Hmm, I have always thought that a buyer who makes a low offer expects a counter. But in this buyer's market I suppose a lot of buyers are just moving on to the next house - unless they fall in love with yours. As I have mentioned in the past I work as an assistant to an agent. We recently had a situation where we received a low offer, and the offer included a clause stating that the buyers were making offers (all low) on several houses, and even if the sellers accepted their offer it would not be binding until the buyers acknowledged it. So obviously they were really shopping for the most desperate seller. In this case the sellers just rejected the offer outright, and fortunately received another offer the next day that they were able to work with.

As the seller, you can instruct your agent to counter-offer. However, don't be surprised if the sellers don't accept it, if your market is really bad. But it doesn't hurt to try.

I think you should always counter, to show that you're wanting to sell and willing to compromise. WHAT you counter will send a clear message. We've been low-balled twice. I countered high, to let them know I wanna sell, but I'm not willing to give the house away. The buyers came up TREMENDOUSLY each time.

When it came time for us to buy, I was worried about insulting sellers, but my realtor urged in this market, it's not uncommon to low-ball just to "test the waters." He said we could always offer again, just higher. To our surprise, our sellers were VERY motivated, making considerable drops with each counter (so we kept pushing). When we hit near their bottom (and we knew we were getting close), they still countered back $1000, just to show good faith, I believe, to which we accepted their offer.

Here in Phoenix, just because the neighbors sold for $XX last month, doesn't mean you'll get that as well. The median housing price is going DOWN, not up. Last two comps in my neighborhood went for $415 and were way worse than mine. I'm selling for $400 and consider myself lucky to get out know before it goes down even more! I suspect Tucson isn't far off.

Prepare for the worst, and hope for the best, is what I think your realtor might be trying to say to you!

Whether to counter or not depends entirely on how much one needs to sell & at what price point. I don't mean desired price point. I mean at what point can a seller no longer complete the transaction due to lack of funds.

So, if a seller receives an offer & their backs are against a wall...then, no they probably will not counter. They'll feel fortunate to have a willing buyer & be ready to get on with their lives.

What's your agent is describing is the marketplace beginning its process of flushing out those who really need to sell.

/tricia

terriks - We recently had a situation where we received a low offer, and the offer included a clause stating that the buyers were making offers (all low) on several houses, and even if the sellers accepted their offer it would not be binding until the buyers acknowledged it. So obviously they were really shopping for the most desperate seller. In this case the sellers just rejected the offer outright, and fortunately received another offer the next day that they were able to work with.

I don't blame those sellers, even in this tough market. I wonder if the buyers were bluffing because honestly, how many houses does a couple find that they like enough to write offers? When I have bought in the past, it has usually been between 2 or 3 houses max. I think this is a horrible tactic and I have to think that karma will bite those buyers in the bum.

jkom - I've never sold in a market like this. The first time I sold was a normal market and the time before this, a strong seller's. I just can't believe that a buyer does not expect a counter. It just leaves too much room for them to take advantage and we won't allow that to happen to us. We're willing to compromise and negotiate, but we also won't be pushed under a bus.

Julie - I completely agree. This is why I was so surprised because I always thought countering was a given unless the offer was something the seller is willing to accept outright. I also think that buyers are lowballing right now to test the waters and I feel not countering is showing all your cards and leaves room open to be nickled and dimed during the inspection. Of course, it depends on the offer and how lowball it is.

The realtor said that things are actually picking up here. It could be because it's getting into snowbird season, but that our price is not too high. Gotta trust her on this one since she's got 22 years experience. I was concerned things would slow down getting closer to the holidays, but she said that it can actually be quite busy during the rush up to Thxgiving and even up to Christmas.

You're right - what one house sold for is not an indication of what we will get in this market, but it's certainly a starting point and gives us leverage when we do counter. Which we will. DH and I already agreed, we just can't not counter. It doesn't make sense not to.

