I’ve had a few friends comment to me about how difficult it is to sell their homes in the current market.

One such friend has had their home for sale for over 3 years and has lowered the price by more than $100,000. He’s so ready to move on but this home (which he lives in) is holding him up from moving on both in his financial life and in this emotional life.

Another had their home on the market for about 8 months and had to drop the price nearly $200,000 (was a large property too). They expected the home was sell in a matter of weeks, so the drawn-out process has been really tough on them.

I know that the housing market has suffered tremendously with the recent bailouts in the USA after the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Generally, it feels like the economy of Canada and the USA are going down slightly but had the housing market in general gone sour?

A lot of people have been using this “By The Owner” approach. I’ve seen for sale signs on people’s lawn with the logo for it. According to the web site, the sale price can be lower since there are no commission sales, which benefits both the seller and the buyer.

Has anyone had any experience with ByThe Owner? Good or bad?