Did they price it competitively? That seems to be the most important part these days.

Unless there are willing buyers at a fair price, your realtor can run topless across your front lawn and it won't matter...There is clearly a dearth of buyers in the market,how is YOUR particular market? Are homes selling? If so, you're priced too high...simple fact

PRICE!!! is what will make them look!

#3 and #4 are what sets realtors apart from each other.

Hi-
Thanks for your responses!
Whenever we asked about price she told us it was priced well and that we shouldn't lower it. We never once got feedback from showings or open houses that we were priced too high.

I think I got my answer though, it was good that she was attentive to our needs and concerns. However, there wasn't much she could do about the lack of buyers.

Thanks!

Most people won't come out and say "This house is priced to high." They point out things this house does not have that other houses in the price range do have. eg if someone says "the kitchen is a little small" they are comparing your kitchen to the other kitchens they have seen in comparably priced homes. A "tiny" kitchen in a half million dollar home would be a "dream kitchen" in a $150k house.

Anyway, "a few months" on the market this summer really wasn't that much time to sit without an offer. There aren't many areas of the country where the average time to sale is measured in weeks instead of months right now. If houses are averaging 90 days in your city and you priced it average (not high but not low) then you would expect it to take around 90 days to get an offer. If you want to move faster than that, you'll need to price more aggressively.

Before you go back on the market, you need to get a listing of comparable houses that have sold recently in your area and see what they sold for. Your agent should have no problem doing that. Then you will know for sure if your listing price is reasonable.

If your agent does #3, you're in good shape. I would consider her in the spring but your price needs to decrease.

I successfully sold a house in this market and the ones on the same street my house was on are still for sale a year later. I had a good realtor too, but the comps were dropping so fast that by the time she got them, they were old news. That was when the market was just starting to belly-up. I had to tell her twice to cut the price and the second time I told her where to put the price based on what was my bottom line. It sold shortly thereafter, and it sold exactly where I expected it would. My advantage over the realtor in this case is I knew the area well........and what people would go to live there. She ended up splitting her commission with a realtor who also knew which kinds of clients to bring to that house and who sold it almost immediately after the first showing.

I would still use that realtor again, btw to buy or sell other property, because this crunch is a learning experience for all of us. She went above and past my expectations in all areas except where to put the initial price.

Here's a dirty litle secret... Alost any agent can sell your house. But to find one that is going to make you feel as though you are in the best hands, you have to select one that can supply "YES" answers to these three questions.

1. Can they communicate well with you?

2. Do you feel like they are trustworthy? Will they do the right thing, with you in mind first?

3. Do you feel like they are generally a good person? Could you be friends with someone like them, if they were not your agent.

Hire the agent that has three "YES" answers, and you will be OK.

In the market place, I know every area is different and every month can be different from the last and next.

The area I'm in was extremely limited by the overall market crash the country experienced (fortunately).

Here's my opinions on our experience selling our house 9 months ago (house was approaching 20 years old - we lived in it for 10 years)

Our Agent told us and we agreed that if we didn't have activity and perhaps an offer in 3 weeks we'd drop the price. He didn't max the initial offering price but didn't lowball it either - it was definitely average price.

Because we kept the place up mechanically and cosmetically, he felt it should be an easy place to sell. Please note though that we did not have anything like granite counters nor hardwood floors, etc... although some of our neighbors who sold before us did.

All the cupboards were original and in good shape. The place was very not cluttered and extremely clean.

We sold it in 22 days with two offers coming in simultaneously. We took 5K less than asking.

Getting to your reasons and original post...

As someone already mentioned #3 & #4 are critical. Ours was very good about responding to phone calls but not good about emails.

Find the agent in your area that sells the most homes for your bracket and seek them out. We used the top seller in our area after interviewing 5 other agents since we felt like he was the best candidate.

What I learned from the agent and when out shopping for the next house we purchased was the most critical is price, price, price, price and price for the condition and location. Bottom line.

If your place isn't being looked at or no offers - start with price for location and condition. You can't fix location but you can price and perhaps condition (which may or may not be worth it).

