No question this is a rough time for home sellers. A recessionary economy, tightening lending requirements along with declining consumer confidence are all making for a definitely marketplace.

While Winston is not Florida or California in terms of a collapsing housing market, it has been affected by the broader trends in the current economy. Which makes me think that some people just do not realise that perhaps their homes may not be worth as much as they think it does and that whatever price they set it at does not reflect market reality.

I say this because I am still getting daily updates from our realtor through whom we bought the house we are now in. If a new listing comes onto the market or there is a price change then I will see it listed.

First off, I am seeing some price reductions in the listings. Homes that were originally $174,000 are now selling $10,000 to $14,000 below their original selling price.This is probably right as it is going to take a lot now to get people interested in seeing and buying a home now. What surprises me though are those people who just take $100 or $400 off the price. I am not sure what they are trying to accomplish. Any vigilant house hunter will know the history of a listed property and trying to fool people with a different price point like the old $7.99 prices in the store which is suppose to make you think that an item is $7 and not $8 in value just is not going to work.

Then there are those who establish listing prices without checking what other properties are selling for or are ignoring the advice from their selling agent who should know what houses sell for in the area.

While I think I could have gotten our house for a bit less if I held out for a bit longer, I think the price we paid and the deal we got was a good one. Looking at the listed homes that are selling at the price we paid makes me think people have an inflated view of their house’s worth or I have gotten a better deal than I thought. Thirty year old ranch houses on the outskirts of town should not be the same price as my recent two-story home located in a well-developed neighbourhood. Same for three bedroom homes with 30% less square footage in some of the new subdivisions. They are going to have to do better when it comes to selling their home if they want to do it right now.

Then again, they may not have to reduce the price of their home. If there is no compelling need to sell the house like a job transfer, it may be to their advantage to hold out for more because at some point the housing market will recover. If the house fits their current living needs then why sell in a declining market? In many ways, these sellers will help contribute to setting a floor for the market. Just down the road from us, there was a house that was listed at the same time are our house was.From the time we first saw it and then after we bought our home, the price never changed which was just a bit less that we paid for our home. At some point, they must have given up on selling it because the For Sale sign is no longer there. But whatever compelled them to list the house in the first place, it should compelled them to re-list the house once more when the housing market improves.

Still, if you want to sell a house right now, you have to make some serious decisions on what the market will allow you to list the home in order to make it move not what you think the house is really worth. Otherwise you ar setting yourself up for a big disappointment.