I think that is exactly what she was trying to tell me and to prepare for worst case scenario.

tricia - well, we do need to sell, but we still have time. Our backs aren't against the wall - yet. We're lucky, we have lots of equity, we're not stuck that way - thank god! It's certainly a fine balance, eh?

Hi sparksals - Yes we countered back and forth with all three buyers. First buyer came in really low so we only countered a little then she came up quite a bit. Second was low plus they wanted all their closing costs so we countered at the sales price with only $5k towards closing and they accepted.

Now with third buyers (and everything is pointing to a successful closing with these buyers), they came in about $15k below asking price but since they are VA, our realtor told us we'd need to pay for the title insurance so we countered in the middle and they accepted. We've since had about $600 in repairs requested and used the w/d as a bargaining tool to only do 4 of the 5 repairs. Everyone has signed off on all of this so now we're waiting for the underwriting (should be finished by Friday). Our REA called last night to say he's been checking with the lender and everything is looking great - appraisal is fine, everything is on track to close on the 30th.

I think this time of year in Tucson is still a good time to be on the market as the influx of snowbirds greatly increases as the weather starts to get colder in the rest of the country.

Julie is right on the money about comparisons to other properties. I did the same thing - thinking that our house is better than the house next door or 3 doors down. Ultimately, it doesn't matter as it's all about the buyer and whether or not they fall in love with your house.

You may want to suggest to your REA to target DM and the U of A as you're in a price range that's attractive to both military and grad. students. Couldn't hurt!

A blanket statement that buyers are not countering is ridiculous. So if the offer price is 80% you should just accept it? At some point you may have to come to terms with selling at a lower than expected price and maybe a 90% offer IS what you will have to accept to get sold. But a blanket statement.....

Wait until you see what comes in.

Let me get this straight. Your realtor wants you to keep the price high (which will reduce the # of buyers who actually look at your house) then give in to anything that this reduced pool of buyers wants. I don't see how that makes any sense.

When I was looking for a house I wouldn't even put a bid in on a house where I needed more than a 10% reduction. I didn't think that sellers would be willing to negotiate more than 10% off the price of their house and I didn't want to waste my effort putting together an offer on something that I wasn't going to get.

As for not countering the offer, this sounds like the realtor just wanting to get a deal done. You want to get the best deal but the realtor doesn't get paid unless a deal gets done. So they are more interested in just getting a deal done. They don't want to risk offending the buyer (my how things have changed LOL).

Most things I have read make it seem like there is a lot of demand for housing just not at the prices people are asking. If you aren't getting any offers I would lower the price by 10%. At least that will give you some offers. And I would definately counter any offer. But remember that your counter offer makes a statement to the buyer. A counter offer that is too high may send a signal that you are not willing to negotiate.

We are closing on Tuesday on a home that we offered $15K below asking, asked for $5K toward closing costs AND included a contingency to sell our home by the end of the year.

No counter at all. Just signed off on it.

We really thought the contingency would be an issue and at a minimum expected a counter of something (anything... LOL!). While I was happy, of course, the negative for them is that by not countering, I walked away feeling like I'd offered to much and wondering what the true bottom was. Consequently, post-inspection I used that window to ask for much more than I ever would have thought about normally.

Granted, I was dropping the sale contingency and moving the closing up to within a month, so it became a sure-thing for them. I asked for another $10K off price and they gave me $5K, when the actual repairs are going to come in at around a thousand and are nothing so egregious that they couldn't have said "forget it; not doing it".

Mind you, I'm that rare buyer right now who doesn't need to move, fell in love with a particular house that I would have bought at their asking price and has the resources to own two before I get truly panicky about it. (Not the desire, mind you!) So I understand that they did what they felt they needed to in this marked to get their house sold (they have already moved to another state) but it did hurt them financially to not at least have thrown a counter out there.

How I feel about all this when I start getting lowball offers and I'm carrying two homes ... well, that we'll have to see. lol

This is all so theoretical. I'd decide once I get an offer.

