Here is what the National Association of Realtors says about pricing: If a house has been on the market for more than 45 days, or there have been more than 8 showings with no acceptable offers, it’s time to lower the price.

Pricing a home right is the biggest challenge a real estate agent faces. The biggest hurdle is not finding the comps, but addressing market value with the home owner. In sales, it is the buyer that determines whether or not something is of value. If no one is willing to pay the price, things don’t sell.

This is as true with a house as anything else. The seller can wait and wait and wait for times to change, but that does not affect current market value. Here is the reality of the current market: It does not matter what the neighbors house sold for last year. There is a glut of housing inventory and fewer buyers.

Home sellers can interview agent after agent until they find one that will tell them what they want to hear, but is that the most qualified agent for the job? An agent that has the facts and the know-how to get a house sold in the current market is the agent a home owner needs.

Here is how Gary Keller of Keller Williams Realty, the fastest growing real estate company in the nation, portrays the current state of affairs: “There are always two markets in every real estate market – homes that are priced well and sell quickly and homes that are overpriced and linger on the market."

The key factor that separates a buyer’s market is the percentage of housing inventory that falls into either category.

In a seller’s market, 80% of inventory sells within six months (top figure).

In a buyer’s market only 20% sells within six months (second figure).

Figure three illustrates the no-man’s land that many homes fall into during a market like the current one.

A home is either in the market or it isn’t.

Pricing a home in no-man’s land is futile and frustrating. This is often referred to as – chasing the market down. Chasing the market down costs home sellers more time, money and aggravation than pricing a home right.