As a Realtor who has marketed and sold hundreds and hundreds of homes over 45 years across every price point and market condition, I can tell you with absolute clarity: the overwhelming, dominant reason a home doesn’t sell is price…. Not condition. Not marketing. Not staging. Not seasonality. Not luck -- Price.
When a home is priced correctly, it sells—even if the marketing is average. When a home is priced too high, it doesn’t sell—even if the marketing is world-class.
The Hard Truth Many Agents Won’t Tell You
Here’s the uncomfortable reality of our industry: with intense competition among agents for listings, many agents lack the courage to tell potential sellers the truth about price. Instead, they do something that sounds like strategy but is actually sabotage:
They tell the seller what the seller wants to hear: an inflated number.
They secure the listing at the wrong price.
They hope to “work the seller down” over time with incremental price cuts.
This is not representation. It’s abdication. It feeds the seller’s greed instincts, reinforces unrealistic expectations, and creates a predictable outcome: an overpriced listing that languishes, stigmatizes, and ultimately nets less than it would have if priced right from day one.
Greed + Weak Advice = Overpriced Listing = No Sale
Most sellers are not greedy by nature; they’re human—and humans anchor to the highest number they’ve heard. When a weak agent pitches a fantasy price, it triggers a powerful bias: “Maybe we can get that.” From there, every conversation becomes an exercise in confirmation bias.
Meanwhile, the market is utterly indifferent to hope. Buyers are ruthless value detectives. They compare your home to everything else available and recently sold. If your home is outside the fair market range, buyers don’t negotiate—they don’t even engage. They scroll past.
Overpriced homes don’t get offers.
Overpriced homes collect days on market.
Overpriced homes become stale and stigmatized, even after reductions.
Overpriced homes ultimately sell for less than they would have if priced right at launch.
Your Marketing vs. The Market
I use a graphic in my listing presentations that makes this unmistakably clear: even with massive marketing—thousands of views, premium photography, video tours, paid syndication, social retargeting, email blasts, 3D tours—if a property is overpriced, no amount of marketing will sell it.
This report was created when the property was listed at $3,399,000. Each and every week, marketing results equaled or exceeded what is demonstrated here. But it wasn’t until this marketing and other promotions COMBINED with the right price at $2,790,000, that the property then sold … with multiple offers! See pics and details here (By the way, if you’re asked to enter your cell number and email address to register, feel confident to do so - unlike those big portals which data mine your computer and mobile devices in order to collect your search patterns and contact info which they sell to advertisers, on my site, your information is always confidential. it is never sold or shared.
Marketing is a magnifier, not a miracle. It magnifies demand for well-priced homes. It magnifies indifference for overpriced homes. You can’t out-market a bad price.
The Three Price Zones Every Listing Lives In
In-Market Zone (Priced Right): Buyers perceive value. You get attention, showings, and offers. Multiple-offer potential in tight inventory.
Fringe Zone (Slightly High): You get drive-bys, saves, and a trickle of showings, but few offers. Time kills momentum; price reductions become necessary.
No-Market Zone (Overpriced): The home is effectively invisible. High views, low showings, zero offers. Buyers assume “something’s wrong.”
Only one zone sells: the In-Market Zone.
Data Never Lies—The Market Always Wins
Across markets and cycles, the pattern is consistent:
Showings drop off rapidly after the first two weeks if the home is overpriced.
Price reductions done reactively (after the listing stales) rarely restore momentum.
“Testing the market” at a high price is a costly myth. You don’t test the market; the market tests you.
Even in hot markets with limited inventory, the same rule applies: fair and strategic pricing creates demand; overpricing kills it.
Why “We’ll Just Wait for Our Buyer” Doesn’t Work
There is no special buyer who will pay dramatically more than market value because your home is “unique.” Unique can be an advantage, but only when the price reflects the market’s perception of that uniqueness. The right buyer won’t materialize out of thin air to defy comparables, appraisals, and alternatives. They are looking at the same data you are—plus they’re previewing competing homes every weekend.
The First Price Is Your Best Price
Momentum is the most valuable currency a listing has—and it’s created only once: at launch. Proper pricing at launch:
Attracts your true buyer pool immediately
Creates urgency and social proof
Increases the probability of multiple offers
Maximizes your net
Starting high and “coming down later” is the most expensive way to sell.
What a Strong Agent Does Differently
Tells you the truth about price on day one, backed by data and buyer behavior, not flattery
Anchors strategy to the market’s reality, not to the highest number someone once mentioned
Positions the home just inside the buyer’s “value window” to spark action
Builds marketing to capitalize on correct pricing—photos, video, syndication, agent outreach—but never uses marketing as a substitute for pricing
How to Know If You’re Overpriced
Tons of online views, very few showing requests
Showings without second showings or offers
Feedback that consistently mentions “value” or “price”
Competing homes nearby are going pending while you sit
You’re considering cosmetic changes that won’t change the comp set
Every one of these is a price problem. Not a marketing problem.
The Only Fix for an Overpriced Listing
Reduce to the In-Market Zone—decisively, not in timid, incremental cuts. Price reductions must reposition the home into a new buyer pool’s search criteria, not nibble at the edges. A meaningful adjustment restarts momentum. A minor tweak preserves stagnation.
Bottom Line
If a home is not selling, it’s price.
If the marketing is excellent and it’s still not selling, it’s price.
If the feedback is vague and interest is soft, it’s price.
If an agent told you to start high and “see what happens,” the outcome you’re seeing is exactly what happens.
The market is efficient, buyers are informed, and time on market is your enemy. Price is the steering wheel. Everything else is just the engine. If you want to sell—truly sell—set the right price and let the market do what it always does: reward value with action.
BONUS CONTENT:
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