Here's When Home Sellers Need to Adjust Their Price When the House Isn't Selling

Real estate agents, buyers and seller agents alike, should get involved and work with a homeowner to lower their price when necessary.

Brian O'Connell

Published: 7/24/2026, 12:33:05 PM EDT

Here's When Home Sellers Need to Adjust Their Price When the House Isn't Selling — Homes await buyers in Irvine, Calif., on Sept. 21, 2020. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

U.S. home sellers who can’t seem to close a deal have a tough decision to make, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Real estate professionals call that the “four-week rule.” That’s when a for-sale home is still on the market after that time period; it’s time to change strategies, and like the home’s sale price, too.

Now, a new Realtor.com study affirms the power of the four-week rule, at a time when the average American home is currently selling below its asking price. Realtor.com calls that “a sharp U-turn from the pandemic frenzy of 2021 and 2022.”

According the organization’s study, U.S. homes that sell at or before the four-week mark sell for +1.8 percent, while homes sitting at 18 weeks close -1.3 percent below the seller’s expectations.

"The pandemic gave sellers a free pass on pricing and that pass has expired," said Joel Berner, senior economist, Realtor.com, in a statement. "Today, an overpriced home doesn't just sit—it gets stale, loses leverage, and sells for less than it would have if it had been priced right from the start. Price it right, and buyers come to you. Price it wrong, and you're chasing them. Four weeks in, the market has already delivered its verdict—you've either got competing offers, or you're about to cut your price."

Here's how to win the four-week sales battle

Home sales professionals have a different title for the four-week issue; they call it the $15,000 problem.

“Overpricing is costing sellers real money,” Trey Langford, founder of Build Idaho, told NTD News.

When a home is priced right and sells within the first 5 days, sellers average $3,000 over the asking price. Yet by day six, that flips: sellers are already fielding offers $7,500 under the asking price. ”Wait until day 30, and the average offer is $12,000 below asking,” Langford noted. “The data is clear—pricing correctly out of the gate beats 'testing the market' every time, and testing is expensive.”

Here's how to get a grip on the four-week home sales problem, step-by-step.

Start by tracking the red flags

Usually with the four-week rule, there are one or two clear signs that a for-sale home is listed too high, even if the seller won't admit it.

Two signs stand out to Langford. First, a mismatch between online traffic and real-world action can be trouble: the listing gets plenty of views and saves but few actual showings because buyers are pricing it out before they ever walk through the door. Second, showings happen, but no offers follow, or the same objection about price comes back from multiple buyers' agents. “When both signs show up in the first two weeks, that's the market telling you the number is wrong, before the seller is ready to hear it,” Lanford noted.

Another stark warning is a for-sale property with high online traffic, yet experiences no-shows when showing the home in person. “If you have 2,000 views on Zillow and two walkthroughs, your marketing strategy is good; but your pricing strategy is working against you,” Greg Field, a solar home realtor at HomeSmart Realty Pros, told NTD.

The same goes for homes with very high walkthroughs, but there’s radio silence on offers. “If you have 15 buyers walk through your house, praise your quartz countertops, and never call you back, then your home is the overpriced comparison model,” Field noted.

There’s likely a need for an adjustment drop by day 14

Field believes sellers should get aggressive and forget the month-long wait, as the four-week rule is a death sentence.

“There’s a limited shelf life to any listing and those first 14 days account for 80 percent of all momentum,” he said. “If you make it through two full weekends with no pen signing on the dotted line, the market has already spoken. Get your adjustment by day 14 to 21 if you absolutely must.”

Don’t make timid reductions on a house price

Cutting corners on a price discount likely won’t move the house into "sold" territory

“A pathetically low $2,000 price reduction on a $500,000 home is panic buying without changing a single thing,” Field added. “You need to take decisive action of a 3 percent to 5 percent reduction to rebrand the listing, enter a new search category and start capturing new buyer alerts.”

Agents play a big role in home sale price adjustment decisions

Real estate agents, buyers and seller agents alike, should get involved and work with a homeowner to lower their price when necessary.

“Listing agents have the responsibility of being the expert for their sellers,” Daniel Abreu, founder of southwest Florida-based Abreu Group, a part of Realty One Group MVP, told NTD. “They should be able to provide factual data to show a proper pricing strategy.

Buyer's agents have a tougher responsibility, as they should know what the home is worth and be able to demonstrate that to their clients with data as well. “That said, buyer’s agents also have a duty to negotiate the best deal possible for their buyers,” Abreu noted.

Homebuyers Have Negotiating Leverage in ‘Four Week’ Scenarios

While important, buyer leverage typically depends on local real estate market conditions. “If there’s an absorption rate issue, and a property is sitting for a longer period of time, then price is not the issue,” Abreu said. “Sellers may have to be willing to negotiate more in those instances to get the property sold.”

If inventory is high, buyers will have a clear advantage. For example, right now in Abreu’s market, sellers are discounting an average of 3-4 percent from the list price, and many times there are concessions thrown in to close a deal.

“Few markets still have lower inventory, where sellers may have some negotiating power, but nowhere near the leverage they had 4-5 years ago,” Abreu added.

For sellers, that means keeping a sharp eye on the home sales market and the calendar.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the interviewees. They are meant for general informational purposes only and should not be construed or interpreted as a recommendation or solicitation. NTD does not provide investment, tax, legal, financial planning, estate planning, or any other personal finance advice. NTD holds no liability for the accuracy or timeliness of the information provided.