Nine Months is a LONG Time!

I think part of the problem is that sellers and their agents are listing their homes too far above what the market can pay.  Homes in my area stay on the market for 9 months or even over a year - one home sold a year later, almost $40,000 below the original asking price.  

Somehow, I suspect that had they originally listed it at a lower price, it would have sold a lot more quickly.  People are wanting to buy houses in my area (a vacation area) but they are unwilling to pay high prices for them.

It really makes no difference to the market how much money a seller needs to walk away from the closing table with.  The only thing that matters is what a buyer is willing to pay.  :-/  That's a tough pill to swallow, but there you have it! 

Just my opinion... 

Its certainly a bad situation that we are all seeing. Lets just hope that, once the market is on the upswing, the mortgage lenders will not get themselves into another mess like this by offering really outlandish finance options.

We had a house two weeks ago sell before it even got on the MLS!  The agents got the contracts back from the seller, put the sign up on the property, and the next day went to install the lock box.  Guy walked up to the agent and said "How much?"  

24 hours later it was under contract.

*shrug*

It helped that it was a good price...I'll bet if the agent had told him a price that was $40,000 higher the guy would have shrugged and walked away. 

Pricing is very important in any market but especially today. 

There have been 2 homes in my market area which were priced 5% below what the comps said they should have been listed for.  Both sold in less than 4 days on the market and both made it to 99% + of what the Comps said they should have been listed for.  I think that is really good, and a good indicator that if it is priced right it will sell for fair value.