I always felt that any offer was the beginning of negotiations (both as a buyer and a seller). Don't take a lowball offer as an insult - it's a place to start with negotiations. If it's a really ridiculous number (like more than 25% off of your asking price), you can choose to only come down a little bit - that shows you're willing to negotiate but you're not going to "give" your house away.

This all assumes that the asking price isn't over-inflated in the first place. That's hard to know in this declining market. Unfortunately, until things level out, you can't compare your house to others even if others sold only a few months ago.

So, sparksals, at $240k I think you're still in the range of people looking below $250k. But I have a concern about listing high. We fell for that from our first REA and really regret our original listing price. At the time, it seemed a good idea but I think it really kept the "right" buyer from seeing our house. It wasn't until we dropped to $385k that we got our first offer (we listed in Feb. for $419k) and that was after 5 months on the market.

If you haven't had a lot of interest, it's because of price.

Negotiations are just that...negotiations. They are not cast in stone. Either party is free to toss anything they'd like on the table.

Man, as a lender...I've seen many an offer come across my desk that I just said, "SOLD!" & never bothered to counter. Many times, I've even felt like I should voluteer to help the buyers pack! lol

It's pretty difficult, if not downright impossible, to generalize such statements as, "Sellers not countering is now the norm?" Offers may, or may not, be more weighted towards a buyers' unwillingness to raise their initial offer but every transaction is unique unto itself.

I agree completely though with the statement, "If you haven't had a lot of interest, it's because of price." Everything sells at the right price point. So, if buyers are not bellying up to the bar at your current price...you're too high. It's really that simple.

Even a property like that wonderful house we saw over last weekend in Tennessee on the 47 acres of gorgeous real estate. Priced right, it will sell. Priced incorrect, and it will sit & sit. (I 'think' they got an offer, right? Hope so.)

Comps are not very useful in markets like today's. Today's market is a fast moving target in many places in the country. By the time a deed's recorded the price no longer represents real-time data. Anybody who's ever tried to sell a rapidly declining stock on a market order understands the concept of getting out in front of the market. Either use a limit order & be prepared not to sell or get out in front of the decline quickly & consider yourself lucky.

/tricia

Each offer has to be individually evaluated to determine whether or not to counter. It's difficult to give a blanket statement to not counter offer when it's obvious that some offers won't be acceptable under any circumstances.

In our area homes are actually selling again, but prices are down. What would have sold for $230,000 - $240,000 last summer is being snapped up for between $190,000 and $200,000. There is so much inventory that bargain hunters are focusing on how much of a bargain they can find rather than finding the perfect house. If that's the case in your area, buyers may not want to deal with your counter offer but instead will move on to another "bargain".

To me, if the offer is unacceptably low, counter, you have nothing to lose. If the offer is reasonably close to what you expect to get from the home accept the offer but with the contingency that since you're taking such a low offer you're only going to offer a small dollar amount for any repairs that the inspection finds. This lets the buyers know that you're not entertaining the idea of renegotiating the price after the inspection.

Sparksals, how have showings been? If you're not getting 5-7 showings a week or they've really slowed down, I'd consider dropping to $225 and leaving it at that to refreshen the listing and perhaps grab a few more buyers. I never got feedback about my price, but you can surely know if you don't have an influx of people those first 2-3 weeks, there's something wrong with your listing/photos or price that isn't bringing people in. It's all about numbers, the more people you get in the door, the more likely you are to find your buyer.

My husband and I have sold two houses this year and bought a third house. On the first house we sold, we did not counter. The offer was slightly above the list price, but the buyer wanted $3k in closing costs. The bottom line was acceptable to us, so we saw no need to counter. On the second sale, we countered twice. We almost didn't the second time because we, especially DH, had become really disgruntled with the buyers at that point. They just seemed so unwilling to budge. But in the end, we REALLY wanted the house sold (we'd already made an offer on another house), and accepted their second counter, which included paying $2k in closing costs. It was less $ than what we wanted, but at some point you have to compromise if you want to move ahead. On the house we bought, the sellers accepted our offer as is. The offer was $8k below asking ($14k below original list price) and included a contingency to sell our home within three months. (We barely made it.)

