Our historic home (built in 1926) in an affluent area of Baltimore City has been on the market for 15 months. We followed the advice of our agent and listed at $625K. We're now down to $499K and we haven't had one offer. It's priced well under the competition in the neighborhood... $200K under homes on our same street.

We had to relocate for work and have been floating two mortgages for almost 10 months and we're running out of financial resources.

We've had very little negative feedback on the propery. The house was furnished and staged the first 7 months on the market. The only comments then had to do with decor and formality. It has been empty and clean since then. However, now that it's empty buyers can see every flaw.

Given it's age, it needs some work (2 bathrooms need remodeling), new windows, and landscaping. We already put $10K into it preparing for market and we don't have cash to make any additional improvements at this time. It has a completely remodeled gourmet kitchen.

Our agent has been aggressively marketing, but we're just not getting anywhere (we're on our second agent, btw).

We just don't know what to do to get the house sold... and at this point, we're going to have to sell the house we're in b/c we have to rebuild our financial situation.

Oh and I forgot to mention it's also been for rent or lease purchase.

Welcome to the club. I am showing a property today that started on the market at 600K 2 years ago it is now priced at 424K.

Do you have any photos on line that show the property. Perhaps if we "see" the property someone can offer some help.

Sure!

[link]http://homes.realtor.com/search/listingdetail.aspx?zp=21218&ml=3&mnp=30&typ=1&sid=d50624df296b44fe9825ffa515d51904&lid=1079055648&lsn=2&srcnt=20#Detail[/link]

Lot size is very small but nothing you can do about that unless there is some vacant land next door you could buy to create a bigger lot size.Your driveway from the picture definitely needs a power wash-very dirty.Back yard looks ok but could have more outdoor living area and or maybe some flowers to induce some color to go along with the grass.

The landscaping upfront definitely needs some help.


Since I am not your agent/Broker I can give it to you straight.

You made the classic mistake almost ALL sellers make!!!!!

You start rehabbing the house and then QUIT because the repairs were more than you thought or you ran out of money.It would have been better to have left the house ALONE and not do anything to it then to not finish it.

Kitchens and baths are where people spend most of there time.If there are old outdated baths which I assume aren't very big because of the age of the house compared to today's standards that is a big negative.In the listing you say the house has been updated,it hasn't.

With all of the listings on the market your agent needs to preview the competition in the area and keep a list of the ones that have sold.What was different were they completely remodeled?Was the floorplan better?Was the property modernized to today's times?

A house of that age replacing windows and possibly electrical,plumbing,abestos,and lead paint not to mention radon cause for serious concern.

Get with your agent about what similar properties have SOLD for in the last few months,not what people are listed for.Residential is in a down cycle and with foreclosures hitting an all time high and fewer buyers available there is an oversupply on the market compared with demand from buyers.


You need to either finish the remodel on the house,or lower it fast to get rid of it,or move back in and work on remodeling until the market turns back around and then sell it.The market is slated to turn in about 12 to 18 months but it sounds like you can't hold out.


Have your agent hold a huge broker/agent open house with food,prizes etc.Have everyone tour the house and then write on abck of a business card or piece of papaer what they would pay for it in it's current condition.Take all of those and average them together to get a price and for a fast sale be at the low end of that average.

I would get rid of the red in there it's to strong.You want nuetral colors to appeal to as many buyers as possible.

It's important that you do thes ethings immediately as the winter and Christmas and New Years are coming around the corner and it will be dead for months.It sound like you will hit bankruptcy or foreclosure before then.

no legal advice

"You start rehabbing the house and then QUIT because the repairs were more than you thought or you ran out of money."

That is actually not the case. We bought the house with every intention of living there until our family was grown. My husband was transferred/promoted and we saw this as an opportunity to capitalize on a very good investment while futhering his career. We started working from the interior ground and were moving up when this happened.

I appreciate your suggestions and we will do what we can. However, moving back in is not an option since we're now living 600 miles away.

Look at cost to renovate the bathrooms and repaint the house compared to what has sold and a fast sale.Do the business card/paper thing I mentioned to get to a price people are willing to pay.The top people will be people who don't know values/the bottom price will be buyers/agents who want to low ball no matter what.The middle prices/average will be what the majority are willing to pay.

Just curious how much are you offering the buyers agent?You already dropped the price 125k.Instead focus on an ad in the paper with the fact you will pay 5 percent to the buyers agent.

