Ms. Seagram -- If you have a particular neighborhood in mind, just send me a note about it and I can give you statistics on the list to sale ratio in that neighborhood. You can visit the website listed below to send me a quick note.

The good thing about houses for sale in Central Kentucky is that they are holding their value extremely well. The difference between listing and purchase price has stayed fairly steady even in these tough economic times. It's hard to pinpoint a percentage. I usually see clients offer about 5% or less below listing price then it is countered by the sellers and they meet somewhere in the middle.

Purchase prices often reflect closing costs rolled in on top of the offer. When this occurs, the house still must appraise at the adjusted price. Lowball offers most often just offend sellers and will not help you when negotiating for a house.

Each week, I disclose the listing and purchase prices of Central Kentucky homes in my newsletter "I love Kentucky News." It will show what has sold in the past week.

My clients can then compare and determine what to offer. Also, in each issue will be the new hottest listings on the market and more! Some only minutes old. Please contact me if you would like to subscribe.

It depends on the area, the agent and how on-target the intital price is. In many areas of Lexington, houses sell for about 95% (on average) of the asking price, though in some neighborhoods it's higher and lower in others.

One thing that nearly always holds true is that the faster you get an offer, the more likely you are to get list price or very close to it, which is why it's important to price the house at market value right off the bat. If potential buyers see the home as a strong value for the money and it's only been on the market a couple of weeks, you're far more likely to get 97%, 98% or sometimes even 100% of your asking price (even in this tough market). If the house is priced above market value, the house won't compare well to other houses in the same price range so you'll rarely get an offer.

I work with sellers all the time who say "Well, let's price it $15,000 above what we really want so we can have some room to negotiate -- bad idea. Your house won't compare well to the houses that ARE worth $15,000 more than yours so you're actually helping to sell the other houses.

Any reputable real estate profressional should have statistics to show you that if a home is priced right at market value from the get go, you'll get a higher percentage of your asking price and sell much faster. People often don't want to "insult" the seller of an overpriced home by offering them less, so until you bring the price down to where it should be, you probably won't get offers.

Other factors that affect what percent of asking price you'll receive include promotion and presentation (staging). As an experienced home stager, I can tell you that houses that are staged well will also bring a higher percentage of list price and sell much quicker than homes that aren't staged. So few homes in this area are staged, and the ones that are really stand out and get offers. For example, the longest it's ever taken me to sell one of my staged houses was 58 days, which was less than half the average time for that particular neighborhood. Twice this past year I've sold the houses I've staged and listed for 100% of asking price -- but never less than 95% of asking price.

Hope this information helps.