A couple in their 50s inherited a stately all-stone colonial house in a Maryland suburb. Confident about their odds of selling well, they put the property on the market last June for $1.5 million.

“They were looking for a gold mine,” says Ashley Richardson, the agent they hired to market the property. But despite multiple price cuts, the house failed to attract a single offer until just this month. That’s when the 30-something parents of a toddler boy submitted a bid slightly under the current asking price.

Still, the rigid sellers are refusing to negotiate with their potential buyers. Not only are they seeking the full asking price, they’re also holding out for buyers willing to waive their right to a home inspection.

“Many sellers are stubborn these days. Due to changing market conditions, sellers need to give a little more, or they can miss out on the opportunities given them,” says Richardson, an agent who sells property through Long & Foster, a regional realty firm.

Jeb Smith, a real estate broker who’s listed homes in Orange County, California, for 20 years, says that given the rapid recent cooling of the housing market, it’s understandable if owners are confused on pricing.

“With all the craziness in the economy, the market is moving faster than sellers can get their heads around,” says Smith, of Coldwell Banker.

Another confusing factor is there are huge variations in property valuations -- even within the same neighborhood. Homes that are fully updated and meet contemporary taste standards -- what Smith calls “turnkey homes” -- are still commanding higher prices than those needing kitchen or bathroom renovations.

“Due to the pride of ownership, people always think their place is worth more than the one down the street that sold last year after a big bidding war. That’s just human nature,” Smith says.

Here are a few pointers for sellers:

-- Look into very recent sales in your area before setting your price.

Even before your home is listed and open for showings, your agent will likely recommend an asking price. But before accepting any pricing recommendation, all sellers, no matter how hurried, should do at least a nominal amount of research.

“Tell your agent to give you a list of nearby properties still under contract -- the more current the better. Then ask the agent to look into details about the properties that sold, including whether they had been updated,” says Richardson, who’s affiliated with the Residential Real Estate Council (crs.com). In addition, before setting your price, drive by the sold properties for comparison purposes.

Perhaps your drive-by tour will raise questions about whether your agent is suggesting too high or low an asking price. If so, request additional data in support of the recommended price. Then reach your own conclusion.

-- Choose a listing agent with experience.

“When you’re feeling overwhelmed about the details of your home sale, it can be wise to engage a take-charge real estate agent who’s worked through many transitional markets,” says Merrill Ottwein, a Coldwell Banker broker based in Illinois.

He recommends you find someone with considerable experience selling properties in the same community where you live.

Contacting the managing broker of a local real estate office is one way to identify a skillful agent. But make sure you find one with an impressive track record selling your type of property in your price range.

“It’s also smart to contact references who’ve previously worked with the agent to find out how well their transactions worked,” Ottwein says.

-- Don’t rule out a list price just one notch below prevailing market values.

Surprisingly, sellers on a tight deadline can often receive more for their property if they price it just a few percentage points below its apparent market value, Smith says.

“Given the internet, buyers are alert to fair market pricing. That’s why pricing slightly under market can generate lots of interest among buyers,” he says.

-- Hasten a home sale through delegation.

If you’re struggling to sell quickly -- perhaps due to a job transfer -- you may have no more than a few weeks to get your home ready for showings.

“In that case, you need a shortened preparation process that still covers all your home’s cosmetic needs and basic repairs,” Ottwein says.

One obvious way to reduce your prep time is to hire contractors for work you might normally do yourself.

“I know there are many cost-conscious people who are resistant to hiring others to do improvements they could do themselves, like painting or carpet cleaning. But if your time window is narrow, the odds are the work will go much faster if you bring contractors in,” Ottwein says.

What’s more, as he notes, sellers with properties that are sparkling clean and freshly painted generally recoup more at closing than they spend to hire contractors.

-- Develop a backup plan for your property’s sale.

Occasionally, even a home that’s well located and accurately priced will fail to sell quickly for reasons hard to determine.

To avoid panic in this situation, Ottwein encourages sellers to prepare a Plan B should the process take longer than expected and you have to go forward with a move anyway.

Maybe you’ll arrange for a trusted family member to take over responsibility for your home sale. Or perhaps you’ll want to buy time by putting your property up for rent for a few months.

“Under the best of circumstances, selling a home is stressful. But having a backup plan will help you manage your stress load,” Ottwein says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)

An Ohio couple in their late 20s -- a nurse and her lawyer husband -- were too intimidated by the overheated real estate market to make any bids during the pandemic. But despite soaring interest rates, they now see reasons for optimism.

“As first-time buyers we have a flexible timeline on when to move. Also, we’re witnessing more motivated sellers willing to accept an offer contingent on a home inspection, which is key for us,” says the lawyer.

