I've had a listing for several months now & felt that I had a good working relationship with the owners.  While they've given me several price reductions, I felt that we needed to reduce the price again b/c of continuing declines in the market, particularly in their property type. 

The other day, I gave them some new "net" sheets to assist them about the new price..  We agreed that they'd review the sheets & let me know how much to reduce the price (I suggested a $10,000 reduction).  I was surprised not to hear from them yesterday; last night, I read an e-mail the wife sent me.  Evidently, sometime during the listing period, they had taken out another $15,000 against a line of credit.  Their equity, which had been a bit tight to begin with, was now even less.  Since they're counting on their net proceeds to fund their next purchase in the area, they  either get a lesser home (something I don't see them doing) or don't sell (because they can't lower the price).  I now doubt that this listing will end at a closing table.  Lesson learned: have my company's title company run an "Ownership & Encumbrance" report on the sellers (reveals all publicly recorded mortgages, liens, etc. against the property).  If I had done that, I wouldn't have been surprised.