Agents have already screened the buyers and know if they are serious and have the ability to buy.Money talks and with a higher paycheck to the buyer over what other sellers are paying your property will get shown first.Showings will convert to offers if the price is right.

We have a broker's open scheduled for next Wed. Am calling the agent now to discuss your suggestions. Thanks!

Hello,
While Super realtors heart is in the right place,real estate is very regional and the things he's suggesting do not work in our area.
We just listed a home in Baltimore that was rehabbed beautifully...the agent that had it prior didnt understand how Baltimore neighborhoods/pricing ...also the marketing lacked...only a few pictures.
We got a virtual tour done on the property,are putting it in a full color glossy magazine,full color professionally done brochures,downloading to Google, Yahoo classifieds, Craigslist,Trulia, etc..
Nowadays its about exposure both in marketing and views of the house.People need to see your home inside before they ever step foot in it..Your first picture isnt even of the house.
Bribing other brokers with food doesnt sell your home..they just compare menus and go to whichever has what they want to eat and dont look at the house!
Im curious what "marketing" you agent is doing?
What kind of activity/ feedback are you getting?
What other incentives have you discussed?
Would love to hear more,
Paul

JustDey everyone has an opinion.

Remember this "NO AMOUNT OF MARKETING IN THE WORLD WILL SEL LAND OVERPRICED LISTING!"

A smart broker/agent knows this.You get alot of exposure it's overpriced and you get no offers.What you are trying to establish is a baseline of what people would pay for the home.

Try my suggestions it certainly would not hurt.I disagree about the broker opens and them just eating the food.

Think about this you have an open house for regular buyers and 10 buyers show up.You don't know if they have the ability to purchase,if they are criminals scoping your house,the nosy neighbors next door,etc.

A buyers agent might have upwards of over 100 buyers in there pool or more.Worst case they have a couple to 10 and you know for the most part they are qualified or the agent wouldn't be working with them.

Listen to opinions and make your own choices.I would definitely try my suggestions/you have nothing to lose.

Georgia Super Realtor:The difference is that you're in Georgia and last time I looked it wasnt Maryland,not even beside Md. I would think youd be open minded enough to admit when you may not know how things work in this particular area.In theory it sounds good like a million other things but that doesnt always equate to reality.
In Georgia that may be the way to go but in this area its giving a seller false hope that it may accomplish something.
Any good agent is monitoring whats available for his clients and would surely show it to them if it matched their needs...not only if he was getting a free lunch.Its more a social gathering than anything.
Around here we send updates thru our mls so the client is actually right on whats availabe too.
Its an outdated archaic notion WAY past its time anywhere if you ask me.
By the way, are you insecure in your skill level that you have to name yourself super agent?
Yours in Maryland real estate

No it's just a name I picked years ago when I joined this board.

Opinions are like butts everbody has one.No I am not in Maryland.

I don't believe it's false hope for a seller to try an activity for one day and track the results.All things being equal if it is in perfect condition,priced in the 50 percent or under for solds in the area then more marketing will get it shown faster.

I beleive it's false to convince sellers that MORE MARKETING will get them top dollar and more money than the home is worth.This is simply not true,buyers aren't idiots and won't overpay,pricing it realistically is the most important step.


I disagree if it fit's the clients needs most will show it.Nationally agents have about an 85 percent dropout rate the first year in real estate.Most of these agents are buyers agents when they start out.The cold hard truth is that money talks and if there are 10 homes to look at in the area but they can show the buyer only 6 the ones that are offering a bonus or pay a higher co-op to the buyers agent will get shown first.

A majority of the real estate industry agents,mortgage brokers,appraiser etc. are looking for the quick buck to survive before they fizzle out.

There is only a small percentage of people who make it in this business.

I say to the seller try it for one day,it can't hurt.
The agents/buyers visiting it before and saying the house was lovely is a bunch of bull they were just being polite trust me.

It is funny that sellers really think that their home is being marketed well, while in reality, it stinks! I have reviewed your listing on Realtor.com and I would like to point out that the description your agent has on there is terrible.
Here is what is says: "There is nothing wrong with this property. DOM reflects over 100k in reductions from a previous agent. Please show and be pleasantly surprised by what you get for the price. Renovated and well maintained very large 5 bedroom 3.5 bath. Check out the gourmet kitchen with high end finishings-Stainless appliances. One car garage- beautiful yard and patio. One year Home Warranty."

