Martin

Silvia,

Perhaps your real estate agent knew the reality of the market and was unable to communicate it to you. In this market, open houses will not sell your property. There are too many of them - serious buyers search for homes online - maybe his/her marketing strategy was focused here. Statistically, less than 1% of homes are sold at open houses, and that's in a an up market.

In my experience, you felt pessimism from the other agent - perhaps he/she thought the property was priced too high, ill-prepared for the market and invested the appropriate time in the selling effort - remember sh/she does not get paid until the property sells, and the smart agent knows that the home correctly priced, and well presented to the market for sale - will sell.

In today’s market, the path to success is
- price correctly, competitively, not comparatively
- professionally stage the home for sale, de-clutter and show the best attributes of the home
- market it online with good photographs, not 'snaps'
- Sell it - enter into negotiations’ with an open mind - your first offer may be your only offer

Regards,

Raymond

Please read my blog entry below - I call it the PRICE REDUCTION GAME. Play it at your peril. - Fri Nov 9 2007, 16:58

Silvia,

Please drop me an email and I would be happy to review your situation and see if I can help you realize your goal.

Raymond@Raymond Property Group.com - Thu Oct 4 2007, 09:51

John,

It is hard to tell what you are looking for here. Is that a question or a statement?

What areas in West Hollywood are you looking at? - Wed Oct 17 2007, 03:47

There are a lot of these 'leading questions' popping up recently - one wonders if the good folks at Trulia are the authors just trying to drum up some discussion activity? - Wed Oct 3 2007, 06:08

I understand the genesis of this question from home sellers, saving commi$$on payments, but one really has to look in the mirror and face the facts.

This is a very competitive market, a buyer’s market, and while you may always use asking price as the core of your home selling strategy as a for sale by owner, it is a strategy directly opposed to your goal of saving commi$$ion payments to a real estate agent.

Real estate agents sell homes for more net proceeds to sellers than they can on their own. The statistics support it, and they have the marketing machine to market your home effectively.

How many of us have undertaken small home repair jobs, painting, plumbing, electric, sprinkler – the list goes on. All ‘I can do it jobs’ at first glance, only to start the job and run into problems.
Doing it yourself is an achievement, but does the result look as good as a professional can do – hardly for the most part.

When attempting one of the larger transactions that one can undertake – selling your home. It saves to use a professional at the end of the day.
The boom days of putting a sign in your front yard are over – face the market and act accordingly.

When one has a broken arm, you go to a professional, the emergency room at the hospital, you don’t try to mend it yourself with help from internet articles. ;-)

See the attached for an article on the matter. - Sun Sep 16 2007, 11:32

The average days on the market for single family homes as been steadily increasing for the past few months. In the first three months of 2007, the average number of days a property spent on the market was 75 days, and has steadily increased to a staggering ~122 days in September 2007. - Sat Sep 15 2007, 13:13