[blakesq]

HI All,

I knew this was going to be a tough market to sell in. We have lowered our price by $20K, and recently (this month) switched from septic to city sewer. We have received no offers. Anyhow, should I expect to a see a real lull in people looking for houses until spring rolls around? Is Christmas/winter time just a bad time to have a house on the market? Should we see an uptick in lookers sometime in the spring? Or is this market going to be horrible until 2012 or later? Thanks.

[KH02]

The market is always slower in the winter, especially around the holidays. Many people actually take their homes off the market and re-list in the springtime. Something to think about...

[Lintu]

Yeah, this is a tough time to sell because of the holidays and also because it's the middle of the school year.

[Rich Cabeza]

Look into doing a short sale like I am. Where are you?

[Cambium]

Originally Posted by blakesq

HI All,

I knew this was going to be a tough market to sell in. We have lowered our price by $20K, and recently (this month) switched from septic to city sewer. We have received no offers. Anyhow, should I expect to a see a real lull in people looking for houses until spring rolls around? Is Christmas/winter time just a bad time to have a house on the market? Should we see an uptick in lookers sometime in the spring? Or is this market going to be horrible until 2012 or later? Thanks.

Yes, Winter is the slowest time of year for Real Estate but its the best time of year to buy.

Not sure what your exact situation is and how much lower you can go without creating a short sale but .. its only been 3 months. I dont know how your selling prices matches comps and I dont know how soon you need to get out but best thing to do is wait for Spring or lower it more.

As far as the future nobody has the crystal ball but everyone has an opinion. RE Market will not be "horrible" in 2012 but in the same token it wont be "phenominal". Put it this way... If your home is worth $400,000 today and you cant sell it for $390,000, dont expect to get $410,000 for it in 2012.

Point is... Some People I know are holding off on selling until next year because they think they can get 10-20% above what their asking today.

Check market conditions with this link. Market Statistics

[DawnMTL]

Originally Posted by blakesq

HI All,

I knew this was going to be a tough market to sell in. We have lowered our price by $20K, and recently (this month) switched from septic to city sewer. We have received no offers. Anyhow, should I expect to a see a real lull in people looking for houses until spring rolls around? Is Christmas/winter time just a bad time to have a house on the market? Should we see an uptick in lookers sometime in the spring? Or is this market going to be horrible until 2012 or later? Thanks.

The fact that you "received no offers" shouldn't scare you. You only need one and, typically during harsh economic times, you work with the "first" (only) offer so that you get the sale.

I think that this is a difficult time to sell. Not only because of the holidays, but because people don't typically want to move in the winter unless they have to. Of course that would depend on what closing date gets set, but winter is notoriously a bad selling time, I'd imagine.

As for the school year issue, had your house been on the market in August (instead of September), you might have gotten lucky with someone looking to buy and move before the school year started. But that's just anyone's guess anyway.

We put our house in the market in March of 2011 to get a head start on the spring rush. We sold it in August 2011. Lots and lots of showings during those five months and not one offer. When we finally got an offer, we did the standard negotiation, and made it work. (And we did NOT get anywhere close to our asking price, by the way, even though it was priced well. But anyway...)

I wonder if it would behoove you to take it off the market and then relist it the spring so that it doesn't show as being active for all those winter days. Some people get scared off by that. They *should* realize why (winter!) but some people don't think.

Good luck!

[Tetto]

Originally Posted by blakesq

HI All,

I knew this was going to be a tough market to sell in. We have lowered our price by $20K, and recently (this month) switched from septic to city sewer. We have received no offers. Anyhow, should I expect to a see a real lull in people looking for houses until spring rolls around? Is Christmas/winter time just a bad time to have a house on the market? Should we see an uptick in lookers sometime in the spring? Or is this market going to be horrible until 2012 or later? Thanks.

If you have alot of equity and can afford it, get aggressive and take a hit. Do this only if you need to really get out from under the thing.

[blakesq]

We are lucky in that we don't have sell. We are interested in moving south for lower cost of living, bigger house with lower mortgage. Our asking price is still around $60k above what we owe. All in all we are in decent shape to wait. Thanks for all the comments, keep em coming!

[Cambium]

Originally Posted by blakesq

We are lucky in that we don't have sell. We are interested in moving south for lower cost of living, bigger house with lower mortgage. Our asking price is still around $60k above what we owe. All in all we are in decent shape to wait. Thanks for all the comments, keep em coming!

What town are you in? Im curious about the market data to have a better opinion. The question isnt only how much do you owe vs what your asking, the question is more of what are your competitors going for.

Buyers might see your property on the available list but quickly move their eyes to the one similar asking much less...

[kidyankee764]

As others have said, it should pick up in Spring. You'll likely see more bites in February/March than Decemebr/January.