Expert: Ray Beggs - 12/18/2006

Question
Hi,
My husband and I moved out of our house last June, and listed with a 3% real estage agency. The house sat, and only two people looked at it!  It's a beautiful home on an acre of property in an up-and-coming rural area. The realtor didn't have much contact with us so we decided to change realtors - THEN they got on the ball telling us we had the house priced too high.  We switched to a 6% realtor - and, to tell you the truth - I found realtors we dealt with a little shady - I don't trust them. They stand to make a lot of $$ off of our $300,000+ house. The new realtor had us put in new rugs, floor, and paint. The house is in mint condition.  I'm still afraid because now we are carrying 2 mortgages, taxes, insurance, etc. - on top of that - I am sick, and can only work sporadically. I have been denied SS. I read in money magazine to consider leasing to buy, but my husband said we could never recover the expense it is costing us to keep the house, and he is afraid renters will trash the house. I thought about listing the house ourselves because we need the money. We live in NJ. Please give me any advice!

Answer
Hi Sharon,

Thanks for your question. I'm sorry to hear about all of the trouble you're having selling your home. I can tell you that you're not alone. The market, at least out here in SoCal, has really slowed down. Prices aren't coming down too fast, but it's taking A LONG time to get them sold. Realtors are just like any other group of people. You've got good ones and bad ones. My suggestion would be to make sure that you are doing everything that you can to get the house sold. If your Realtor doesn't want to do open houses, then you do them. Advertise in the local papers and make sure that you're on all of the MLS services that you can. Also, drop your asking price to the bottom of what you can take.

The houses that are selling are the ones that have good amounts of buyer exposure and are priced at the lower end of the comparables.

Best of luck to you,

Ray