I have a Brighton Park home for sale that I truly thought had a chance when I first listed it.  It had been listed by a previous agent that had it priced way too high.  I showed my comps and the sellers agreed to lower the price.

This is a solidly built but dated home in an area of Chicago that is showing declining prices just like most Chicago subdivisions.  There is still too much inventory. 

I have kept these sellers up-to-date with the market and they have continued to reduce their price since we had very little interest.  But they've hit their so-called bottom line and will not reduce anymore.  And the house sits with no showings.

They have to sell

When we first listed the home it was priced correctly based on sales data.  But for whatever reasons buyers were not interested in viewing it.  It is on a dead-end street but there is a commercial area right across the street that is blocked by fencing.  So you can't really see it but you know it's there.  However, most buyers wouldn't know this unless they drove by.  We didn't have any appointments.

So the sellers started reducing.  We went from $250,000 down to $225,000 in increments.  I believe it should now be priced around $200,000, but they won't have it.  They live in another home and need this sold.  They will not rent it out.

They have been vandalized

Someone damaged their fence in back and they had to repair it.  Now someone tried to break in and they had to fix the locks.  Someone stole mail and got a credit card in their name.  Supposedly, they saw a photo of their neighbor as their identity thief. 

Because of all of this any showings we do get can only be done on certain days as the sellers now have to travel over an hour to let buyers in.  This was advice given by their attorney because of what has transpired.

Yet they won't reduce their price to get rid of this problem.

I'd love to give them the listing back

This listing was a referral by another client.  I have to be careful here.  In fact, I already turned down an overpriced listing that was also referred by the same client.  Someone else took it and it has been on the market with that person for 113 days (it has been up for sale for 260 days total).

These Brighton Park sellers worked with me as the market started to go downhill so I thought we'd be OK.  It did seem like we were just chasing the market and we were a step behind, but I figured we'd find that sweet spot where we'd get some activity and an offer.  But the sellers stopped in their tracks before we could get there.

The listing expires in March and I don't want to keep it unless they get real.  My "referral" client might just cross my name off his list but I refuse to work with this overpriced listing any longer.  And even though it seemed like it was priced correctly in the beginning, it's a reminder that what looks good on paper isn't always true.