A housing report from the Arizona Republic. "Mark Wray's Glendale home has been on the market for almost a year. Andy and Jill Leebrick of north Phoenix put their 'for sale' sign up nearly five months ago. After more than a year, Charley and Gerda Zenith finally are poised to sell their home in Cave Creek."

"It has been difficult for some sellers to adjust to the market realities and reduce prices. Real estate agents point to these key reasons for slow sales: Sellers are holding out for boom prices. There are so many houses that buyers can be picky. Single-family resale inventory stood at more than 42,000 in November 2006. Using November figures, that compares with nearly 23,500 in 2005, and almost 9,400 in 2004."

"The Zeniths changed agents after seeing too many 'looky loos' going through the house, poor communication and worries their price was off the mark. 'Time went by, the nibbles weren't there,' Charley said. 'I asked the Realtor, 'Maybe we're overpriced?' She said, 'Oh, no, no, no.' We saw houses selling. Ours wasn't moving and you get concerned.'"

"Original listing: $1.8 million. Now under contract for a little more than $1 million. Days on market: More than 500. Their previous agent brought them an offer of $1.45 million but advised the couple to make a counteroffer. They did, at about a $500,000 higher. The buyers walked. Now, the couple wish they had accepted the offer."

"'It was an iffy situation,' Charley said. 'Looking back, maybe we should have done something.'"

"Frank and Brenda Bijak in Cave Creek. Original listing: $771,000. Latest listing: $698,000. Days on the market: About 130. They are selling the house themselves and listed it when they built another one nearby. Frank says the couple priced it in the high range for their area because they just wanted to generate some traffic but not necessarily sell too soon before the new house was being built."

"Now, they're in the new house and there's more urgency to sell the old one so they can stop paying two mortgages. They made upgrades to lure buyers. One agent brought the couple an offer of $695,000, with the stipulations that the deal include the couple's refrigerator, a home warranty and a two-week move-in time. The offer also required them to pay closing costs of up to 4 percent, or nearly $28,000."

"'I said, 'I'm not paying any closing costs until I find out the dollar amount,' but their Realtor couldn't give me an amount and I wasn't going to write an open-ended check.' Frank said. 'You scratch your head and say, 'I know it's Christmas but I'm not Santa Claus.'"

"The deal also would have included the 3 percent fee to the buyer's agent, nearly $21,000. And the buyer's agent wanted an answer in four hours."

"He said people should not expect a quick sale. 'It's a lot about expectations. If you think you are going put a house on market and sell it in 30 days, you are going to get a rude wake-up call.'"

"They expect the market to pick up now that the holidays are over. If not, they may consider hiring an agent or renting the house."

"Mark Wray in Glendale. Original listing: $465,000. Latest listing: $420,000. Days on the market: About 300. Wray moved down the street and would like to sell the house. When he listed it, he was confident it would sell quickly but that didn't happen. 'We were coming off a dynamite year,' he said. 'I thought it would take maybe a month or a month and a half to sell.'"

"He initially signed with a limited-service company that got the house on the multiple listing service. Then he tried selling the home himself. He held his own open houses. But there were no offers. He quickly learned a fundamental fact about the Phoenix housing market: Builders have a glut of unsold homes and are offering heavy discounts to sell them."

"Sellers like Wray who have new subdivisions nearby compete not only in a resale market that has more than 42,000 homes but also with the financial firepower of big public companies worth billions that are pushing to clear inventory."

"'I get probably a brochure once a week from the home builders around the corner and they have up to $60,000 incentives,' Wray said. 'How can the general person compete with that? That's crazy.'"

"He knocked $45,000 off the price. A lowball buyer offered $365,000. Wray said he'd think about it and call back. He did, with a higher counteroffer that was rejected."

"But the buyer kept shopping in the neighborhood and eventually bought for around $375,000. That knocked down the neighborhood comparable price level. There were also several liquidations at $370,000 to $390,000."

"Even still, he's holding to his price. 'I would love to have it sold,' Wray said. 'I'm still making monthly payments on the darn thing and not living in it. I'm going to keep pushing on,' Wray said. 'If worse comes to worse, I can rent it out or lower it further and just get rid of it.'"

"Andy and Jill Leebrick in north Phoenix. Original listing: $714,999. Latest listing: $645,000. Days on the market: About 130. The couple moved to the Tramanto community a couple of years ago, expecting to take advantage of the rising market. Now, they have another house under construction and expect to close soon. If they don't sell, they'll have two mortgages and they need money from the old house to finance the new one."

"They knew their listing price was in the top third of houses in that area and also knew the market had slowed. 'But I was optimistic the price we had at that time was competitive enough to sell it in the time frame,' Andy said."

"But a price cut was in order as the market languished, and the couple wanted to make it a dramatic one. So they got creative. The Leebricks went to their builder with a proposition: They would cut the price of their old home by $70,000 if the builder would knock half of that amount off of their new house. The builder agreed, and threw in an extra $7,500 reduction in price and $5,000 in free upgrades."

"'I was more than willing to make an adjustment but when that was recommended to us, that shocked me,' Andy said. 'I didn't buy into that price because I thought it was too deep.'"

"It made them rethink whether they would get enough from the old house to buy the new one. At one point, they talked about having to get out of the contract, which would have cost them $27,500."

"'For us, that is a lot of money,' he said. 'Actually, the possibility still exists today. If we don't get a buyer we still face the possibility of having to back out and lose that money. I think about it every day.'"

"'We have open houses three Saturdays in a row in and around Thanksgiving,' Andy said. They will consider upgrades if the deal doesn't materialize quickly. 'My palms are starting to sweat,' Andy said. 'We have to get something done soon.'"