WOW, my mothers home has been on the market in CT. since MAY 2012. It has gleaming hardwood floors thoughout the entire home. All the bedrooms, (4) are spacious and they all have massive closets and extra closets are through out the home. There is a double garage a "true" in-law apartment and the yard is huge and flat with just woods in the back. I dropped the price 20,000.00 and I am getting offers $35,000.00 less. It is staged perfectly, the realtor loves what I did, so what is going on? Very frustrating~

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Rootsgal,

I can understand your frustration, Roots. WRT the sale of your mother's home, it's difficult to know for certain because all real estate is local. After that long of a marketing period, however, I'd have to guess price.

Have you double-checked the comps with your realtor? Viewed the recently sold homes in that neighborhood? You mentioned receiving multiple offers in the same general **$ range. Without any other information, I'd have to assume those are reasonable opening offers.

Have you attempted to negotiate by responding to the offers? If so, what was the result of those negotiations? I would certainly try to work with those prospective buyers.

Don't know if you grew up in the home or how long your mother resided there. It's also important to detach yourself from the property and consider it inventory or even the (future) buyers' home in order to view it with critical eyes and market it properly.

Best of luck to you. I'm sure you're dealing with multiple, difficult situations. Take care - all of the above is JMHO.

Rootsgal, First, Welcome to the Real Estate Boards!

Would it be possible for you to post a link or a MLS number for the property so we can see exactly what you are talking about? Sometimes, it is helpful to see how a listing is coming across to persons who might be "shopping" online ~ that's where we come in! We can view the listing and give you feedback that very few buyers will do.

It might be price or there might be something else going on. Simply need more information in order to offer ideas ~ hope you post back soon with additional information!

Had a few more thoughts, Roots. Besides reviewing the comparable sales (solds) with your realtor, I would also tour the competition, i.e. active listings, within your mother's area. In particular, you'd want to focus on similar sizes, models or floor plans and hopefully in the same and/or nearby subdivisions.

You can compare the various listing prices and rank the homes against your mother's home. It's especially important to visit the homes all or most of the buyers touring your home would also visit. Try to perform the same analysis and apply a critical, buyer's eye to the group. If you were a buyer, which home would you make an offer on? More or less than your previous offers and why?

Incidentally, if your realtor last presented the comps to you at your initial listing/pricing meeting, it's extremely important to update them. In most areas of the country, the market's changed significantly and 6 months would normally be considered a little stale, anyway.

After reviewing both comps and visiting actives, you'll probably know whether the previous offers were merely lowballs, trying to take advantage of your situation or reasonable opening offers.

Take care. Everything's JMHO.

You don't mention anything about the kitchen or bathrooms. Are they updated? If not, does the price reflect this fact?

Is the home being marketed with emphasis on the in-law apt? Is there a possibility that it could be used as a rental unit and marketed that way?

Sounds like a huge home...has to be perfect for someone ... hang in there.

Your listing is stale.

Realtors are quick to say it's been on the market since %$#, and suggest making an offer. Buyers are following your listing and realize you are chasing down the market.

My suggestion would be refresh the listing. If you had a six month listing..relist it instead of extending the listing. Take a week in the interim to clean up to sparkle stage, and get rid of bad colors and paint neutral on areas needed. Little fixes make a huge difference.

Think of ways to update it without too much expense...for instance take down old fashioned awnings... you get the picture.

If the house has furniture ..remove it..clean the carpets and repaint/remove wallpaper if necessary.

Raise the sales price $5,000 and see what happens.

Another thought...ask your Realtor what is going on. Most of what I am reading in our National Realtors mags. say the market is improving in most areas. Check all that out with your Realtor.

I would not recommend marketing the property as an "ESTATE SALE" ...promotes low offers.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: real estate lady,

Hey, everyone, Rootsgal, the OP here, has started a new thread in Real Estate entitled "Dropped the price 3x's ... what else can I do?" that has the link to the listing we requested. It's a really nice home ~ check it out. It's always difficult to have multiple threads dealing with the same property so I'm moving my posts to the new thread. See you all there!