Old listings don’t die. They just fade away!

There is the seller that wants a certain price regardless of what the market is indicating about value.  Raise property condition or lower the price.

Richard - I'm somewhat fortunate in the sense that all of the listings I currently have are short sales and these sellers don't quibble about what the listing price should be. 

Richard, my husband uses the phrase "insurance men don't retire, they just fade away. Congrats on the feature!

Absolutely, An overpriced house that stays on the market rarely gets shown. It tells the Buyer that the Seller is not willing to accept what the market value is on the property and most likely will not accept a lower price.

Richard, short and truthful and short sales are the way to go for so many but they haven't mentally reached that crossroad yet...i do many as you do and as a north kingstown short sale agent i can get sellers to move on with their lives..isn't that what they want to do...

I had the opportunity this week to be agent #2 interviewed by some sellers this week, and Mrs Seller thanked me for my honesty.  They will either list with me at a reasonable price or not list at all....they almost got stuck listing for a year at $50K higher than they should have been on a $125K home. I'm glad they called for a second opinion. Overpriced listings aren't always a sellers fault. Agents must not be afraid to tell them the truth. Thanks for the great post.

The property will sell. . . . .  unless the seller is holding out for what he "could have gotten" 3 years ago when he first thought of selling.  I still see a lot of these.  In fact, these are most of my sales. 

Great post. Seems we will always have such sellers. It's tough though when you're in a small market and it just takes more time to sell or is it really a home that won't sell. 

The problem is that Real estate has been sold as a "Sure Thing" Investment for the last 25 Years.

It should have been sold for what it is- an Investment. Just like any other Investment they go up or down.

People are not happy about their 401k's but, they understand that they go in cycles, so they don't get these pre-conceived ideas about value.

So, because of the seeds that have been planted, become reality and then it's time to deal with what has grown.

Besides, my deck is the best one in the neighborhood! I built it myself with out nails!!!!

Very true.

It's tough for people to let go...but once they do, they are free to move forward to their lives.  But, often they do this kicking and screaming the whole way.  ;-(

Your illustrations are true, however, eager agents are just as much responsible for listing and re-listing seller's homes that are ridiculously over comparable market prices.

Richard, I just had his conversation with a seller.  They know they are going to be in trouble soon and need to sell the house, but they are not behind in their payments.  They are just underwater on the value versus what they owe. So the problem is the lender will not even talk to them about shorting the loan until they are delinquent.  They do not want to make things worse by not paying their mortgage.  They want to short the loan without a hit to their credit. 

This is a great post and warrantes a reblog.  Thanks for the great post.

Totally agree. It is if the seller accepts the 'reality of the market'. I just relased one seller because they were never going to get it.  They did not want to reduce the price inspite of the buyer feedback.  Another post for me on this very topic.

True market price, so true.  Not always what you want to hear but, it will get the house sold!