This stinks! He should not be referring to DOM (days on the market) at all in your Realtor.com description. Maybe in the MLS, which I assume this is drawn from, but not here. Your agent has the ability to log into his Realtor.com control panel and edit this at any time. The description should point out all of the features of your home, upgrades, location, ect. He should also include more photos of your home.

Aside from Realtor.com, his web site is basically NON-EXISTANT.

Agents will tell you that marketing is not important, well I am here to tell you that it is very important and almost vital in a slow market. Yes, the home MUST be priced CORRECTLY! But it must also be marketed correctly and your agent is clearly not marketing it well. At least not on Realtor.com.

I would also like to point out that your agent is NOT a listing agent. He only has FOUR active listings on Realtor.com and one is a rental. You really need to consider an agent with 15 plus listings active listings and/or several more PENDING listings.

While your current agent may be a nice person and may be plugging your home into the computer here and there, I doubt it is being advertised locally in print and you should really inquire about the marketing efforts being used. Give your agent a call and discuss the price, marketing and get a plan together to get your home sold. GOOD LUCK!

<< You really need to consider an agent with 15 plus listings active listings and/or several more PENDING listings.>>

I disagree with you on this one. Let me play the devils advocate:
1. An agent with 15 homes listed has too large of an inventory on his hands and may not be helping his/her sellers price correctly.
2. Maybe the listing agent sells homes so fast that he/she can't keep 15 listings active?

I have friends with 15 or more listings. They've been on the market for over 100 days. So what does THAT tell me? Not enough buyers.

Anyway... I agree with you on the rest

If you have done some upgrades and refresh the paint, landscape is good and you have a nice curb appeal. You are ready to go. Do not invest money on that property you are not able to get back.

It is very important to have excellent internet exposure. E-marketing today is #1, %76 of the buyers are online.

If you have a lot of showings but no offers think about the price. The property may be overpriced. So there is no marketing could sell overpriced property.

I'm trying to sell my house with a real estate agent and they are not doing much! They showed the house to 3 people in 3 months!!!! It is down to sell or forclose.....any advice??

Irish1
Lake County, Ohio

Have you given any thought to auction...its a great way to sell if you must.
Let me know, I know a great auctioneer in Ohio that would be the best you could find!
With a good auctioneer you can sometimes get more than thryu normal realty listing.....at ;least in your case there would be quick finality.
Paul

If you are facing foreclosure you need to price it for a fast sell.If it is in good shape marke tit to regular homebuyers,if it is in need of repair or bad shape marke it to investors.

If you can't reduce the asking price you will need to pursue a short sale before you get foreclosed on as it's easy to see your house is overpriced.Even with mo marketing if the price was decent and just in the mls you would have had more showings then that.If the house needs to much work you would have had at least more showings but just no or low offers.

Short sales are easier to do if your loan is VA or FHA.Executed correctly a short sale shows settled on your credit report which is way better than a foreclosure by miles,no promissory note is signed by the seller,and no defeciency judgment is pursued by the lender.You might get a 1099C for forgiven debt but it will be easy to show you were "insolvent" when the lender agreed to short sale your mortgage.You just need to file IRS Form 982:"Reduction of Tax Attributes Due To Discharge of Indebtedness" to avoid paying federal and state income taxes.

If the lender will not agree to a short sale you can voluntarily do a deed-in-liue of foreclosure where you sign the deed over to the bank.This is often better on your credit report and at the same time you can negotiate cash for keys with the lender to help with your move to more affordable housing.

You can do short sales on conventional loans but they are harder to do as mortgage companies and servicers are forced to try short sales as a workout option because of FHA and VA rules.

If you have leins other than th emortgage they will not do a deed-in-liue beause it will be cheaper for the lender to foreclose and wipe out any junior liens.If the second mortgage is foreclosing andnot the first which is not as common you can see if you could do a deed-in-liue to the second.

NO LEGAL ADVICE

I feel for you because we are also trying to sell our home. My husband got a new job and we are moving from the East Coast to the
West (Arizona).

I'm not a Realtor but as a buyer and seller I can say that I think your home is beautiful. Honestly I think some people are a big harsh if you ask me. I mean what do you expect to see when it's an older home. The problem is that buyers are so use to seeing those "showroom ready" homes that they can't use their own imagination.

