Rescue Me!

Your homes been on the market for a while and it's not selling. In fact, you may not even be getting any showings. What do you do?

First, think back to when you made the decision to sell your home. You contacted some real estate agents, interviewed them, listened to their presentations, analyzed their pricing recommendations, and made your choice. Did you go with the agent who gave you the highest price? Was that the only agent who "recognized" the value in your house? Your house is different, it should sell for more, right?

The truth is going with a high price in a flat or down market can almost insure that your home won't sell. There's been too much media attention showered on the housing "balloon" and the goldmine it presents for buyers. With triple the inventory to chose from compared to a couple years ago, buyers are taking their time, comparing properties, and driving a hard bargain. If you're over-priced, you don't have a chance. In this market, even the top Realtors can't sell overpriced listings. Of course, they don't have to because they typically won't take a listing that the seller insists on pricing above the market. They want to sell your home, not just list it.
So what you end up with is a weak Realtor who, desperate to have a listing, overprices your home to impress you. Then when your home doesn't sell, or even get shown, they start hammering on you to lower the price, lower the price, lower the price.

What's worse is that when you over-price, your home will not compare well with the competition, will sit on the market unsold, and the buyers who could afford your house will never see it. Let's say that your house is realistically worth $175,000 and you decide you really want to start out by asking $195,000. The buyers looking and comparing in the $190,000's will look and reject because your house is not a good value at that price. You get showings and no offers, or no showings at all. Meanwhile, the buyers looking in the range you should be in never even consider your house because it's "out of range".
So, your house sits on the market week after week, month after month, and finally you decide to lower the price. That brings in a new wave of buyers, but when you've been on the market that long every buyer asks "why has it been on the market so long?" or "what's wrong with it?". By this point you've lost time, money, and opportunity.

Here's an example of a home that was properly priced, properly marketed, and had an accepted offer within 5 days, even though there were about 8-10 other homes on the same street that had been sitting unsold for months. www.3226RiverRd.com