House on the market for 7 month. Will lowering the price help? What else can I do?

**Moonlight** · 03-16-2011, 09:17 PM

Our house has been on the market for 7.5 month. I am highly motivated to sell it ASAP because we have finally found a perfect house to buy. I am not trying to squeeze every penny out of the house, but I would like to sell it ASAP.

Our house is a 1440 sf.
Pros: 1.2 acres nearby the town, level park-like lot, all new hardiplank siding and paint, newer kitchen, bathroom and carpets, large living room, large barn.
Cons: 2 BR, 1 BA, busy road, built in 1920.

I believe we have done pretty much everything to make it more sellable. We replaced all the siding with hardiplank, new paint inside and out, new faucets, newer carpets, new large doublepane windows. Planted flowering shrubs and roses in front of the house. We got rid of all the clutter, and we keep the house perfectly clean.

We had approximately 15-20 showings and held several open houses, but haven't received any offers. The feedback from the buyers' agents were: the shop is too small, buyers just started looking at houses, the yard is not well suited for farm animals, need more bedrooms. The house seems to attract many potential buyers, but we have not received even a low ball offer.

We work with a real estate agent, but I feel that he is not as motivated as I am to sell the house immediately. He takes 3-5 days to return my phone calls. I offered to add a rider saying "1.2 acres" to our yard "for sale" sign, but he said: "It is not necessary. I believe that we are already doing enough". I decided that it wouldn't hurt and bought the rider anyway (it was only$30).

In order for us to pay off the loan and to have enough money for the downpayment, we need no less than 230K. We originally listed the house for 268K, and then lowered it to 249K. Our real estate agent says that it is priced appropriately, but there are still no offers. Would it help if we lower the price from 249K to 239K? It would still give us room to negotiate. Would it attract more buyers and increase the odds of selling the house faster? Or would it make us look desperate, or make the buyers wonder what is wrong with the house?

I would greatly appreciate any suggestions. You can see the pictures and description: MLS #106258.

**Greg** · 03-17-2011, 05:06 AM

I can say with certainty that your house is over priced. How do I know that? You have had 15-20 showings and no offers. This can mean only one thing. You are over priced.

Don't worry about looking desperate. These days those who are desperate don't have the ability to lower the price because they owe too much.

Will lowering the price to $239,000 help? Not if $239,000 is over priced. You need to find out how much your house is worth. If your agent has not already shown you the houses similar to yours that have sold recently then you probably need another agent who knows how to sell real estate.

One thing for you to remember is how much you need to get out of the house has nothing at all to do with the value of your house. Your house is only worth what it will appraise for and you can determine that by looking at the comparable properties that sold recently.

**Dallas Real Estate** · 03-19-2011, 10:31 PM

There are a lot of elements effect selling your house in today's real estate market like location, condition of the property and the most important one is the PRICE...If your home is over priced you will get many showings without even a single offer. Reduce the price and try to negotiate on the term of the transaction. Good Luck!

**EugeneRealEstate** · 03-21-2011, 02:47 PM

You might want to get out and view your competition so you know what you are competing against. Also have your agent run a new Comparitive Market Analysis so you can see the sold home in the area over the last 3 months. Any farther back than 3 months does you no good. The market is changing too fast to go back further.

**gotlivechat** · 03-23-2011, 10:13 AM

Check out a site like realtor.com and do a search for homes in your price range. That will show you what your competition looks like. I mean, are other (simlarly-price) homes offering more sq ft? More acreage? More beds/baths? etc.

See how you can differentiate your property from the rest. In the end it may come down to pricing, but don't rely on that alone as that may not be the reason for your selling problems.