Your kitchen is fabulous and the house has a very "grand" feeling to it. It's certainly an eye catcher. The only thing I could suggest is to have other pictures of various rooms of the house posted too.

Otherwise don't let people think your house is shabby cause it's not. Trust me the market is just different these days.

I wish you lots of luck!

"I mean what do you expect to see when it's an older home."

You expect to see a home that is polished and appeals to the most buyers to generate an offer.That home even for an old home needs work,notice there aren't pics of the bathrooms that need updating and the rest of the house.

Bottom line is we are in a buyers market for the next year or so at least.Buyers have expectancies of ongoing maintenance that needs to be performed and th eproblem is many sellers see what buyers consider maintenance as UPGRADES.

In Ga in the Metro Atlanta are there is about 110,000 properties for sale not including for sale by owner.

If your home isn't in perfect showing condition the buyers will move on to the next.That's why I say unless you HAVE to sell divorce,job loss,job transfer,death,being foreclosed on,medical issues,etc. now IS NOT the time to test the market and see what you will get for your home.

I had the same problem on a home and did a short sale. I used a company to do the short sale for me, and it was really a breeze. They actually walked my realtor through how to list the house for a short sale. If you decide to go that route, let me know and I will give you their information. They can also tell you what to expect as far as judgments and taxes, ect. My lender gave them in writing that they would not go after me for the shortage. I may do this on another property too that won't sell. Gotta love this market!

As we are talking about the short sell this is an always pretty shaky transaction. I do not know a company who is able to guaranty successful closing. This is like a boxing match when one of the boxers plays regarding the rules (seller and buyer), but the other one (lender) just do free fight. You can go after a short sale but if a Realtor gives you guaranty that the transaction will be successful %100, does not matter how experienced he/she is, do not trust, and just move to the other one. They just want to get the listing.. I would not advise my buyer to put an offer on short sale listing.
The best you can do is to avoid the short sale. Try to update and get your home in better condition for sale. Without to hurt your feelings, superagent is right, your home needs to be in good showing condition on buyers market to get it sold.

Good luck!

you originally priced at 625k now you are at 499k. how did you come up with either price? what have the comparable houses SOLD FOR. are there houses under contract right now? if so what is their list price and what is their condition compared to yours.

there are many reasons why your house might not have sold, without doing a market analysis of your area i can only say that buyers dont see the value in your home.


if your house is listed then people know the house is for sale, they just think that it is overpriced so they dont buy it.


here is an clip from an article that is titled

"The Truth About Real Estate Advertising"


If you hire a Realtor® who will advertise your home, it will help your house sell.

MARKETING AN OVERPRICED LISTING WILL ONLY GET LEADS FOR THE AGENT!!! IT WILL NOT SELL YOUR HOME.




S
urely you’ve seen the ads. In fact, as a whole, they’re hard to miss. Newspaper real estate sections and the free real estate magazines you pick up in grocery stores and realty offices are full of page after page of nothing but house advertisements. However, decades of research show that less than one percent of buyers actually buy the house they called on from the ad. How can this be? Why would Realtors® keep paying for these ads, you ask? Well, keep reading.

House ads are designed to serve Realtors,® not maximize value for the consumer. When you select a real estate company or Realtor® based on the quantity of house ads they run, it’s a recipe for disaster. In essence, you’re selecting a Realtor® by default, and in hindsight, I don’t think anyone wants to do that.

Realtors® who run house ads do so as an enticement for you to call them. When you call, the Realtor® immediately knows you’re a hot prospect, and they begin asking questions about what type of home you’re looking for. They now have the opportunity to convince you they can help you find a match. As soon as you agree, you’ve selected your Realtor® by default.

In reality, consumers should be the ones doing the interviewing by calling Realtors® and asking about their qualifications. We all have access to the same property information, so anyone you work with should be able to find a match to your property. What you should be looking for in a Realtor® is a match to your personality and style.

It’s important to me for my prospective clients to understand how the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) works (see “Solving the MLS Riddle”). The truth of the matter is that more than 60 percent of all homes sold are sold through the MLS by effective real estate agents, not classified real estate advertising or house ads. Additionally, those agents who consistently run tons of house ads often have less time and money to provide high-quality service.

