The Trouble With Selling A Home Yourself

07/22/2009 - Real Estate A man in my neighborhood is selling a home three doors away from where I am renting a house. In the three months that I have been looking for a home I have seen him lower his price two times. The floor plan of the home for sale is identical to the plan I am living in. When I first saw the sign advertising the sale of the property I arranged for a tour of the house and considered making an offer until I saw the asking price.

To my knowledge only one other person has looked at the home that is standing vacant with a fore sale by owner sign in the front yard. No offers have been made on the home and the owners that have long since moved out are concerned that they are now paying two mortgages.

At the end of the block there are two other houses for sale. Both of them have been listed with real estate agents and one of them on the corner has since sold and has a family living in it. As I watch the neighbors house drop gradually in price I how long it will be before they surrender their pride and list the for sale by owner property with a realtor?

The first reduction in the price listed right on the sign was for $7,000. Then as time passed and no one showed any interest in the house the price went down another $7,000 and as the third month of no lookers and no offers approaches I anticipate another drop down in the price of the home.

If my neighbor were so sure that he could move the property without listing it he would do well to have started at a lower initial asking price, but now that he has given up $14,000 of his equity I wonder if he realizes that bringing in a professional to sell his home would help him to sell it at a price that is acceptable to him. He could have paid a real estate agent a six percent commission and would be where he is now after reducing the price of his home twice. Instead this man is facing another reduction in the price of his house and still has no bites from buyers.

With the aid of a real estate agent the property would properly marketed and listed with other agencies that have access to buyers in the area that are looking for exactly the house being sold at the price it is being sold for.