Struggling to Get the Price Just Right

"Right now, price is the biggest source of disagreements I have with sellers," said Robyn Porter, an agent with the Bethesda office of Long & Foster Real Estate Inc. "We are still seeing a lot of sellers wanting to price their homes in a way that is more reflective of the growth of last summer. Now I really have to show them what other homes are selling for. They need to see that evidence so that they can settle on a more realistic price."

Armed with evidence, Porter doesn't hesitate when asked why homes sometimes sit on the market too long: It's all about price.

"If you have a great house in a great location but it's still on the market, it's most likely priced too high," she said. "If a house is priced well, it can still see multiple offers, even in this market."

It's trying to get to that proper price that trips people up.

And even when agents come to listing presentations with scores of comparables -- statements showing what similar homes have recently sold for -- some sellers just won't be convinced, the agents say.

Take McDermott. Earlier this year, she worked with a client trying to sell a house in Silver Spring. The client wanted to list the house at a higher price than McDermott advised. No matter how much evidence McDermott presented, the client wouldn't budge.

McDermott relented. The house sat on the market for six months, with the seller turning down offers he considered too low. Eventually, the seller gave up and told McDermott he would accept lower offers. McDermott called the agent of one of the prospective buyers who had made an offer the seller had rejected. The buyer made the exact same offer. This time, the seller accepted.

The difference? The seller listed his house for $1.8 million and wouldn't budge from that figure for half a year. Finally, the seller agreed to sell the house for $1.65 million.

"Sometimes you just have to be patient. In this case, the seller is finally accepting what is happening," McDermott said. "I guess they were in denial, like a lot of sellers today are. They don't want to hear about how the market is slowing down. They refuse to believe that the market could change so much in just one year. But it has."

That reluctance can hurt a seller. In this case, the seller could have sold his home for $1.65 million four months earlier than he did. With a mortgage of nearly $8,000 a month, the seller could have saved more than $30,000 if he had accepted the offer the first time.

That's why it's so important to reach a compromise, especially when it comes to setting a sales price, agents say.

"You need to make sure the seller is on board, that you're working as a team for the same goal," said Eric Peek, a real estate agent with the Chevy Chase office of Re/Max Realty Services. "Some sellers seem to think that Realtors have devious motives to price homes low and sell them quickly. The reality is, if you overprice a home, you are really costing yourself money."