We're still sitting here in Alabama with a S&B.  It's now been on the market 4 months and 5 days.  We have had 4 people look at it during this time:
    1st made an offer that was just too low - we countered with him several times but he just wouldn't budge enough although we dropped considerably.
     2nd was afraid of the steep hill we have from the edge of or formal back yard down to the lakeshore.
     3rd  couldn't get pre-approved for a mortgage.
     4th  was an older couple and he too was afraid of the steep hill.

I don't understand - my husband will be 74 in November and I will be 69 in August and we handle the hill - do hire someone to mow that part of the yard but my husband does everything else in the yard.  And, the view is beautiful!  And you have your own private dock.

We have dropped the price $5,000 since we started and would willing take another $5,000 less if someone would make offer.

Maybe the 5th will be the charm - sure am hoping so anyway.  We have actually moved into our 5er and have been there since June 10th.  It stays clean that way.  We're slowing moving our stuff and have started selling out the furniture even tho our realtor said to leave it in the house if we could - well she hasn't had any luck that way.  So, we're getting rid of it so we won't have to deal with once we sell it.

What does it take to sell a house these days?  We've done everything we know to do.  Even had our 3rd yard sale last weekend and we're ready to be thru with all that mess.

Thanks for listening!

Judy (&Bob)

It's a mess out there but someone will be along. There is a fella who blogs about full timing in an RV and boondocking his place was on the market three years they're on the road now and he's as giddy as a school girl. The right buyer will come and you will be rid of your anchor. Just have faith stick to your guns and don't let some slicker steal it from you because he thinks your desperate to sell. Mallo

I absolutely understand. We are selling our house to our daugther and son-in-law. They moved into it in February 2009. We moved into our fiver. I retired last Sept, husband retired this February. They pay the mortgage and do the upkeep. However, they own a condo they have rented out. They can not get a mortgage until condo sells. Not one single offer. So in the meantime we do not have the proceeds from the house sale making money for us. And we had bought a new fiver in 2009 that we intended to pay off with house proceeds. So we are paying interest on that loan. But, we wanted the house to remain in the family as my daughter loves the house. Maybe even more so our son-in-law. I do hope that your situation rights itself soon. You, like us, want to get on with your life. It is so hard to have the dream right in front of us and not be able to completely grab it. In the meantime, do you go out on long term trips or even frequent weekends?

Whether you're selling the house yourself or you have an agent, make up a website for your house. A domain name like WhateverStreetAnytownAlabamaForSale.com [use your specifics] and a cheap hosting plan is a bargain as part of the marketing campaign to sell your home. Put in key words like real estate, home, your town, for sale, waterfront so that if someone is googling "real estate for sale anytown alabama", it will show up. Put in the loveliest pictures and most superlative descriptions you can and show people why they should love it. Make up flyers that mimic the website and put them in a box by your for sale sign. Put an ad in Craigslist with a few of the best pictures and link to your website. If you have an agent, they should be doing all this for you, but make sure you have approval on the site, flyers, ads, etc since someone else's idea of a quality piece might not be yours. As an AZ agent, I can't tell you how many ads I saw for very very pricy homes with miserable pictures and mis-spelled words, and it would automatically put the house on the bottom of my showing list. Attention to detail and quality in marketing materials reflects on the home. Most people pick out the houses they want to show or see from the internet, so you must grab them there. Unless you've got incredible photography skills, consider having a professional shoot done of your exterior, view, kitchen, and another room or two. See if you can find a real estate photographer who takes pictures from a lift-bucket or at least a huge ladder, so that your leading shot is from an angle looking down on the home and the view behind it...not just the typical shot of the front door and garage. You'll stand out. It may cost you $500 but you'll sell your house. And now, back to your regularly scheduled program ;) Deb

I don't know your situation but our house was on the market 6 months with no prospects in sight due to it being a buyers market.We got a few offers that were insults and ended up financing the house ourselves to a lady with excellant income but no credit history due to her husband just passing away.We were fortunate we could afford to do that but sometimes you have to be creative.We felt time was wasting and did not want to wait out the market.Good luck to you.

Dreamers, hang in there! I've also done the 3 yard sale thing (over 2 years), sold some furniture/odds and ends on craigslist and last week placed an ad on fsbo.com Everything points to a website I built with lots of pictures...so we'll see what happens. I placed a video on YouTube with a link on my website and each time someone views it shows up in a report, showing the state (or country). I'm in the Pacific Northwest so there have been hits from the usual, WA, OR, CA, HI, AK....and Pennsylvania! I know the right person will show up...I did 10 years ago. I just hope they have money ;) Racerguy, if I could get a decent down I might finance - being creative may be necessary! I don't have to sell but I'm not getting any younger and would really like to play for a while. I did have a person of interest find my website last month before I'd started promoting it. They were from Europe, had the money, spent 2 weeks here off and on, planning, visiting, talking, walking the property. Made me an offer I accepted...bought them lunch, went to the attorney and signed all the papers. Got earnest money. They had 72 hours to back out...they did. It was too good to be true, so watch for that type. Actually made me laugh, in a sick sort of way....

Rancher7,You are correct on the down.We required 20 percent down and 8 percent interest ammoritized over 30 years but with a balloon payment due in 13 months.Paid a Real Estate Attorney do draw up contract to protect us.We didn't want to go that way but felt we would come out ahead in the end.

Thanks to everyone who has replied with your words of "hang in". It's really tough right now. I believe we would be tempted to just give up but we've sold part of the furniture from our house already. To those of you who asked, we're not getting to do any traveling in our 5er yet. It's parked in a temporary RV park (primarily used for football weekends) paying monthly rent and living in it so the house stays ready to show. I'm (Judy) still working as I was planning to try to stay until the house sells. The problem is we're not getting any younger. Each day that goes by is one day less we have to travel and see the country. However, I know, that even after 3 yard sales and selling some of the furniture thru ads and word of mouth, there is still lots of "stuff" in that house and a lot of it will just have to be sorted thru one piece at a time. At least we have time to do this while we sit here in a gravel parking lot. But, we're wearing out the RV and going no where. Thanks to all of you again who gave your words of wisdom! Judy (I think I'm fixing to call my realtor again!)

If you're willing to drop the price another $5000, have you thought about doing that now?  It might be the incentive someone needs to go ahead & buy it.  And it might be worth the money to get it over with & get on the road.  We all want to make the most on our home sale, but in this market it seems that if a property is overpriced at all, people just won't make an offer.
Also, since a couple of people have mentioned the steep hill, what is the actual complaint about the hill?  If they're worried about mowing, maybe you could get the guy who currently mows it to offer a special price to the new owners. 
It sounds like an attractive property, so hopefully someone will jump on it soon!

Cindy T

-- Edited by Cindy T on Tuesday 20th of July 2010 10:14:41 AM

We are putting our house on the market next month.. I plan for it to take a year to sell.. I have been selling and packing stuff for 6 months...We are planning on renting a small house for 6 months and living in our camper for 6 months for the next 2 years if the house should sell quickly. By than we should have enough money saved to pay for our health insurance for several years, that is my biggest worry .. health insurance .. we will get MC for another 9 years and even with that you need a good secondary insurance.. Hang in there it will all work out.. we have a good bit of property and it is going to take just the right buyer and that sounds like your house too.. When the right person comes along the steep hill won 't mattter..patti