The Ifs, Ands or Buts

"The home always has emotional connotations," Rainey said. "Trying to move sellers away from these emotions is not always an easy thing to do. It can be difficult for Realtors to sometimes rein in one or the other parties to make it a purely business decision."

Buyers can go a long way toward doing this by making professional offers, Fairweather said. They and their agents should create presentations that analyze their real estate market, showing the selling prices similar homes have fetched. This way, the buyers can show the sellers at least some evidence that they have set a reasonable asking price for their home.

Making a contingent offer that will be considered seriously also means offering the right price. A contingent offer is already flawed in the minds of most sellers. Buyers who place a home-sale contingency in their offer and request a sales price far lower than asking price may risk scuttling a deal before negotiations start.

"If you are going to offer a price that is low, you need to be more careful about the kind of contingencies you are putting into the contract," said Richard DuBeshter, an agent with Long & Foster in the District.

"If you put too many contingencies in there, you need to make an attractive offer closer to asking price."

Sellers, especially when presented with a well-prepared offer, should then look hard at their own property to determine whether a contingent offer might be the best they can expect, Fairweather said. Sellers whose homes back up to major highways, sit on busy roads or are the ugliest in a neighborhood may want to strongly consider that offer, she said.

"The last six or seven years, we didn't see any contingent offers," Fairweather said.

"We'd never let a buyer even think about making one. Now buyers are not only thinking about them, they're actually doing it."