Most sellers what the max out of their home, but alot of times they must wait a while to get that. I try to encourage them to list at a price they are willing to take and to get buyers in the home. I mean after all if it is overpriced a buyer will not attempt to look.In my market home prices are down from 1 year ago.

Congratulations on selling your listings You did a CMA and they agreed to the price so they knew what they are going to sell it for. Its a similar situation you will feel if you were buyer agent, you could have got the home for couple thousand less...

Good for you!

Trying to advise some clients can be difficult right now, they will not take their head out of the sand. We are finding that it is hard for sellers to understand that the market is different than it was just a year ago.

We show them the data to support what we are seeing in the market but they do not think that there home is going to be affected.

A couple of weeks ago I posted something of the same thing.  I listed a house on Friday and less than 5 days I had to completing offers.  Went back to both agents and told them to put their best foot forward and the best offer would get the house.  Lets just say one went above the listed price and we are closing on the house next week.  But before I did this I let me sellers know that the offers could go away to, so I always keep my seller informed.

I always do a BPO for my clients, and show them what I think the home will sell at in 30, 60 and 90 days.  If a home sells in 5 days or less(referencing previous posts), in the existing market place, it implies the home was underpriced.  If the owner is seeking a quick sale, then this is great.  This is generally the case, some neighborhoods are an exception to this, as they are always in high demand.

Just because a home sells quickly doesn't mean it's price too low.  It may mean it's the best value on the market that week.   More than anything, you need to compare it to other homes priced in the same range.  Are the other ones bigger or smaller?  Market time is everything in todays market.  A good strategy might be to come up with your price and then add $5,000 to it.  If you don't get a lot of showings the first weekend or two, then drop the price $5,000. 

we advise our clients to list their homes to compete......too high and they will sit, you are right...although, I have seen reos too low, getting multiple contracts..

I attempt to get my sellers to price slightly under mid-market except for the lease markets - they are screaming hot here right now and prices are rising daily.  The homes for sale though must be staged to the tee, and the prices must attract the few buyers that are shopping.  The price gets their attention, the staging gets the offer...

Wow, guys, great response and thanks for the feedback.  I think the issue that most of you have identified is educating the seller so they don't have unrealistic expectations.  In addition, there were some great insights as to why sometimes houses sell very quickly even in a "slow" market.  This is why I love ActiveRain.