the housing market and the depression

I'm pretty bummed out right now. Our house has been on the market for about six months, and we're seeing very little activity. We had a flurry of interest when we first listed it, and we even had an offer in the first week (although it was a crappy offer for less than what we had paid for the house). But ever since the summer ended, our prospects seems to have also headed south for the winter.

Our agent suggested that we consider owner financing it. Although I'm sure it would make the house more attractive to prospective buyers who can't get a loan, it isn't going to help us at all with building our next house. We need that equity. I also don't like the possibility of someone defaulting on their payment and trashing the house, thereby making it even more difficult to sell. So I guess we'll have to just sit on it for now.

It's either that, or we try and come up with some sort of gimmick to try and entice buyers. I have heard of people offering a new car with the sale, and I've heard of special two week sales that lower the price by 15% or more (in the hopes of saving money on future mortgage payments should the house not sell for some time), but I'm not sure that I want to sink any more money into the house, nor lose any more money than we're already guaranteed to lose by signing with an agent. We've already spent so much time and effort making the house look good. We've touched up and replaced nearly everything except for the carpet and the furnace, and we're ready to grant a carpet allowance if it would help. But you never know what people are looking for in a house. I've heard of people spending tons of cash on new flooring or appliances, only to have the new owners come in and replace it to match their furniture. Most people want to make a house "their own". But I've also heard of buyers who have asked that furniture and decor be included in a sale. We even had an offer on our last house that asked to include the homemade curtains in my son's room that my wife had sewn to match his baby bedding. So you just never know.

If we believe all of the presidential hype, I guess we should sit it out and wait until next year for when the economy is supposed to somehow turn around. But I fear that house values could go down if we wait that long, and then we'll be out our initial 20% down payment, plus all of the money we spent on upgrades and mortgage payments while it was for sale.

Selling a house is definitely one of those crystal ball moments. You wish you could look into the future to see what the eventual sale price is going to be, so that you can know whether to accept low offers right now, or hold out. It's almost like gambling. You got to know when to hold 'em.