My Realtor is a nice person

Can you list anything she failed to do?  (Besides sell the house).  Is it the market?  Is it the price?  Did she not market the property?

You might get a backlash on this one.  I'm sorry you didn't sell.

I'd rather not get into the things but what do you mean "backlash"?

I think what KD is asking is what have you done to encourage the sale. Have you revisted you price? Have you staged your home? What is the area you feel the agent didn't do her job.

The market is dropping so fast that most peopl are finding in order to sell they need to lower their price.

Yes to both questions.  We started at 499,900 we are down to 449,900.

I think you could say you could eat off my floors and we have staged and decluttered. A "fixer-upper" sold last summer directly across the street from me at 475,000 (much bigger lot), 5 houses down on the corner of a busy street a "dated" ranch sold for 420,000 about 6 mos. ago.

Our house is 20 years old and we updated the following in the last 4-5 years:  Timberline roof, high eff. furnace & CAC, hot water heater, leaders/gutters and garage door to name a few.

We don't know what to do.  We would like to sell, my DH would like to retire and I would like to go somewhere that's warmer.  In our small town there are only 2 bank owned properties.  It's not like Vegas or CA, but it isn't good either.

The market had deslined in the past 6 months and it sounds like those comps might not be relevant to your price today. Have you tried looking in your town to see what the % of decline has been and then continuing that % on from the last comps and looking at the price?

I am buying in an area where there are no bank owned properties and nothing has sold in 4 months. I would not use the last property sold as a comp with out factoring in the continued decline in the past 4 months to figure a fair market value.  

In a market like this, 6 month old comps, are not extremely accurate and while they should be more relevant if you apply the % decline for your area to their sold price. It would give you a more accurate number of what the market is. That way you wont be looking to what others have sold for so long ago but what things are most likely selling for today.

I am not judging but really trying to help. If you do all that and find you are priced right then I certainly would change agents. Nice people don't always make great sales people.

Were the recently sold properties fsbo?

Bubba, substitute "selling" for "buying" and "8 months" for "4 months" and you can see the dilemma I'm in trying to price & sell our house.  The only suggestions or realtor could make was "drop the price" but if nothing is selling, I think there MUST be other options!  What they are is still a mystery though.

rock, no they were listed.

gottago

Have you noticed any fsbo homes in your area sitting and not selling as long or longer than your home?

I thought the same thing about our agent but homes in the area are still sitting there, and 2 really great homes were just taken off the market. I guess they decided to wait. It seems like every 2 weeks, the price needs to drop some. It hurts like hell, and to be honest, that price drop that you said is just not enough to get an offer today.

Buyers are like vultures today. They will see a home on the internet, add it to their favorites, and just wait... and wait... and wait. I've been watching several homes for about 8 months (because I haven't sold mine yet), but ALL of them have had HUGE price reductions, even the REO's are reducing their pricing. You have to separate yourself emotionally from the home. In fact, if you're trying to sell, it's a house, not a home. Our home has been in the family since 1958, and I can still remember drawing a hopscotch board on the sidewalk, playing jacks on the front porch, my pajama parties and low and behold, my wedding reception in the backyard. 

I was so mad that a house similar to ours had "nothing" done to the inside and it sold before ours, for about $40k under our already too low price, and they were low-balled for $50k under their asking price. They started where we started! The outside was gorgeous, newly painted, but the entire inside was a flashback from the 70's. Our home has all updates. New kitchen w/SS appl, added a 1/2 bath and an additional bedroom, updated the two full existing baths (spent tons of money on the upstairs one), replaced all receptables and lighting fixtures in every room, refinished the hardwood floors, added two new french doors, replaced the breaker box, added baseboard heating and a/c outlet in the attic and new windows in the attic and basement, even knocked walls down and enlarged the basement. Oh yeah, the entire interior was painted, including the ceilings and the trim. We also added expensive crown molding in the living room. Whew. Did I say our house hasn't sold yet?

It's tragic at this point, but we started at $899k and are now at $599.9. We just last week got word of two offers, with another supposedly coming in the next few days. It's not sold until the fat lady sings and I can't believe that I'm writing that it's not your agent's fault.

By the way, is that carpeting in your bathroom? *sigh*

gottago, in this market, sales from "last summer" are just not relevant at all.  The only things that count now are the past 3 months' sales and pendings. What is the average DOM in your area? (days on market)  In my area, 226 DOM isn't unusual; this is a nasty market, and buyers are hovering like vultures, waiting for a whiff of carrion.

It may not be your agent!

gottago I noticed that you have done some upgrades to your property but what seemed to be left out was any updates to the Kitchens and bathrooms. While you have taken care of some important items such as downspouts and central air, Kitchens and Bathrooms really get buyers attention!!!!! Maybe your agent is so nice that they did not want to offend you and mention things that you may want to do to increase the chance of selling your home. I would suggest a couple of  things; 1. have an open house and allow yourself to be open to receive negative feedback if  there is any. Please leave the home during the open house so potential buyers are free to express themselves. 2. Have a home inspection done so you will have a better idea of what condition your home is in right now. 3. Get a new set of comps for the market we are in today not 6 months ago, also be mindful of the price range because we can't always sell at the "high end" of the price range. 4. Take you home off the market during this process and when you have all questions answered consider placing it back on the market with all improvements, comps, market analysis etc... complete and I think you will sell your home if you are honest with yourself regarding these matters. Good Luck and please let me know when you sell!!!!!  

Good points everyone.  Although I am not in a position to update my kitchen or bathrooms, (yes I realize they look like 1989, the only updates we've done are faucets and shower heads) so, when we hear updated market analysis I will try to detach myself and just be open to what it will take to sell this house.  Thanks for your feedback everyone.