alone with his child. Loved the house but hated our driveway. A week later, they came together and the wife realized it was the house she saw in June. They made an offer that day.

I'm not sure whether the price drop was the reason or the fresh listing. I think the fresh listing put us up on the list again, and the price drop made our driveway less important.

Jane

5 months is not really too long. Are you with a regular realtor/broker? Also is the school district really that bad? You be surprised what the definition of poor school district is. Also do you/agent bring it up? After all the houses sell in the inner cities all the time. And school districts do get better with different people. Do other houses sell in the district?

The 4 second looks were turned off by what? Old paint, dated bathrooms, too much clutter? what did the agent say? Spring is great time to sell. Did you consider "pricing it to sell"?. How much do you need to walk away with?