Sounds to me like your agent is preparing you for reality--this is a really bad market for sellers--while still trying to remain positive. This market is unlike anything you have probably ever experienced. She wants you to be prepared to bend over backward for buyers. They, unfortunately, have the upper hand. You very well may have to come down on price more than you want to, pay closing costs, and throw in your appliances as part of the deal.

If you sold it at the $240,000 asking price (no discounts, points, closing costs, etc.) and pay a 6% commission the commission would be $14,400. If you sell at $215,000, the commission is $12,900. A difference of only $1,500. Call me cynical, but I'd rather have a guaranteed $12,900 in the hand than wait months and months for a maybe $14,400. The broker may not be looking out for your best interests.

Fairygirl -thanks for the info. I have a feeling my realtor was trying to get me to prepare for the worst, hope for the best. I already emailed her and told her that depending on the offer, we will be countering as we do not wish to be doormats. She also said that it does get busier this time of year with the snowbirds and that there was a story on the news just the other day that things are picking up.

When we listed with this set of realtors, she didn't feel it was too high because she went by the solds, not the comps on the market, with the solid comp selling a couple weeks previous at $242K. Now that we've been with them for 25 days, I'm re-thinking the price and contemplating going down to low $230's. I agree that it's because of price and that an offer is the beginning of negotiations, not a way to just give the house away. Of course, if the offer is decent, then we may accept it right off the bat, but we're not giving the sun, moon and stars.

xamsx - I agree. I thought it was a very strange blanket statement. I am very confident about these realtors and I'm very happy with them. The one I spoke to normally deals in high end listings, so she may not be thinking that the numbers mean alot more to us than they would to someone selling a $700K home. $50K off of a home like that is nothing, but the same amount off a home under $250K even with our equity is a huge financial hit.

Chris - I completely agree with you on all counts. I wouldn't put an offer on a home if I wasn't willing to pay at least 90% of asking. I firmly believe that buyers expect counters and negotiations, after all, they wouldn't put an offer in unless they like the house. Of course, the situation terriks described is very unusual, but I think karma will bite them in the bum down the road.

cordovamom - To me, if the offer is unacceptably low, counter, you have nothing to lose. If the offer is reasonably close to what you expect to get from the home accept the offer but with the contingency that since you're taking such a low offer you're only going to offer a small dollar amount for any repairs that the inspection finds. This lets the buyers know that you're not entertaining the idea of renegotiating the price after the inspection.

This is the exact situation I am trying to circumvent. If we accepted the first lowball offer with no negotiations, that could leave room for them to walk all over us during inspection. I like your suggestion about adding the contingency about not being nickeled and dimed post inspection.

Julie - we've had two showings. The problem is, our competition is on the other side of I-10 in a newer area that has about 100 homes for sale. Downfall of those homes is that they have small lots, they are literally thisclose to each other, very little landscaping and not the greatest school district. Our area is mature, large lots, excellent school district, closer to all ammenities.

So, when a realtor is taking people out, they can stick pretty much to that one area and be able to find a house the buyer wants. It's also very strange because our area has always been highly desirable.

Our realtors have had OH's every weekend, fully advertised. Last weekend only had one visitor and I'm thinking it was because of the long weekend. She's having another this Sunday, so hopefully we'll get more traffic.

There's also an Agent's Open next Wed. We'll get some good feedback from that and it will give us good exposure.

I don't think there's anything wrong with our photos or listing. She chose not to include a kitchen photo because when we were listed with the first realtor, she considered showing our home to a buyer, but discounted it solely because the kitchen photo made the room look smaller than it is. When she saw it in person, she was amazed. I did ask her if we should try retaking kitchen photos because when I'm looking at houses in Minneapolis online, I discount all homes that don't have kitchen photos.

