Ugh, what a mistake...I finally got my first listing under contract!

All of my friends have been telling me "what a bad time to get into real estate!".  I disagree... This is the BEST time if I want to learn by experience, not by theory. Well boy did I learn!  My first listing is finally under contract after a YEAR.  My mistake--- letting the buyer set the price and then following the market down through a series of price reductions.  Not being able to convince the buyer to stage the property and make improvements also did not help.  What did I learn?  If a potential seller will not take my advice about pricing and staging then I won't take the listing.  My manager told me some of my most important listings will be the ones I don't take!  I realize I can't fight the market-- I have to position my listings properly within it.  One of our retired agents told me if I  overprice a property I'll end up selling it for less than it's worth, and that seems to be the case.  As I get more confident as a realtor I've realized that in real estate, hope is not a selling strategy-- properly positioning your listings in the marketplace is.  If the deal goes through my seller will be happy because he is happy to get rid of the home and move on with the rest of his life, but it's been kind of traumatic.  In this scenario I've spent money on marketing and lots of time on open houses, not even to mention the cajoling I had to do to get price reductions from the seller.  THIS IS NOT THE WAY TO DO THINGS.  Hopefully I've learned from this and I just put a home on the market that has been beautifully staged.  If I don't get offers soon then a significant price reduction will be the next step. 

After a year and a half of being a realtor I've gained an enormous respect for the profession as I see what we have to know about so many things.  We're in the knowledge business.  Any advice would be appreciated and I hope this selling season proves to be better for you than last year's.

 On the more postive side, I'm enjoying a week in Miami as a member of the Cleveland Orchestra and it's sure nice to get a break from Cleveland's weather!