Rather than advertising homes, I choose to advertise myself and the services I can provide. I know long-term success in real estate is ultimately about developing a partnership with my clientele, and I don’t want clients to choose me by happenstance. This creates a win-win situation in that consumers who choose me as their Realtor® have a knowledgeable sounding board for any questions that might arise at any time. Much like having a family doctor or lawyer, many savvy consumers prefer to have a Realtor® with whom they have developed a relationship long before they need to buy or sell a home.

So when selecting your Realtor,® pay no attention to who is running the most house ads. Agents who tell you they’ll advertise your house are only serving their own needs, not helping you. If at the listing presentation the agent promises to advertise your home, they’re doing so primarily for their own personal gain, leaving less time to focus on doing the most effective things to get your house sold.

how many showings have you had? if you have had 10 or more showings and you have no offers then you might be overpriced.

how many people do you think should have to come through your home at the current price to get one offer?

once you answer the last question ask yourself why you dont have an offer if you meet or exceed the number of showings. if you dont have that number of showings then what do you need to do to get more showings?


having agents know htat your house is for sale and priced to sell to their buyers is key.


-------if you had a choice to expose your home to

100 random people(who might have just picked up a magazine to look at)

or

100 real estate agents(who are working with serious,qualified buyers), which would you choose?------


by your answer you might be able to help decide what methods of advertising you might want to use......


good luck to you:-)

also, if you say that the condition does not match the price then you must either fix the condition or drop your price. so you would be overpriced.


all of the houses that i see expire would have sold if they were priced to sell. people end up wanting more for thier property than the market dictates, then wonder why it wont sell...



sorry that i am on a bit of a tangent, but i see this happen all the time and i just wish that i could be in your market so that i could help you with your problem.

If the home was priced 200K less than comps it would have sold already. Those higher priced homes have more value. You need to get accurate information on what the comps tell you this home should be priced at and then determine if you want to price it less. If there is equity in the home, consider offering a $20,000 new car and an HDTV to the buyer as part of the purchase price. You don't have to actually buy them prior to close of escrow, just structure them into the deal. The car and tv are great from a marketing standpoint to make your home stand out and get attention. (of course price is always key)

Try offering some terms and/or owner financing...

Instead focus on an ad in the paper with the fact you will pay 5 percent to the buyers agent.


will the greed ever end?
This person is asking for advice, and the solution is to put more money in your pocket? 5%?
Unless you are saying NOT to drop the price, then offer 5%. Even FSBO, 5% is high isn't it? Now assuming you are using an agent, you are tacking on th 5% to the other %.

Unless you are listed with Foxtons, then you don't know, since they don't call other agents back to show the house.

Thinking about puting my own phone number on the foxtons sign, will that cause a problem? I mean, they are down to 30 people stealing, i mean selling homes

I agree with that. i don't care if a seller is offering me TEN percent to sell their house. If it's overpriced it isn't going to sell. And you can't MAKE someone buy a house, for goodness' sake.

starting price 625k
you used 2 agents
you were on the market for 15 months (488 days)

i was able to pull your listing and your agents information. your agent is a seasoned agent with a very good track record of getting homes sold. your home (from the pictures) looks to be in saleable condition.

to be very blunt... your price is what your agent has negotiated down with you over time based on an imaginary initial value of 625k.

based on the facts (SOLD comparable homes)

what do you think about the current price compared to the other comparable SOLD homes in the area.

i know there is a number that you want to sell your home for ....but who determines the price that your home will sell for? you or the buyer.

i know what you say your home is worth (it is posted) what are the buyers saying?

what does your agent say about the price?

make sure to head the advice of your agent..

i am not trying to be hard on your home, just want to be honest. personally i like your home and the area. if i were goign to live in baltimore city, your neighborhood would be one of the areas that i would pick to live in.



"I'm not a Realtor but as a buyer and seller I can say that I think your home is beautiful. Honestly I think some people are a big harsh if you ask me. I mean what do you expect to see when it's an older home. The problem is that buyers are so use to seeing those "showroom ready" homes that they can't use their own imagination."

a home that is "showroom ready" is your competition. you either have to be the same, or your need a lower price to make up for the flaws in the home.. ie...not showroom ready.


if you are not showroom ready you cannot have a price that says you are --bottom line--

This is such a good example of the dichotomy of real estate.

We say: Get your marketing in front of other agents.
We also say: Don't send me your flyers, they just clutter up my mailbox.
And: Broker's opens are only about the food.

