Hi all,

I have a major gripe and if anyone can offer me any advise, please feel free to do so.

We put our house on the market before my dad was diagnosed with cancer. In spite of that, we decided to keep the house on the market and if we sell the house, we would hire professional movers to do the work if we had to.

We put our house on the market since mid-July and it is still on the market. We hired my cousin who works for Century 21 and has been a realtor for a little over a year. I am a loyalty oriented person and we wanted to help her out. Besides, she has been doing really good and selling houses, except for ours.

I just left her a message and finally told her I am not happy with her results. I was hoping to tell her in person, and I was hoping it wouldn't come to this. I hesitated because I am close to her mom and I don't want a rift between us. A couple of years ago my aunt and I made amends after not speaking to each other for 5 years. But I have no choice now. This is business.

We have wanted to downsize and move to a condo and have a smaller mortgage. We have so many expenses right now with hospital bills and now trying to get help for Sofia with a tutor (not cheap) and both of us going to therapy. Sofia once a week and me every two weeks. Granted we have insurance but the co-pays add up. Besides, Richard commutes an hour and a half a day in order to make the kind of money to afford our current mortgage. He is really tired and would like to find a job closer to home. Unfortunately, the jobs in this area do not pay nearly enough. So you can imagine, we are a slave to our mortgage.

A little background, this is the first house we ever bought because we lived overseas for many years. We would've made some different decisions at that time had we had any kind of experience. We've had this house for 8 years now.

I don't know what to do anymore. We have lowered the price of our home at least 5 times and have added that we will pay the closing cost.

Here are some things I noticed with my cousin.

She never brings any clients to look at the house. She seems to depend on other realtors to do that. I know she has clients and is selling because she has stated several times she has to go to a closing.

We asked her for a list on homes that have been sold in our area. There were 7 homes that have been sold within a 3 months time or less since we listed. About 4 of them listed after we did. Their prices were higher and their houses were bigger by about a couple of 100 square feet. Needless to say, I am really embarrassed by this. I mean the sign has been out in our yard for about 5 months now. I know the real estate boom has passed us. But we are not asking for as much as we would've if the boom was still on. Evidently houses are selling.

We seem to get maybe 2 people a week to come and see the house. Sometimes no one comes or maybe 1 person.

I am getting frustrated because before we listed I packed up so many things in order to declutter. I watch Tonya and Roger and have followed much of their advise. It takes us about an hour to straighten up before anyone comes to see the house. Many times that means we have to stop what we are doing because we get a call at the last minute. I didn't expect it to be easy as far as that was concerned. But I didn't expect this to be our way of living for at least more than 3 months.

We haven't even come close to a sale or any interested parties. I feel like we are wasting our time putting on a dog and pony show.

I can't help but feel that we would've sold our house by now if we used another agent.

Has anyone ever been a real estate agent? Is it normal for an agent to list a house and not bring any clients? I know she has them because she is selling.

I am really stressed about this. My poor parents have been getting an earful and their conclusion is the same as ours. It's who we have as an agent. I don't understand it. Could she just be taking advantage of us and waiting until things slow down for her and then take a bigger interest in showing our house to clients? Is she thinking that we would feel too obligated to keep her and she has us wrapped around her finger?

Thanks for letting me vent ladies. Now I have to go and dig through some boxes and get some warmer clothes out for Sofia. She packed them thinking we would've moved by now.

Any kind of input is appreciated!

Cheers,
Cathi