{"id":439,"date":"2026-06-22T15:10:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T20:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/twilabertrand.sites.c21.homes\/?p=439"},"modified":"2026-06-22T15:10:52","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T20:10:52","slug":"that-house-thats-been-sitting-could-be-your-best-shot-at-a-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/twilabertrand.sites.c21.homes\/?p=439","title":{"rendered":"That House That\u2019s Been Sitting Could Be Your Best Shot at a Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"pt-8 px-8\">\n<h2 class=\"profile-color-text text-3xl\">That House That\u2019s Been Sitting Could Be Your Best Shot at a Deal<\/h2>\n<div class=\"mt-6 text-base-content flex items-center flex-wrap gap-x-4 gap-y-2\"><span class=\"flex items-center flex-wrap gap-1\"><time class=\"text-base-content\" datetime=\"2026-06-22T10:30:00Z\">Monday June 22nd, 2026<\/time><\/span><\/div>\n<div>.<\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-6 text-base-content flex items-center flex-wrap gap-x-4 gap-y-2\"><span class=\"flex items-center flex-wrap gap-1\"><a class=\"text-base-content\" href=\"https:\/\/www.simplifyingthemarket.com\/en\/category\/buyers\/?a=1000025117-654188f2b9e9f721433bea74f0bf3424\">For Buyers,<\/a><a class=\"text-base-content\" href=\"https:\/\/www.simplifyingthemarket.com\/en\/category\/first-time-buyers\/?a=1000025117-654188f2b9e9f721433bea74f0bf3424\">First-Time Buyers,<\/a><a class=\"text-base-content\" href=\"https:\/\/www.simplifyingthemarket.com\/en\/category\/affordability\/?a=1000025117-654188f2b9e9f721433bea74f0bf3424\">Affordability,<\/a><a class=\"text-base-content\" href=\"https:\/\/www.simplifyingthemarket.com\/en\/category\/buying-tips\/?a=1000025117-654188f2b9e9f721433bea74f0bf3424\">Buying Tips<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<div>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"p-6 px-8\">\n<div class=\"grid grid-cols-3 sm:flex gap-1 flex-wrap w-fit sm:w-full my-4\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-6 flex flex-col gap-4 mb-8\">\n<div class=\"mb-2\">\n<p>Open up a home search and you&#8217;ll see them. Listings that have been on the market for two months. Three. Some longer.\u00a0 That House That&#8217;s Been Sitting Could Be Your Best Shot at a Deal!<\/p>\n<p>Most buyers scroll right past them, assuming something\u2019s wrong with the house. But that instinct could be costing you, since the longer a home sits, the more motivated the seller usually gets.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Where Some Buyers Are Finding Better Deals<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>If\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.keepingcurrentmatters.com\/2026\/05\/27\/the-truth-about-affordability-today\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">affordability<\/a>\u00a0has been your #1 hurdle to buying, here\u2019s a surprisingly simple strategy that could help you finally get your foot in the door. Start with the homes that have been sitting the longest. That\u2019s often where the best deals are.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s why. Data from\u00a0<em>Realtor.com\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.realtor.com\/research\/data\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">shows<\/a>\u00a0there\u2019s a connection between longer time on the market and lower sales prices.\u00a0<strong>Basically, the longer a house sits, the more likely it is that the seller will reduce the price\u00a0<\/strong><em>(see graph below)<\/em>:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/files.keepingcurrentmatters.com\/KeepingCurrentMatters\/content\/images\/20260616\/20260622-The-Longer-original.png\" alt=\"a graph with numbers and lines\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The blue line tracks how long homes stay on the market, while the green line tracks the share of homes getting a price reduction. As one climbs, so does the other.<\/p>\n<p>And if you focus on these homes that are just sitting and waiting, the opportunity for you is bigger than you may think right now.<\/p>\n<p><em>Redfin<\/em>\u00a0data shows there\u2019s $347 billion worth of stale listings on the market right now \u2013 more than ever before for this time of year. So, ask your agent to filter listings for you from oldest to newest. The home that fits your budget might already be there. Just further down the list than you thought.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Lingering Doesn\u2019t Always Mean Something\u2019s Wrong\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Let\u2019s say you do that and something catches your eye. Still, you might be questioning why the home has been sitting in the first place. Just remember, sometimes it has nothing to do with the home itself.<\/p>\n<p>According to\u00a0<em>Redfin<\/em>, common causes are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The asking price was set too high to start<\/li>\n<li>The home didn\u2019t show well online<\/li>\n<li>There are a lot of homes for sale in the area, so it just got buried<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So, nothing that\u2019s necessarily a dealbreaker, or even anything that\u2019s wrong with the home itself. If there\u2019s a real issue, a thorough inspection will surface it. And that\u2019s information you can use to negotiate. Not a reason to assume it\u2019s a house worth skipping over.