There are a couple of things that you need to do as the seller. 1st- examine the reason your home is on the market. 2nd. have your listing agent take you on a tour of your competition, also have your agent take you on a tour of your personal home- like you were looking at this home to purchase. Take a note pad with you and make notes on each home you tour and compare them to your personal home. Examine curb appeal - updates, special features such as surround sound, pool, bonus room, room size, over all function of the floor plan and home itself. Then decide if your home is worth the list price, or if your emotions are guiding you.
Other options to lowering the price is offer to pay down buyer's interest rate, or to do a loan program such as AmeriDream- loans that do "down payment assistance". Have your agent and your lender sit down with you and explain the different programs and how this will attract buyer's to your home.
Other avenues to consider would be to have a professional inspection done on your home now-before it goes under contract, do the prelimanry title work, offer a home warraty. Have these items available to all potential buyers when they tour your home. Make your home stand out from the crowd.

Wed May 14 2008, 11:14

J,
Generally, the rule of thumb is that if you are getting showings and no offers, it's either the product or the price. While the market has been more brisk this Spring, we do have plenty of inventory for buyers to choose from. The first thing you need to ask yourself is: "why am I selling?". If you are looking to upgrade then this is the time to do it. If you are looking to downgrade, then this is not the market for you. Second, as hard as it may be, you need to look at your home as a piece of merchandise. This means looking at what the competition is now and pricing yours competitively. This also requires constant monitoring of the competing properties to be aware of any price reductions. Price reductions can be effective but only when done strategically. I hope this helps. Good Luck!

Demetri

Wed May 14 2008, 10:47

J
Why are you selling? You say that you have a great house in a great neighborhood-- so what is motivating you to sell now? To take advantage of the buyers' market that you see to move to a larger home?? or perhaps to move closer to family in a different area?
Most of the answers you have received are helpful and right on track. Do take note that they are talking in general terms bacause Trulia voices are coming from all over the nation. ( Dorothy appears to be closest to your market .)
As a Realtor with almost a quarter century here in PA's Cumberland Valley ( a little SW of you) I woud have to agree with what your real estate agent is telling you for this area. Many of us saw early signs that this spring would be better than last year, and were hoping for that normal 'spring rush'. We gave our clients our best advice based on that sense of things. The reality is that even our market has NOT bounced up, but we can count our blessings that it has not tumbled more than it has.
Here's the bottom line: BUYERS WITH MONEY decide what the market value is!! Most of us have invested a lot of ourselves in our homes, and we like what we have done to them. BUT, If your house is 'worth more than that' to you, you WILL be keeping it!
Hope that helps
Mim Heisey
Hale Real Estate
Shippensburg PA 17257

Tue May 13 2008, 07:55

Sounds like your agent did what a lot of agents do. Tell you what you want to hear to so they can get the listing and the afterwards twhen it's not selling tell you the truth. Sadly it's a buyers market even with spring bringing an increase in activity and if you really want to sell you'll most likely have to lower your price. If you don't have to sell then wait till the market picks up in a year or two and you'll see a much better return on your investment.

Mon May 12 2008, 21:16

In our market place we have found that price reuctions done on a prescribed time frame will get your property sold. All buyers are looking for deals and agents wil check out those properties that have a track record of price reductions and use this as a tool for their clients.

Mon May 12 2008, 19:10

In our area, the average market time is about 60 days. I usually recommend a 3% price reduction every 3 weeks until sold. There has been a lot more buyer activity this Spring, but there is a larger inventory than in previous years.

Mon May 12 2008, 19:07

I don’t think you will see a “buyers” market again soon. At least not like 2003-2005. The banks are getting stingy with the loans and if you cannot get a loan, most people cannot buy a house.

Mon May 12 2008, 19:01

J
What your agent said is correct. There will be (is) a market bounce this time of year. But that is in terms of ACITVITY (meaning more buyers are buring). It does not mean that prices are rising.

Here's the question to ask your Realtor: how many homes, like yours, have entered escrow since your home it the market. Then you will know what is what. An overpriced home will only sell in a market going UP. Most markets are going DOWN, or flat, so a listing that is priced RIGHT may not sell. You may need to price slightly under market t(because the market is going down) to sell AT market.

Mon May 12 2008, 16:25

It sounds like you were under the impression from your agent that they could sell it for more because of the spring market. I'm sorry if you were. Being a buyers market if you what to sell it, I suggest you work with your agent on the price. We recommend to our sellers that if a seller really wants to get their home sold that they need to have their house in great condition and priced competitively to start out. In our local market here in Frederick, MD we suggest a price reduction of 1% every 30 days until it sells to stay ahead of the market. The other thing that you need to ask yourself is, will the house appraise for what you are asking for it? No one is going to buy a home that doesn't appraise for the asking price. Get an appraisal if you want an un-bias opinion on what the price should be.

Mon May 12 2008, 15:54

You are most definitely not the only seller in this situation. It's a strong buyer's market right now. There are many homes in which a buyer has to choose, so they can be very picky. This is very frustrating to sellers! (and agents for that matter) To sell a home in this market, it's so very important to have it priced right and staged well. It's a different market today than it was in 2006. What matters most is how your home competes versus similar homes on the market today, because that's what buyers are using for comparison.

Mon May 12 2008, 13:46

I hope/expect that your agent told you that she hoped for a Spring bounce, not that there'd be one. Real estate agents aren't fortune tellers; they don't know the future.

I hope/expect that your agent didn't tell you to lower the price to 2006 comps. Instead, I hope she told you that comps are now at 2006 levels. (There's a big difference. What houses sold for in 2006 has no bearing on what they'll sell for now. In fact, I know plenty of houses that'd still be overpriced--way overpriced--at 2006 levels. If comps for your house are now at 2006 levels, you're really not doing so bad.)

You say you've received no offers in 6 weeks. How many showings have you had? If you've had none, or just one or two, likely your house is overpriced. (Or it could be the result of a weak marketing program.) If you've had 10-20 or more, then your house is probably priced OK and the marketing is probably OK, but something is turning the buyers off.

How long you can hold out before dropping the price is up to you. Since you say you don't need to sell, I'd tend to agree with Russell. In today's market, 6 weeks isn't very long. And though I said that real estate agents can't predict the future, I'd tend to agree with Russell that we're at least a year away from the bottom.

Hope that helps.

Mon May 12 2008, 13:35

I would suggest that you listen to your agent. She's working in this market, so she knows what she's talking about. Many of us were hoping for a bounce back, but I think we're still a year away from hitting the bottom. According to building permits, that number keeps going down every month, which is a good indicator of how the market is doing.

If you're planning to wait until the sellers market, I would suggest to take your house off the market and wait until then. 6 weeks is just not enough to get an offer. In my area, the average number of days on the market is 76 days. As long as people are looking at your house, you need to continue be patient. Make sure that your agent advertises your house all over the Internet.

Recently, I sold a house to a lady from England who was transferring to my area. Because of online exposure, I was able to make a sale. Never underestimate the power of Internet.

Good luck.

Mon May 12 2008, 13:25