How DO we get listings in front of one another? Is offering a huge BAC the only way?

I see new listings every day on the hot sheet.

Sorry to hear there has been such difficulty selling your home.
You are not the only one in this situation. we will see this more and more over the few years.
Alls I can say is good luck!

Some areas the market is not good right now, buyers who could of bought 3-6 months ago now can not, the economy and fuel prices are slowing everything down. Also alot has to do with 2 things PRICE AND LOCATION, you can control one of those. stage the property in top notch, stand out above the others you are competing with.
Also just for fun goto hgtv.com for some more tips and ideas.

100% CORRECT. It used to take months to get all the buyers to know about a home for sale. Open houses, broker open, flyers, and other supplemental activites helped to keep the excitement alive. Buyers relied 100% on the agent to provide vital information on properties. Today, the same buyer is able to verify facts and search 100s of properties in a single minute. Increasing the buyer agent commission can motivate some agents but most buyers will have already found what they wanted prior to contacting the agent.

On the slow and depreciation market you need to prepare your home pretty well for sale. The first three weeks are crucial. The history shows that if you don’t sale in the first three weeks on that kind of market the price will go drastically down. So prepare the house well and price it correct. That is the key.

I've always wondered about the first 3 weeks being the most important. I think that really depends on the property. After all what if your property only appeals to a certain kind of person and they aren't looking for a house in the first 3 weeks your property is listed. For example I had a unique home listed for 4 months and we had no showings. Took it off the market for a few months. Put it back on the market for the same price and same marketing. Had 4 offers in a week. It all depends on what buyers are looking. I also highly disagree with those agents above in this post that say you need to have broker open houses, and more print advertising. As others have said broker open houses are just for those brokers that are cheap and have nothing better to do. That means they don't have buyers for your house. As for the print advertising. It's almost useless. In your large city I'm sure every Saturday in the paper there are a 1000 houses for sale. How is anyone gonna find yours? Print real estate advertising is going the way of the horse and carraige. Keep the price competitive with your competition and have patience. It will sell. I also don't agree that you need an agent that has 20 current listings. That doesn't matter at all. They could have 1 listing and your house would sell just as well as with the agent with 20 listings. The only reason why the agent with 20 listings might be better, he/she might do more prospecting for listings then your average Realtor. Buyers and buyer's agents don't care who the listing agent is for the most part. If your house is one that someone wants and is priced right then that someone will look at it.

That's exactly the point!
If a property is not picked up by a buyer in today's market in the first 10-15 days, there's no market for that property RIGHT NOW. Of course, if you list a house long enough or take it off the market a few months and relist it will be in a different market and time.

It's not that BUYERS are only looking for houses in the first 3
weeks but serious buyers are constantly looking for houses ALL THE TIME. This means the property that is listed today will capture the attention of a serious buyer sometimes between now and the next 10-15 days. That same buyer may not want to buy the newly listed inventory but will have been on the market for months looking for the home he wants.

The bottome line is a newly listed property will capture the attention of an active buyer or his agent in the first 3 weeks.
I hope this clarifies...certainly there are exceptions and stories to derail scientific/emperical studies.

It has been the case since the mls began compiling data that a property will receive 70-80% of its buyer in the first 14 days. The remaining buyers will come in between 2 weeks and years later. However to take advantage of the highest success probability the right timing for the right pricing and the right marketing is when the most buyers are present. Additionally, there are more to maximizing exposures than listing time. I go into more details here http://www.forsalebyweb.com/nodiscount/discussion/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=828

In today’s market where consumers can research values in seconds and AVM sites are in abundance it’s just a matter of time when transparency/communication speed will enable consumers to name what they want to sell or buy for in real-time. Thus, buyer compression will occur even sooner. As the web matures I'd estimate complete market penetration will take place in less than 72 hours.

What does your agent consider to be aggressive?

Create a tour for the property: http://www.flyinside.com (have it branded).

Have your agent print 100 color flyers (no price if allowed) through http://www.myneighborhoodagent.com Cost: $29.99 + shipping

Create a 11 x 17 color brochure of the property and drop it off at the area real state offices.

Create a neighborhood book listing the perks in the area. One book that remains in the house.

Create a single property site, http://www.singlepropertysites.com

Use http://www.emailflyerads.com to distribute the eflyer to the agents. This company also has a buyer list.

