Take my house. Please!

July 14, 2009 10:26 AM

How do we sell a house in the U.S. from abroad ASAP?

My partner & I moved overseas late last year. Due to restrictive housing covenants, we cannot rent the house that we own in the U.S. Although we're not in a dire financial situation, we'd like to sell it as quickly as possible. We've been working with an agent since the move, but his recommended strategy so far has been to chase the market by lowering the price in increments to keep it in the lower range of local asking prices. It isn't working, and since the house is in average condition, we're becoming convinced that the only way to sell it in this market is to compete aggressively on price. Ten days ago, we asked our agent to set the price around 10% below the lowest priced house in the neighborhood. He responded that he needed to do some "market research," and we haven't heard from him since, or been able to reach him.

How do we sell this house as quickly as possible? Do we need a new agent who is more responsive? How would we find a reliable agent from a distance? What should we expect if we switch? And what should we be doing on our side?

posted by alopez to work & money (9 comments total)

If you have friends or family still in the area the simplest thing would be to avail upon them to find a new agent and use that agent to sell the house. Agents are great but they need to be managed and as you've found, it's hard to do that remotely.
posted by GuyZero at 10:34 AM on July 14

Definitely find a new realtor.
posted by Citrus at 10:52 AM on July 14 [1 favorite]

Where is the house? Maybe someone here has a great recommendation for a realtor.
posted by onhazier at 11:13 AM on July 14

It's in Greenbelt, MD (DC suburbs; Prince George's County).
posted by alopez at 11:20 AM on July 14

Seconding a new agent. The current one is probably butthurt because your pricing strategy cuts too much into his commission.
posted by rhizome at 11:38 AM on July 14

E-mail me. I'll give you the name of a fantastic real estate agent in PG County who helped me sell my house while I was 1,000 miles away. She's seriously the best agent I've ever met.
posted by yellowcandy at 11:49 AM on July 14

Find a new agent. If you have the internet and skype you can handle business overseas just as easily as if you were here. Important documents can be faxed without having to be there in person.
posted by JJ86 at 12:50 PM on July 14

The current one is probably butthurt because your pricing strategy cuts too much into his commission.

Probably but that may not be the whole story - if you saw a house in 'average' condition priced well below market value, wouldn't you be suspicious? He may feel being so 'aggressive' with the pricing may actually harm your chances of selling the property.
posted by missmagenta at 2:20 AM on July 15

He may feel being so 'aggressive' with the pricing may actually harm your chances of selling the property.

Maybe so, but if that's what he thought, he should have told us right away, not disappeared off the face of the earth for ten days. I don't think it's unreasonable for me to expect my agent to be responsive to requests, and honest if he thinks the requests are wrong. That's his job.

Anyway, long story short, once we lowered the price, we got an offer within a week, and the house is now off our hands. Thanks very much to everyone who wrote me personally with suggestions for realtors.
posted by alopez at 7:19 AM on August 28