Overpriced Listing — Seller Won’t Reduce. How Long Do You Let It Sit?
Verified
Listed a property three weeks ago. My CMA put it at $498K–$512K. Seller insisted on $535K. I pushed back, laid out the comps, they said “those houses were smaller” (they weren’t meaningfully). We listed at $535K. 12 showings, 0 offers, 3 feedback responses all saying “overpriced.” The seller is now saying the market must be slow. At what point do you force the conversation, and how do you have it without it becoming adversarial?
Broker
Three weeks with 12 showings and zero offers is the data. Present it exactly that way. Not “the market is slow” — those are your seller’s words. Your framing: “In this neighborhood, properties priced correctly have been receiving offers within 10-14 days. We’ve had 12 opportunities for an offer and haven’t gotten one. That tells us the price is creating a barrier, not a question mark. Here’s what I think we need to do to create momentum before we lose more time.” Then name the specific number.
The thing to avoid: presenting the price reduction as a question. “What do you think about maybe reducing to around $510K?” invites negotiation. “Based on the market’s feedback, I think we need to be at $509,900 to get an offer” is an informed professional recommendation.
Pro
What Dave said. I’d add one thing about the timing: don’t wait for the seller to bring it up. You should have a pre-agreed trigger built into your listing presentation — something like “if we haven’t received an offer in 14 days, we’re going to have a specific pricing conversation.” When that day comes, you’re not catching them off-guard, you’re honoring an agreement you both made. It changes the dynamic entirely. Sellers who feel ambushed get defensive. Sellers who remember agreeing to this conversation at listing are usually more open.
Verified
Update: I used Dave’s framing almost word for word. Called the seller, walked through the showing-to-offer ratio vs. neighborhood average, named $509,900 as the number I recommended. She asked if we could do $519K. I said I understood but didn’t recommend it — the data pointed to $509,900 and splitting the difference usually just extends the pain. She agreed to $509,900. Reducing tomorrow. Will update when we have an offer. Thank you both.