Everything Will Sell, Eventually

Via Dan Wolf (Keller Williams Realty AK Group):

Sellers who have selling experience under their belt, as well as real estate licensees who have "been around the block" know;  Everything sells - eventually.
What I mean when I say that is there are only so many factors that need to be considered in a property sale.  If you owe too much and cannot lower your price, you might have to plan to wait a long time.  Markets cycle; things change over time.  If you wait long enough, the circumstances will change.
One example of things changing is interest rates.  When I was in real estate school in 1983 the instructor told us any interest rate under 10% was good for business.  It was 12% and 13% for a while. No one would ever have guessed it would be 4% for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage!
On the flip side, price and condition are everything.  If you have the latitude to make adjustments, that's exactly what you should do.  Sometimes improving the property over what the standards are for homes in your price range will make a big difference.
For instance, I remember a builder in Anchorage back in 1999.  He took on a bunch of building lots and was on a crunch to get the houses he built on the lots sold.  Sales were floundering.
The builder replaced the standard Formica counter-tops (remember these were BRAND NEW homes) with a basic granite.  He removed the standard white dishwashers and microwaves (brand new appliances!) and upgraded to stainless steel.  At the time, with these upgrades, these homes turned into a value  in their price range; sales picked up and the builder ended up selling all the homes.  The moral of the story is, you can improve your condition, you will probably still get your price and sell your property.
The other factor a seller has control over is price.  Believe me, no one likes to "dump a property," or appear desperate.  Everybody wants to receive as much as they can on a sale.  I'm not talking about slashing your price.  I'm talking about reducing below the competition so that the home become a value when compared to other properties on the market with similar attributes.
Lenders and banks that end up with property through foreclosure know this.  Believe me, they are rarely making money when they sell; just the opposite, they are taking a huge loss when they sell.  They don't want to lose any more than they have to.  However, banks know they are in the business of loaning money.  A vacant house is just a "non-performing" asset.  The lender is likely to review the market and lower the price to compete so the property is one of the best priced on the market.  The property will sell and lender will get the home off their books and put that money back to work.
Relocation companies know that, too.  Homes priced right will sell.  A relocation company will require monthly market evaluations to see if competing home inventory is increasing and what sales are happening on homes with similar qualities.  They often will get the price right to sell, even thought they don't want to lose money, they also don't want to sit on the market.
Sometimes we'll see home sellers say the problem is that their listing agent hasn't advertised their home enough, shown the home enough or open-housed it often enough.
I'm not discounting that argument; it's true, some real estate licensees do more than others; however if the home is priced right and the condition of the home is better than the competition, the home will sell.
On the flip-side, if the home is overpriced there is no amount of adverting, open houses or other activity that will sell the home.