Frustrated sellers all across the nation are being forced to face the music and do the unthinkable – lower the price of their home.

This is a very painful thing for every homeowner to do, and in today’s market many are holding out all together and not lowering their prices at all. But, this will probably not get your house sold in today’s slow market.

So real estate agents across the country are having “the talk” with their clients and telling them that the price they have is probably not consistent with the market and they need to lower their price in order to sell.

A November 1, 2006 article by Elizabeth Weintraub of about.com, “When should sellers reduce their price,” looks at way to tell if it is the fateful time to cut your price to induce a sale.

“Except for the agents who purposely take overpriced listings, one of the hardest phone calls for an agent to make to a client is that call about reducing the price. Because a Realtor is obligated to let her seller know if the price seems to be too high, and if she does not make that telephone call, she can be disciplined by the Board of Realtors. It's her job to propose a reduction if the market and conditions warrant.”

No seller wants to reduce their price, so before they do, they should sit down with their real estate agent and ask some of the following questions: “How many ads have been published? Do the ads contain too much or too little information? What kind of direct mail campaign has been launched? How many open houses have been held? How does the house show online, lots of pictures? Is your signage in a prominent location, contain several phone numbers, plus a Web site? Do you have a virtual tour published, with scrolling text and audio?”

These types of questions will help you gauge if you have done enough marketing and advertising, or if you should do a little more before you take the drastic step of a price reduction.

Before you lower the price, ask yourself if you REALLY need to sell. If you are not extremely motivated, think of taking your home off the market and trying to sell again once the market heats up.

“When the market is slow and inventory is high, demand falls. If that's the case, maybe you should take your home off the market. It makes no sense to put an overpriced home in MLS that is not receiving any showings because it skews the numbers for market performance.”

If you absolutely have to sell, the author says one price reduction is ideal. Consider the following elements to guide you in your reduction: “Realize your agent is not your adversary but is on your side; enlist her help. Pull up pending sales and examine the history. How many days on market before the price was reduced and how much of a price reduction was made? You won't know the sold price, but you can determine average price reduction percentages. Compare sold prices with active listings. Are they reversed? Are sold prices higher? “

These tips should help you determine when the right time will be to lower the price of your home.