Post the property on several blog sites such as Localism (Active Rain).

Post the property weekly on Backpage.com, Craig's List, Postlets, VFlyer, etc (There are 25+ FREE solid sites that you can use).

Print 200 property post cards (no address section) and make it all about the property and distribute it around the area. http://www.xpressdocs.com

Add a plugin or a couple air freshners around the house. An empty house tends to start smelling moldy after a few months.

Does the agent have his/her own website or a franchise type site? If no, sign up for a free point2 site and join the handshake system.

Just a few ideas off the top.

still active @499,9

I was just wondering with things in real estate going downhill, how are the agents up here taking the slump? Do you have back up plans or you believe that things will be better soon?

there are homes that sell. the secret is to be their agent. overpriced homes do not sell in this market, and most people reduce after the market does so they remain the highest priced home even after they reduce. to sell he should have made the reduction months ago, but he wanted to "hold out for his price"(from the looks of things)

I have never had a buyer contact me who already knew what they wanted. Some THOUGHT they knew what they wanted. Most are as unrealistic about when they think they have to spend as the seller are in their asking prices.

ColoBroker: As others have said broker open houses are just for those brokers that are cheap and have nothing better to do.
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Broker's open house is how I preview inventory so I can speak intelligently about a house when a buyer asks about it. The last thing a buyer wants to hear is "well, I haven't been inside it."

Selling a property can often seem like a hit and miss proposition in today’s real estate market. If you find you are missing a lot, you need to figure out why.

Most homes fail to sell for three primary reasons – price, appearance and exposure. Let’s take a closer look.

First, look at your house in a really objective way. Does it look nice? Does it look inviting? Does it look like it’s worth the price you’re asking for it?

If your house looks lovely from the outside, go inside and look around.

If your house is spotless on the inside and out – try to evaluate yourself as a host.

if none of these seem to be the reason why there is a dearth of offers, check your asking price. You should have set a price that is within the acceptable price range for that kind of property in a specific market.

sleepingbeauty

Ok, your house is just overpriced. We are in depreciating market now and it is pretty typical for that kind of market to overprice a house. The reason you can't sell it if you even decrease the price is that the market is going down faster than you reposition your house and you are following the market. What you need to do is to create perception of value in buyers. You need to create an energy price that will bring that interest. Simply said, put the house 10% under the market value (on that way you will not follow the market, you will just go ahead the market), that will create perception of value in buyers and will generate multiple offers. Buyers will start bidding on your house and you will get top money for the current market, other ways you will stay and watch the traffic and will never receive reasonable offer. Make buyers compete for your property. Don't forget real estate is a commodity not a product. Buyer establishes the price of the commodity like on Wall Street; the price on the product is established by the seller. Real estate is emotional commodity so that makes buyers to bid when see perception of value in some house. Do it and will sell for good money. This is a great technik and you will never lose money in depreciating market. If you would like more about that just call me any time and we will talk:-)

Good luck!

Under valuing a home can be a bit risky, don't you think Viktor? I mean of course making two mortgages can be even rougher, but what if you still get no offers? You've then demonstrated you're willing to take anything that comes your way and the buyer truly has the upper hand. I suppose though, no risk means no reward.

It seems risky on paper but lately, from doing bpo's, I've seen quite a few homes sell in less than a week for more than they listed - I was concerned that cc would think I made a typo cuz we haven't been putting in numbers such as that in years.

There are buyers out there looking for a bargain and when they find it they get all "eBay'y" about it and start bidding more than they had planned to because now they're in a horse-race for the home they want and emotions are involved.

There is a number that will sell your home today; there is a number that will cause multiple offers to come streaming in - find it.

Good luck

I tend to agree with Viktor, given that appraisals nowadays are not automatically and magically coming in at contract purchase price, and that in the last 6 months I have had both an appraiser and an underwriter in our market state that "since values are depreciating in this area" one appraised low even with good comps, and the other (very strong lender in our market) decided to DECLINE the appraisal and not lend as much as the appraisal stated the property was worth (which shocked all of us and was something we had never heard before).

Therefore, I don't necessarily think it is risky for a truly motivated seller to under price by a small margin if the goal is to actually sell and close instead of wallowing on the market whining about why they can't get "their" price that they "need," which has absolutely no bearing on a buyer.