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>How To Turn a Lingering Listing into a Win<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>So how do you capitalize on a lingering listing? According to\u00a0<em>USA Today<\/em>, you have\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sponsor-story\/address-usa\/2026\/05\/22\/a-home-thats-been-sitting-could-be-a-buyers-best-opportunity\/90164351007\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">two main levers<\/a>\u00a0to pull.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The first is\u00a0<em>price<\/em>.<\/strong>\u00a0Work with your agent to study what comparable homes recently sold for, then build an offer around that. Coming in below asking price is fair game when a home has been sitting.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The second is\u00a0<em>concessions<\/em>.<\/strong>\u00a0If a seller won\u2019t budge much on price, they may still help in other ways, like covering some closing costs, repair credits, or even a mortgage rate buydown that lowers your monthly payment.<\/p>\n<p>A local agent has the context to tell which homes are the real opportunities and which are skippable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<h3 class=\"text-xl mb-2\">Bottom Line<\/h3>\n<p>A house sitting on the market isn\u2019t always a glaring red flag. In today\u2019s market, it may be your best opportunity yet.<\/p>\n<p>For help deciding which lingering listings are actually worth a second look, let\u2019s connect.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Twila Bertrand, REALTOR\u00ae<\/strong><br \/>\nCENTURY 21 Cota Realty<\/p>\n<p>Helping buyers and sellers achieve their real estate goals throughout Lufkin, Huntington, Nacogdoches, Diboll, Lake Sam Rayburn, Angelina County, Nacogdoches County, and East Texas.<\/p>\n<p>Whether you&#8217;re buying your first home, selling a family property, searching for acreage, lakefront property, investment real estate, or commercial land, I&#8217;m here to provide local market expertise and personalized service every step of the way.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcde 936-208-7631<br \/>\n\ud83d\udce7 <a href=\"mailto:twilabertrand@gmail.com\">twilabertrand@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/twilabertrand.sites.c21.homes\/\">https:\/\/twilabertrand.sites.c21.homes\/<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Twila Bertrand, Realtor with CENTURY 21 Cota Realty \u2014 proudly serving East Texas with honesty, integrity, and hometown service.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>#TwilaBertrandRealtor #LufkinTXRealEstate #HuntingtonTXRealEstate #EastTexasRealEstate #AngelinaCountyRealEstate #NacogdochesRealEstate #CENTURY21CotaRealty #HomesForSaleInLufkin #HomesForSaleInHuntington #YourHometownRealtor<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>That House That\u2019s Been Sitting Could Be Your Best Shot at a Deal Monday June 22nd, 2026 . For Buyers,First-Time Buyers,Affordability,Buying Tips . Open up a home search and you&#8217;ll see them. Listings that have been on the market for two months. Three. Some longer.\u00a0 That House That&#8217;s Been Sitting Could Be Your Best Shot [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":194391,"featured_media":440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[27,109,107,148,141,132,28,31,50,55,45,20,13,15],"class_list":["post-439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-estate","tag-angelina-county-real-estate","tag-best-local-realtor","tag-best-real-estate-agent","tag-best-real-estate-agent-in-lufkin-tx","tag-best-realtor-in-lufkin-tx","tag-buyers-agent","tag-buying-a-home","tag-buying-facts","tag-buying-smart","tag-expert-advice","tag-first-time-homebuyers","tag-local-realtor","tag-real-estate-lufkin-huntington","tag-realtor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twilabertrand.sites.c21.homes\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twilabertrand.sites.c21.homes\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twilabertrand.sites.c21.homes\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twilabertrand.sites.c21.homes\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/194391"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twilabertrand.sites.c21.homes\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=439"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/twilabertrand.sites.c21.homes\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":442,"href":"https:\/\/twilabertrand.sites.c21.homes\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439\/revisions\/442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twilabertrand.sites.c21.homes\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twilabertrand.sites.c21.homes\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twilabertrand.sites.c21.homes\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twilabertrand.sites.c21.homes\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}