Expert: Dick Dennis - 3/25/2008

Question
We listed our manufactured home that is almost 5 years old with a real estate agent. She is very nice, but doesn't seem like she is real motivated to sell it. I think if she has higher priced homes to sell, she isn't as motivated to sell our home for 84,900. We had pretty many people come and look at our home and liked it but had poor credit. The home is located in a mobile home park with old and new homes. We don't particularly like the neighborhood because we have two teenage boys and we are not close to town. We are looking at homes in town and found a few we liked but can't do much until we sell our home. I have put a few ads in local newspapers myself and put flyers up at local grocery stores, etc. We have a very nice home, how can we get it sold???? Getting Frustrated in PA!!

Answer
Assuming the real estate business is not doing too well in your area either, Brenda, you might want to continue to promote the property yourself as you have been doing. If you feel you can do a better job of finding a buyer, then you might want to ask your agent to change the listing to an "Exclusive Agent" listing. That would allow you to sell the property without any obligation to pay a commission should you sell the property. Otherwise, you're going to have to have more patience. Some homes are taking six months to a year to sell in this market. Homes in mobile home parks are taking lots longer to sell unless the price is way down.

You also have to realize that if YOU don't like the neighborhood, there are not going to be too many potential buyers who will like it either. The fact that your house has been shown a lot of times without an offer also tells me that the price is too high. You do have lots of company from other sellers who can't sell theirs either.

If you have good equity in your property, you may ask your agent if she would consider finding a house you like in which the seller would consider exchanging your equity as a down payment on his house. That works sometimes when the seller is more interested in selling than you are in buying. I do wish you well.

Dick Dennis