Terrig - I think you're right that she's trying to prepare us for reality.

sue - I think she is looking out for us. I don't doubt that at all. She has been in the business 22 years and has a stellar reputation. Her reasoning is that we will get more money selling at a higher price than if we lower it.

I've already emailed her and said that we intend to counter and negotiate in good faith unless the offer is something we can live with. I also stated we want to reduce the price. The question is whether to do it before the Agent's Open or after.

I've got my fingers crossed for you, sparksals! I do think things are picking up a bit in Tucson with the large influx of snowbirds still to come. I really hope you get some interested buyers soon! It's so easy to start questioning all the decisions you've made, price points, marketing strategies, etc. when you're only getting a few showings and no offers.

Thanks FG. It's so discouraging and my mind tries rattling out different scenarios in order to get people in here. Houses in our neighbourhood are selling and I hope our price reduction gets more lookers.

I think countering is actually a good idea for more than just the obvious reason of getting a higher price.

I think it shows the buyer that you value your home and it doesn't make you look so desperate.

Sometimes when a buyer's offer is accepted off the bat they start to wonder if they offered too much. A reasonable counter makes both the buyer and the seller feel like a good compromise has been met if they come to agreement.

I think 'meeting in the middle' is a great response. You may not get them to say yes, but it is a very nice and friendly response and not one that would make a buyer feel that the seller isn't serious and would walk away. At least not most buyers!

I would be careful with countering too high and saying no to too much, but I think that giving a good counter offer in response to an initial offer is something that can actually strenthen a transaction.

I think countering is actually a good idea for more than just the obvious reason of getting a higher price.

I think it shows the buyer that you value your home and it doesn't make you look so desperate.

Sometimes when a buyer's offer is accepted off the bat they start to wonder if they offered too much. A reasonable counter makes both the buyer and the seller feel like a good compromise has been met if they come to agreement.

I think 'meeting in the middle' is a great response. You may not get them to say yes, but it is a very nice and friendly response and not one that would make a buyer feel that the seller isn't serious and would walk away. At least not most buyers!

I would be careful with countering too high and saying no to too much, but I think that giving a good counter offer in response to an initial offer is something that can actually strenthen a transaction.

I think you should always counter, even if it's high~the buyer will realize you're aiming for a higher price rather than his lowball offer. After having my dual listing, I found out you need to list closer to the price you expect to get. That $399 low brought in people who could never even get close to my *then* expected $425. Since then, i've dropped the price twice, and will be dropping again to $415. That SHOULD bring in people who are looking around that price, and if I have to drop $5,000-$10,000 more, i'll have to live with that if I really want to sell.

The market in SD is far worse than I ever expected it to be. At least your open houses have brought in 'live bait'. Open houses here are useless. People are either at the mall, or home watching football.

A blanket statement that you should accept any offer is absurd. I'll offer $10 bucks for your house if your agent really means it.

My point is, as SOME point you have to either reject or counter-offer. Not every offer will be workable, let alone reasonable.

The overall vibe of your message regarding what your agent is saying doesn't make sense to me but I may be missing something.

I think if someone takes the time to make an offer- no matter how bad- you should take the time to counter it even if the counter IS the asking price or slightly off. I usually add to the other agent- we want to play ball with you but we need to be in the same ballpark. GO SOX!

Sparksals, sorry to say it, but if you have only had 2 showings in the last 25 days, with the competition across the way you described, I think you should drop that price to 225 fast! And before the agent tour! That's the perfect time to snag some agents shopping for their current clients.

You need something enticing to get buyers in the door and your listing/photos aren't doing it. But a competitive price will! Even in this horrible Phoenix market, there are still houses selling for list and above in record times! One in my neighborhood had three bidders and went for 25K over list. One in a neighborhood I was looking in went for $5K over list and under contract within a week. If the house is worth it, people will pay for it. Just because your price is $XX, doesn't mean you'll always get less. Even our last list price was $400K and that's what we're selling for now. Our buyer knows he's getting a deal and the house is worth it.

