Hello,

I have been reading over this forum and got a lot of good information...I am in a unique situation that I would love to get your input.

I am in Mexico, selling my parents house. They passed away and I am the executor. I am in an area that is heavily populated by "gringos" and many are in real estate. This is a popular area to retire/move to but with the recent economy and swine flu, things have slowed down.

They do things differently down here...The total fees to sell the house comes to 8.5% (7% commission, and 15% tax)..

There is NO negotiating on this.

No one will take a listing less then 6 months...we are coming into season, so if you aren't happy with your realtor, you will miss out on the prime time to sell (if there is one:))

A realtor can not show a for sale buy owner home even if they were to pay 3.5% commission.

The brokers/realtors don't do open houses for each other like in the states. They wait till its on the mexican mls (which was started in 2004) or, they do caravan tours..one every 2 weeks. There are 12 "districts" so it takes 6 months to go through each district to look at the houses for sale! If the tour was just done for your area, you the seller would have to wait another 6 months for the caravan to come to your area!

They don't do lock boxes here, and they don't put out flyers either...

There are now about 120 Realtors (down from 140), roughly 480 houses on the market, and an average of 15 houses are selling monthly!

What can I do, to try to get my house attention?

I have had the house painted new in and out, all little things are getting fixed...major renovation was done in 2003.

I am making sure I have some fresh flowers planted ect for extra curb appeal.

I was thinking of trying to give money like a finders fee/bird dog fee to anyone that brings me a buyer (non realtor)...

Perhaps putting flyers or post cards at local hotels, B&B's offering to pay for one week of their stay if they take a look at our house and decide to buy?

I am going to try to price the house a little on the low side so that I don't do the "chasing the market" that I have been told about.

I need this house to sell quickly....

So, any creative ideas? I will try anything!

Thanks!