I recently had a seller call me who said they were thinking about dabbling in real estate.  I asked what he meant and he replied that he might want to sell his house if he could get what he was looking for.

I informed him that this was not the time to just throw it out there and see what happens because the market is extremely slow and only the people who are “real sellers” will be able to get top dollar in today’s market. 

His thinking was that he would just throw it out there and if I found someone who was willing to pay his price he would sell. 

Then I asked him the hard questions; how does your house compare to the one three doors down from you that is priced $1 million less than yours, is three years newer and is 200 square feet larger and is on a similar lot.  His answered that he was not interested in competing with them, but if we found someone who liked his house he would sell it at my price.  I told him that he did not understand – nobody is going to pay him $1 million more when they can buy a house for $1 million less that is a newer, larger house on a similar lot.  I do not think he really understood that because he kept reiterating that if I found someone he was willing to sell.

I told him he had two options; he could price the property at the price it would sell in today’s market or he could wait until the market turns around.  I think these are the only options a person has in a slow market.  “Dabbling in a slow market” is a total waste of time.