Fundamentals:
1) how much was your house worth in 1999 (pre-bubble)? Appreciate at 4%/year (inflation) and that is roughly what your house should be worth today--absent a crazy spectulative bubble.
2) What could you get in rent for your house? If the house is fundamentally well priced a buyer should be able to buy with a fixed 30 year loan, and pay PITI+maintenance with rent income.

We are coming off the biggest housing bubble this country has ever seen so home prices have been WAY above fundamentals (think P/E ratio for tech stocks in early 2001). In the coming crash, prices will drop below fundamentals as everyone runs as far away from real estate as they can get.

So you need to ask, "is my asking price in line with fundamentals?" and "is the offer at or above fundamentals?" Last year's or last month's comp don't really mean a thing in a rapidly collapsing market. And anyone who thinks things are going to "pick up" in the next few months has no idea of how real estate cycles play out.

If a knife-catcher offers more than your house is fundamentally worth, TAKE IT, and think yourself lucky to find someone willing to catch a falling knife. The longer you wait the less your house fetch on the market.

Comps should always be based on the "sold" prices - the only caveat to that is that the sold prices don't generally reflect the concessions - like closing costs. My previous agent used to read those MLS reports and factor the concessions in. Not that I particularly like the lower numbers that she would come up with - as a seller.

Now as a buyer, I insist my agent read those darn things like a hawk - but here in Maine - from the sold reports she sends me - the agents don't note the amount of the concessions. There appears to be some traditional amount they will agree to pay as "points" so I try to factor that in when I discuss the pricing for a particular house in a particular neighborhood.

Never under any circumstances would I base the offer I make using numbers from the listing prices. Though I have seen several agents try that tactic and their houses are still sitting. Empty I might add.

You might be better off lowering the price to increase traffic and interest. Depends on how badly you need to sell, but I have read and like it's been said here, pricing a house these days can be a lot like trying to hit a moving target.

Best of luck to you. I've been there.

MP

What I have been reading is that in some markets people that don't qualify for what a house is selling for are walking them anyway and bidding on them. I think that this may be what your agent is seeing with not countering. The reason they may not counter is because they can't.

From what I've read, sellers have posted because their time was wasted and can't understand why an agent even showed their house. They've now asked that it not be shown without someone pre-qualifying for that amount.

If someone does qualify and lowballs, it's because they are trying to see how low the seller will go. There are a few instances where the seller has done their homework and has comps to back up the low offer.

One never knows when they will find the right seller that will accept the low offer. Look at your MIL and how lucky those buyers were.

Just throwing something out here. While we talk a lot about the price bubble - there was also a "time sold" bubble. In the hot housing market houses sold pretty fast if they weren't out and out junk or in a crack neighborhood.
Have expectations increased of how long it takes to sell? I have no idea. In a "normal" market and "normal" appreciation - how long do you think it should take? Everybody on this thread is panicing - 25 days! OMG!
You know, I don't think that's really that long is it?
What was the average DOM for say - the past 20 years in your area?

Over my 35 years involved in residential real estate, I've always flown with 90 days being the window.

/t

Every market we've lived in has had a different avg DOM. That said, I don't think we've ever lived in an area where avg DOM was greater than 90, and was actually closer to 60 in most cases. We've been fortunate that none of our homes in the last 30 years have taken longer than 10 days to sell. I think that I'd be freaking out in this market with houses sitting so long in comparison to years of old.

25 DOM without an offer isn't so concerning, it's 25 DOM with only TWO SHOWINGS! At that rate, the house could sit a very very long time. It's all a numbers game, and first, you have to get people in the door.

How many houses sold last month? 3000? That's 2998 buyers that choose not to look at that house, for whatever reason. Listing, marketing, photos, price? You have to deeply consider it all, "see" what a buyer sees, to figure out what's keeping them from viewing the house.

hoboken - I think countering is actually a good idea for more than just the obvious reason of getting a higher price.

