This is a home buyers market and it is incredibly challenging for home sellers today. I get calls everyday from desperate home sellers who want to sell their current homes. I got a call from a one such seller today. He bought the property about 4 years ago for $295K, he still owes about that much on his mortgage. He wants to downsize and has tried to sell the property FSBO to no avail so he called me to see if I could help him sell the property. So I went to research the property very well. I discovered that the property is probably worth far less that what he owes on it.

So now I have to tell the home seller that I do not think that he can sell the home for the price he wants to sell it for. This is the reality of the market now. So what are the options for home sellers today in the present real estate market.

1. Cut down the price.

2. Consider doing a lease purchase or rent to own. In this situation the home seller gets a small downpayment as option money from the home buyer/renter. The home buyer rents the home for a few months before finally closing on the transaction. The seller in this situation gets to have a good tenant, who will take care of the property well, because they made a huge downpayment and then eventually actually buy the property. The hope is that the value of the property would have improved by the time that the buyer is ready to close.