Over priced listings

Most everyone probably knows that this is an extreme buyer's market. If you don't have to sell your home now, you shouldn't. The same number of buyer's are still out there, but the inventory of listings has over doubled. We continue to sell between 1000 and 1500 homes per month in the Charleston area. However, inventory has increased from 4000 in 2004 to over 10,000 homes on the market right now! That puts the buyers in control. If we had more buyers than normal, it would be different. But, we don't. The number of buyers has been pretty steady. To sell a home right now, it must be just about perfect inside and out and must be one of the lowest priced homes in your neighborhood. Buyer's just have too much to choose from and they have access to all the listings because of the internet. They will not buy an overpriced listing. In the past week, I have seen a seasoned agent list a home for $320k when it will not sell for a penny over $280k and another list a lot for $217k when the exact same one next to it is not selling for $159k. That's ridiculous. Did they tell them that there will be a history on the MLS for all agents to see? Here's a test for an agent during a listing interview. Have another agent do a CMA(comparable market analysis) on your home to figure out what the correct selling price should be. Then, while interviewing agents, tell them that you would like to sell it for $30k more than that figure. If they say that they think they can do it, send them on their way. You need someone that will tell you the cold hard truth about your home.