Put it another way - if the asking price was $100.00 you'd probably sell it by noon today. So, somewhere between the higher end and $100.00 is the right price. Ultimately the buyers set the price - not the seller.

Since we actually moved "backwards" a little bit in what we purchased - I fully anticipate a similar experience when I sell this house in 5-6 years.

I'm on the flip side, I'm a buyer...

I saw countless homes in almost a year of searching, had 2 other homes under contract before walking away from the deal (didn't pass inspection). Number 3 seems to be going through, set to close end of Jan. 2010.

From my experience, my realtor would take notes on what I liked/disliked about a home and write them right on the MLS listings she printed out. Many times the listing agent would call us to find out what we thought of the home and what we liked/didn't like about it, she had the notes, or sometimes I'd still be in the car with her and she'd just relay what I had thought to them. I remember one place, the realtor called us and couldn't understand why no one had made any offers on this one property. It had potential, it just wasn't for me and one thing I didn't like was the single car garage had been turned in to a room and it couldn't be turned back to a garage. The kitchen wasn't good either. I was honest and told her what I thought.

You said you never got feedback after showings or open houses that you were priced high, but did you get ANY type of feedback, any other reasons people weren't interested?

My critieria for a house was specific and I tried to keep from seeing homes that I knew weren't for me. The biggest problem I had with the homes I did see was that the master bedroom was usually too small, or other bedrooms too small, sometimes there was very little closet space, some homes the master bathroom was even smaller than the house we are getting and sometimes it was the neighborhood - can't see those on the MLS, but I did try to look at the locations when I was able.

The house we eventually will close on was one of the first homes I actually saw and dismissed. At the time, back in March when I saw it was a bit higher priced than I wanted to go, the master bedroom was smaller than I wanted, I didn't like the tiny master bathroom (still don't) and I wanted a garage.

During the summer I even drove my Mom by the house just to show her one I had seen, her first and only reaction was "Yuck, I don't like it at all!"

So, continued looking (I live out of state) and come Nov. when I went again I saw this one was still on the market. My realtor really didn't want to take me back since I didn't like it, and besides, I think they had just about given up on me, I had seen everything there was out there under my criteria.

Well, my Mom didn't remember her summer time comment, and when she walked in she liked it and saw the potential. It's an older home, built in 1968/1969, original kitchen and bathrooms, needs updating. NO CURB APPEAL, seriously, almost no landscaping whatsoever. I swear, if the owners had just had someone do a little landscaping I think they'd have sold it faster. I was the ONLY person to put in an offer. Not only does it have NO curb appeal, but the owners are older people and with exception to her bedroom furniture, the rest of the house was furnished from what looks like garage sale or thrift store cast offs. I love garage sales and have bought much of my own furniture at them (just got a King Deluxe 1yr old Tempurpedic set this past Sat. at a G sale!) but much of their stuff is so unappealing, I don't think people could see past it.

I had to modify my criteria a little. No garage, but I don't have one in my home now, well, I do, it's just that it's our family room now - but I'll have a carport. The master is smaller than mine now, so I'll have to get rid of the armoire that we really don't need. Still hate the tiny master bathroom, but will gut and redo and live with it. Will update everything else as I'm able. It had the price we wanted (was $155K originally, when I saw it was $139K bought for $130K) was a good location for us, size of property we wanted, size of house we wanted, had a formal living room and separate den which we wanted and due to the price, will be able to put some money in it to update it as we wanted and make it our own.

Anyhow, have you asked your realtor why she thinks it hasn't sold? What suggestions other than lowering the price she may have? One house we had under contract, they had it scheduled to have it staged the day before we put in an offer, it looked like a totally different home than when went back. How does your home compare to the others in your neighborhood? Is it updated or an older home that needs updating. There's lots of factors.

I agree, a few months during the summer isn't a long time, esp. not in this economy, The realtor sounds like she did everything she probably could except hog tie a buyer and stick a gun to their head to buy. I'd give them another chance and give them some time.

Best of luck!

Here's the house we're buying, like I said, no curb appeal!

{{gwi:566571}}

debelli,

Something about your house appeals to me. So I do think it has curb appeal - big trees, big deck, friendly color, neat and tidy. Plain is not necessarily bad. Enjoy it.