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I recommend that you have your current listing agent to take you to see several "active" listings in your price range. Try especially hard to see the homes that are priced $10-25,000 below yours but with similar square footage, age, and other features. Be as objective as you can be, it's a learning trip where you are trying to see if your property is really overpriced.
After that trip, maybe you will have a better understanding of whether the house is priced right or not being marketed best by your current agent.
I like how one of the first comments is that the agent may be "making up feedback" LOL Actually I've dealt with several buyers who insist on seeing homes that don't meet one of their criteria.. sometimes they decide it's ok and other times they realize they really do need that 3rd car garage or whatever it is..
otherwise you've gotten good advices, so I'll leave it at that
I recommend that you have your current listing agent to take you to see several "active" listings in your price range. Try especially hard to see the homes that are priced $10-25,000 below yours but with similar square footage, age, and other features. Be as objective as you can be, it's a learning trip where you are trying to see if your property is really overpriced.
After that trip, maybe you will have a better understanding of whether the house is priced right or not being marketed best by your current agent.
That's a great suggestion, but we moved 1000 miles away, so seeing other listings won't work. But I'll "modify" your idea and ask her questions about the points you mentioned.
Perhaps we truly did overpay when we bought (though I didn't think so at the time---we looked at almost 40 houses before we fell in love with this one), and we certainly wouldn't have spent so much on improvements if we knew we'd end up moving less than a year later.
We may just need to bite the bullet and take a significant loss. We have decided to keep the same realtor, and hope that the spring market brings a buyer soon.
I'm curious as to why you didn't use the agent who worked with you to buy the house to put it back on the market last year. Do you care to share?
Reasonable question (one I kept waiting for someone to ask)
When we made that move (from Massachusetts to Indiana), I didn't really know many realtors in Indy, so we worked with an old friend of mine. She lived in a southwestern suburb, and we were looking in a northern suburb, but she was willing to help us out and make the 30+ mile drive to show us houses. When it came time to sell, I wanted someone who knew Indy's north side really well, so we asked the woman who had represented the sellers when we bought it.
That's a great suggestion, but we moved 1000 miles away, so seeing other listings won't work. But I'll "modify" your idea and ask her questions about the points you mentioned.
Perhaps we truly did overpay when we bought (though I didn't think so at the time---we looked at almost 40 houses before we fell in love with this one), and we certainly wouldn't have spent so much on improvements if we knew we'd end up moving less than a year later.
We may just need to bite the bullet and take a significant loss. We have decided to keep the same realtor, and hope that the spring market brings a buyer soon.
Thanks, everyone, for your input!
Oh, wow.... I hear you now. If you will send me your e-mail via private message, I'll send you one of the best pricing programs which I have ever seen. This will be a absolutely no charge or obligation to you whatsoever!
Reasonable question (one I kept waiting for someone to ask)
When we made that move (from Massachusetts to Indiana), I didn't really know many realtors in Indy, so we worked with an old friend of mine. She lived in a southwestern suburb, and we were looking in a northern suburb, but she was willing to help us out and make the 30+ mile drive to show us houses. When it came time to sell, I wanted someone who knew Indy's north side really well, so we asked the woman who had represented the sellers when we bought it.
That makes sense, obviously when she worked for the sellers of your home she impressed you enough to hire her.
There's certainly truth in that. I thought we bought it for a good price at the end of 2011, but our current asking price is quite a loss on our investment. We don't want to "give it away."
It is always about price. What they are really saying is I don't want a pond on the property "at this price" or I don't want a downstairs MBR "at this price". You're getting that feedback a lot, you need to drop the price.
And what is this "We don't want to give it away."? Who's asking you to give it away? When you hear of someone giving a house away let me know, I might be interested. It's worth what the buyers think it's worth, not what you have in it or what you want for it. The buyers are telling you they don't think it's worth what you're asking. You said your agent had a lot of showings so he/she must be doing something right. Drop the price and sell it.
It never hurts to get a second opinion or even a third. Ask your agent about their marketing plan and then compare it to the others that you talk to. Some agents feel it is all about price while others are true sales people that know how to illustrate the benefits of your home to help you get top dollar for it.
If the other homes in the area are selling and yours isn't getting activity that is a clue. You should look at the "absorption rate" in your area to figure out how many months of standing inventory there is. If you listing is nearing that with no signs of success, you might recall the old saying: "The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing while expecting a different result".
Best of luck!
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