Just an alert to home sellers these days. The inventory build up in many areas of the country now exceeds a 12 month backlog. That is to say, if no more new inventory were to be added to the Multiple Listing Services and the For Sale by Owner ranks for the next year it would take the entire year to sell all properties currently available given current absorpotion rates. If you are serious about selling, it is time to consider the basic economics of supply and demand...again only if you truly want to sell your home. If there is excess inventory (supply) and too little demand (few buyers),
prices have to come down some if we are being realistic. Look at what they retailers do in such conditions. Car dealers lower their prices to move excess inventory. They have a sale. This is where we are today in real estate in many parts of the country. It is a painful, but realistic assessment of this real estate market.

In the next many months, inventories are likely to grow significantly. New home sellers will list their properties. Foreclosure property inventory is coming into the market at a steady pace and many industry experts believe that this rate will increase. The CEO's of Merrill Lynch and CitiGroup have recently stepped down under the premise they are retiring.
Both companies have had massive losses relating to mortgage pool investing, so you figure that one out. The bottom line here is that inventories aren't going to remain static, and will most likely increase for the foreseeable future.

We simply wanted to put this information out there so people have one more point of view. One practice that some sellers have employed is to pay their real estate professional a SEVEN PERCENT commission. It may seem crazy and like you're giving up money, but when virtually everyone is paying brokers less, more might be just the solution. When you think about it, compensation is a big motivator for almost everyone. If an agent thinks there's a remote chance her client will like your property, it will be shown, and selling your home is a matter of exposure. The most important consideration here is that we want to present realities of the market, but also try to suggest options for a solution. Lowering price is another more obvious option, but it may not be the best one given your situation.