For once, Mikey has a valid point to make here: You will have to bring your checkbook to closing.

Since you bought your condo, the market has gone down, down, down. To break even you would have to see some significant appreciation and/or sell it FSBO. That FSBO train left a long time ago. And while some Realtors do it as a hobby, the good ones do it for a living and are paid commissions. If you try to sell it FSBO, you lose the efforts of a couple thousand motivated salespeople...and are stuck with the few who will gamble their livelihood on the whether they can get a FSBO seller to pay the commission or a Buyer who will. If a Buyer will pay their Buyer Agent a commission, they are likely to reduce their offer by a like amount. So, lose/lose. If you are a FSBO seller offering to pay Buyer's Agents, you probably should have just listed it in the first place. Why not? The exposure you get for 3% is well worth it.

Firs off, prepare to bring your checkbook to closing as you've only lived in the place for a year.

I think there is about a two year clearance rate for condo's in Madison, so pretty much all you can do is price well. There's alot of competition right now. Especially with the cost, were someone to pay full price they would be paying $1100/month and I think you could rent for less money.

One thing I notice is your agent doesn't mention the housing credit. While I despise adds that do mention it (and mentally subtract 8K from the price), it may work in your favor.

I also would not go FSBO, as agents will boycott your place. I know many agents will say this is not true, it happens. I was told point blank by an agent for a large, well respected agency in Madison that they couldn't possibly show my place unless I were listed with an agent.

From looking at other 2bd condos in Stoneridge Point that are currently for sale and have sold in the past year...you are priced too high at $134,900. Sorry, but I think you will need to lower the price to sell your condo in this current market.

Without seeing your place here are some things that have helped our agents reduce market time:
First of all, Price is king. Have you or anyone acting on your behalf done a comparative market analysis (CMA)? The goal is to start off with a good price not to start high and work your way down. This increases market time which is often viewed as a bad thing. Without a competitive price, the rest of this reply means nothing.
Better Marketing - Do you have professional photographs on the MLS?  This can make a HUGE difference when people are sorting through a ton of listings.  Have you tried doing open houses?  Are you listed on For Sale By Owner (FSBO) websites?
Better staging (presentation) this can make a bad place look great and spacious and a nice place look horrible depending on how your furniture is placed in the house.  To quote a wise old agent "the way we live in our house is not the way we sell our house."  This place is no longer your home it is a commodity!  You need to remove any bold paint colors that you may have.  Put all of your personal stuff such as family photos etc in a box and get them out of there.  The goal is to make your place look like something someone could see themselves in.  That is harder to do if you have photos of your trip to aspen on the way etc.  Take a hard look at your furniture in the house, now remove at least one third of it; seriously.  Get it out of there!  Nothing makes a space look cramped like too much furniture.  Add light sources such as lamps to every room and make sure they're all on when you do a showing.  This goes without saying, but KEEP YOUR PLACE CLEAN!  No clutter, no open toilet seats, no spots on the mirror.  Throw some fresh cut flowers on the dining room table (make sure they match the color scheme of their surroundings).  Get my point?  If you need to fix something, get it fixed, no one wants to hear "oh that'll be cheap to repair…." People want a unit that is move-in condition, not something that they will have to put time and money into once they move in.  Good luck!

I have it listed with First Weber. I wish I could do FSBO as then I could drop the price. I just want to get out from it. I'm not looking to make anything on the sale, just would like to sell it to pay off the mortgage. But I need to price it to cover the realtor fees. It's 1564933

Hi Lynn,

First question...is it FSBO? Or are you listed with someone? It's hard to answer this question without knowing the address of your condo, more about the area, and see the inside of your home as well. There are many variables to be able to find out any possible reasons why it's not selling. For one, the market is a bit tough right now, but if your condo is priced right, has certain repairs done, and buyer's see that it is of value to them it should sell. For one, if there aren't any pictures of your home that would be a problem, but again it is difficult without knowing more about your condo.

Take care,
Erika Olson
Restaino & Associates
Erika@ErikaOlsonRealEstate.com
(608) 333-5989

I have had success with getting an accepted offer on a condo on the west side in 45 days. This required agressive pricing, very good staging and a very very aggressive online marketing campaign. It appears from your message that you have your property listed with another Realtor. I would suggest going back to your Realtor and discussing what is selling in your area and at what price, how to effectively stage your unit to make it stand out above all other units and what the marketing campaign is. Best of luck

Sue Stark, First Weber Group
608-354-8107