I think it shows the buyer that you value your home and it doesn't make you look so desperate.

Sometimes when a buyer's offer is accepted off the bat they start to wonder if they offered too much. A reasonable counter makes both the buyer and the seller feel like a good compromise has been met if they come to agreement.

I think 'meeting in the middle' is a great response. You may not get them to say yes, but it is a very nice and friendly response and not one that would make a buyer feel that the seller isn't serious and would walk away. At least not most buyers!

I would be careful with countering too high and saying no to too much, but I think that giving a good counter offer in response to an initial offer is something that can actually strenthen a transaction.

This is my EXACT line of thinking on all counts. Glad to know I'm not crazy. Trust me, I'm feeling like I am some days. We don't want to appear to be desperate or a doormat. Accepting whatever they offer without countering could make them feel like they offered too much and then give them the idea to try to get further reductions after the inspection.

Julie Sparksals, sorry to say it, but if you have only had 2 showings in the last 25 days, with the competition across the way you described, I think you should drop that price to 225 fast! And before the agent tour! That's the perfect time to snag some agents shopping for their current clients.

You need something enticing to get buyers in the door and your listing/photos aren't doing it.

Out of curiosity, where do you get the $225K number?

I think the areas on the other side of I-10 are definitely not as desirable and as mentioned in another thread, people are often settling for houses that have less ammenities to get the deal, without thinking about long term consequences of buying in an area that will ultimately cost them more in landscaping, fence building, poor school district etc.

Add to it such a large inventory over there and a realtor can take buyers shopping and usually find a house in one or two days. There are 60 homes for sale in a small area, but much larger than ours. Our area is small - about 200 homes with 10 on the market ranging from foreclosures to those needing tonnes of TLC and updates.

It's a tough pill to swallow and I do have to talk to the realtor about whether the price drop will be best prior to the AO or not. I really do trust her experience and I think my apprehension is more stress and frustration.

Price drop inevitable. To 225K, not so sure. That's what we were hoping to get and I was thinking of dropping to $230K. *sigh*

Price drop inevitable. To 225K, not so sure. That's what we were hoping to get and I was thinking of dropping to $230K. *sigh*

Are you a member at city data? If so can you send me a direct message? I have an idea, and it's part of my plan but I don't want to post it. Maybe it will be something that you can do to generate interest?

I know the houses on the other side are poorer, but the fact that there's many that are for sale and convienent to a realtor to just stick over there to show houses -- with that many to choose from, one might find something before coming over to your house, KWIM?

$225 is the next big increment down that snags another price bracket. It also looks more like a deal in people's heads than 220 or 230 -- all the 25, 50, 75, or 100 numbers are significant increments.

Much to think about, and no easy choice. Been there! Good luck!

Rose - I PM'd you over there. You can also email me from my profile here.

Julie - It's so frustrating! Realtor recco'd a large enough price drop to generate interest, but to wait until after the Agent's open on Wed as she wants to see if there's anything she's missing. Gonna go with her advice on this, but the price drop will be after the AO. She said $5K drops do diddely squat, so we're going to reduce to $229K.

Tough pill to swallow since a smaller house got $242K. They had a pool, but also was split level. THose don't go very well here.

On the plus side, we had more people at the OH yesterday than we had combined in all the previous ones. Most came from the newspaper ad, others saw the signs. All positive feedback, one commented price. Most people were starting their search, so just feeling what's out there. Geee! It would be nice if serious buyers came to view! lol

At least things are looking up and hopefully the price drop will be exactly what we need.

It's a little sneaky, but have your agent actually go and look at all of the houses on the market that are your closest competition. Most sellers don't realize that buyers actually have a much better idea of what's on the market in a certain price range than they do, because the buyers have actually viewed the other houses.

richard_f that is not sneaky at all! We constantly advise people to view the OH in their area to view their direct competition as due diligence. It helps enormously to know what you are up against.

richard - already done it!! LOL I pay close attention to everything on the market in our neighbourhood and surrounding area.