In your situation, there is only one thing to do.

Improve that property. Keep improving until it sells. Get rid of everything you can. New tile backsplash. Paint cabinets if they don't look good. New inexpensive flooring. If you have any pets, this is a negative, and you must remove all evidence.

I have a policy that I never reduce price. I only improve until the house sells (this is assuming I hit the right price in the first place, and I've never been off by much in 20 years).

If you terminate, you will not likely run into the same people who saw the house while listed. New people are looking now. Few stay in the market for more than a few months. So I would improve, make it look like HGTV to the extent of my budget and the market viability of improvements, and get started improving a few things, take new photos, and go FSBO. No way would I pay to sell a house. I'd improve and go FSBO any day of the year. Get an attorney to help you with documents and closing. You will be fine.

Updating and making my property attractive is not the issue. It's completely updated with extras. I think my problem may be the local market and plunging house prices.

I may talk to an attorney and see what my options are in canceling a listing and what happens if an agent or buyer comes who had contact while he had it.

Thanks for the input.

We had to bring $5,00 to the table when we sold our last house, so you may not break even, just have to suck it up.

Thanks for the input. I have, sometimes, baked cookies or other smell good foods before appointments. I have tried the flowers idea. I will try bringing that back. Agents tell me to leave things as they are. There's nothing to clear out or change, they say. Sellers who are very well known and power sellers tell me my house shows well. I have a feeling I am going to have to come down the few thousand I need to unload it. I thought I would mention a neighbor just sold and was updated. It was also empty and buyers just turned the key and moved into it. It had a rock bottom price. We are in a heavy buyer's market.

I don't give a flying fig what agents say. Can you post your photos here for us to see? I posted mine on this site and got some really excellent advice.

I agree with cpartist --- if you post, you’ll get honest, non-biased opinions about changes (some really simple) to make it appeal buyers. Updated is a relative term, and what might seem updated to one person, might be a turn off to others. Not for the faint of heart, the advice can be hard to hear it’s often excellent, and right-on-the-money advice given by people who have nothing to gain by tickling a sellers ears. With so much riding on buyers first impression of the photos posted, it seems wise to post the pics and get some free advice on what may be really easy changes to make.

I realize this is easier said than done, but my best advice is to distance yourself emotionally from the house and the fact that it did not turn into a good investment. The house provided you shelter for many years. If you sell it will you be happier a year from now? Coming up with $5K or $10K or $20K is painful but in return you get to move onto the next phase of your life which may be a good investment.

Agree with posting the photos. At a minimum it will affirm what others are telling you and probably also come up with some low cost ideas for you. If you aren't even getting low ball offers there may be something you can do to increase buyer interest in the property even if it does not increase the sales price.

I do not agree with the earlier advice to put a lot of money into fixing up the property unless you do a very careful business case analysis (yes it is a business decision at that point). It may help the house sell faster but often you will not get back all the money you put in unless you have access to someone who is willing to do the labor for free.

Everyone is taking a hit. You are not alone. It may seem that way, but you're not the only one who has this problem. Post your pictures. It could be something as simple as needing to rearrange some furniture and taking new listing pictures. There is lots of good, cheap and effective help at this site.

FSBO probably won't help. You need people to see your property. While many do successfully FSBO, it's hard. The internet drives most sales and that usually requires an agent. You need to approach your agent about a commission reduction in order to drop the price further. The worst thing they can do is say no.

How long has your property been on the market? Is this your first agent? What are they doing to earn their commission? Have you examined your listing presentation online at all of the various sites where it appears for correct information and attractive pictures of your property? What have you done to make your property standout in a good way? Selling is hard work. Show us some pictures, let some fresh eyes take a look and we can help you.

Home sales are down because of a lack of good inventory. There is demand. But, it's for good quality, market priced inventory.

What kind of buyer feedback have you gotten after showings? Are you running a couple showings a month or a couple every week?

In some areas, offering to pay buyers' closing costs up to some dollar limit is a popular option for sellers who are marketing to first time buyers.

I am an experienced agent and I am going to give you a fig's worth of advice... You are overpriced if the three homes that sold, did so for a few thousand dollars less than you are listed at. You say you are in a quickly declining market and interest rates went up this week and this hike in rates is the beginning of the real deal. As interest rates go up, property values do not appreciate as quickly. And in your case, the value of your home will go down even faster than it has been recently. The last thing you want to do is to be the one of many sellers who stubbornly chase the market downward, only to never get in front of the market and receive an offer.

Do not put another dollar into the home, but reduce the price to as low as you can financially go and sell the darn thing. It's as simple as that. Even if you have to sell your second car, not go on that vacation or what ever it may take so that you can lower the price to get an offer even if you have to bring that cash to close. The alternative is one that I have seen many, many people go through after the 2008 crash. And that alternative is much worse than bringing a few thousand dollars to the closing table.

Lower the price today to a point where you get a buyer tomorrow.

When we bought our second place we paid $176k for it back in 1987. We put close to $20k in updating the electric, switching to gas heat, and redoing the kitchen, as well as painting, refreshing etc. In 1993, my son was set to start kindergarten and I wasn't thrilled with the schools there, so we put the house on the market. Only problem was, 1993 was a recession year.

However that became both a positive and a negative for us. We were able to find a much larger house than we expected we could afford, in a much better school district. The same house 2 years earlier would have been way out of our budget. Two years prior, we would have still made the move to the better school district but would have only been able to afford a house and land that was almost the same size as we had previous.

However, we sold our home at a loss. We wound up selling our house in the not great school district for $169k.

Look at selling the house as having had the advantage of living in it like a rental and get yourself into a better location. Sell it for whatever it takes to sell. In a declining market, as NC says, you'll only be chasing yourself to the bottom. A few thousand of a loss now is better than 10's of thousands in loss in a year.

Well, if you are in Detroit or somewhere else where it just isn't going to sell at what you thought was market value, and/or you truly have no improvements to be made, then you need to lower it and get sold before winter.

My previous post assumed you were correct about market price as listed and a decent, stable market. Disregard if irrelevant.