Friday, April 15, 2011

Sellers still reducing their asking price for homes

With the homebuying market still struggling, real estate agencies are trying to lure potential homeowners into moving to their area by slashing home prices.

In a soon to be released report from the real estate website Trulia.com, home sellers have cut more than $24 billion in potential home equity over the past year and trimmed the cost of properties approximately 79 days after posting the initial asking price. What's more, according to the website, 35 percent of sellers will cut their prices again.

Trulia.com reports that the average home seller dropped their asking price by an average of 8 percent, but that rate is even higher in certain parts of the country, such as Detroit and Cleveland, where the average first-time price cut is 19 percent and 11 percent, respectively.

In a statement obtained by the Miami Herald, Tara-Nicholle Nelson of Trulia.com said home sellers often need to make a second cut to lure buyers, and this usually happens to people who underestimate how deeply they should cut their asking price the first time around.