Though a large number of would-be purchasers are now sitting on the sidelines because higher mortgage rates have cost them buying power, others with ample down payment money are pressing forward with their plans.

Indeed, novice buyers are now better positioned to make a purchase in many cases than are repeat buyers, says Manny Garcia, a population scientist for Zillow, the national real estate company.

“First-time buyers now appear to be making relative gains as high mortgage interest rates disproportionately encourage homeowners to stay put,” Garcia says.

In spite of affordability challenges, first-time buyers now represent 45% of all buyers, up from 37% last year.

“While rising mortgage rates are hurting affordability for all buyers, first-time buyers may be less deterred by higher rates because they’re comparing a monthly mortgage payment with what they’re paying in rent,” Garcia says.

George Ratiu, a senior economist for Realtor.com, the home listing firm, says wannabe homeowners are heartened by the relative increase in available properties due to a “rebalancing” of the market in buyers’ favor.

“Homebuyers have more for-sale homes to choose from compared to this time last year, as inventory has been improving steadily in recent weeks,” Ratiu says. This means buyers have more time to find good deals and think through purchasing options without missing out.

Here are a few pointers for first timers:

-- Seek out truly willing sellers.

The loss of a job is one common reason why homeowners must sell; divorce is another. Also, an increasing number of older baby boomers must sell to cover living costs in retirement.

Understandably, many potential home sellers with low-rate mortgages are reluctant to move if it means financing their next property with a higher-rate home loan. Yet in all markets there are always some “mandatory sellers” who have no alternative but to move, says Stephanie Vitacco, a real estate broker with Equity Union in Los Angeles.

As a potential first-time buyer, you might feel awkward seeking out owners who are under pressure to sell. But there’s nothing unethical about doing this, says Tom Early, a broker and past president of the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (naeba.org).

How can you identify those who are highly motivated to sell? Early suggests you ask your real estate agent to draw up a list of properties in your favored area that have been on the market for an extended period. Also, he recommends you go to the neighborhood where you’d like to buy and talk informally to residents.

“Tell the local residents how much you appreciate their neighborhood and they’ll be more likely to open up with you as to which houses could soon hit the Multiple Listing Service,” Early says.

-- Invest time in researching the neighborhoods you’re targeting.

Early says many novice homebuyers let emotion dominate their thinking about where to live. But he strongly recommends that you also factor in some statistical measures before finalizing your neighborhood choice. This should increase your odds of choosing an area where prices are likely to rise in the future.

One way to help identify highly motivated sellers is by crunching numbers. Ask your real estate agent to determine the average “days on market” (from list to sale) for properties in the area you’ve chosen. Then look for homes in that price range that have been sitting unsold for a longer-than-average period.

Before crafting an offer on the home of your choice, Early suggests you also examine another set of numbers: the average list-to-sale price differential. If you note that most properties have recently fetched 90% of their list price, you might consider a first bid at a 10% discount off what’s being asked -- assuming your research shows this is warranted, he says.

-- Resist the urge to critique any home you’re considering.

Suppose you’re seriously considering a certain home. However, you’ve seen a few minor flaws in the floor plan, such as an inconveniently located laundry room and the absence of a first-floor bathroom.

In an attempt to strengthen your bargaining position, should you write a letter highlighting these drawbacks and also noting the owners’ poor taste in choosing to paint their kitchen sunshine yellow? Absolutely not, says Sid Davis, the broker-author of “A Survival Guide for Buying a Home.”

“It’s almost universally true that homeowners have pride in their properties and would be defensive about a strong critique,” he says.

Of course, you and your home inspector should be forthright in itemizing repairs that need to be done to bring the property up to standard, such as roof repairs or the replacement of a nonfunctional water heater. But the inspector should do so in a courteous manner that doesn’t insult the owners.

“Remember, it’s better to be gently assertive than obnoxious,” Davis says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)

A few months ago, a 39-year-old nurse practitioner from Rhode Island got a great new job offer in Boston. But there’s one major catch holding up her move: She and her husband -- the parents of two school-age kids -- are struggling to find an affordable house in their new community.

“This family doesn’t need a particularly fancy house or a lot of space, just a neighborhood with strong schools. But where they’re looking, most available homes are ‘fixer-uppers’ with serious issues,” says Rich Rosa, the real estate agent representing the couple.

The other issue is that since the couple’s search began, mortgage rates have steadily risen, which has dramatically reduced their buying power.

“They’ve lost more than $100,000 in borrowing capacity,” Rosa says.

Housing specialists like Rosa, who advocate for homebuyers, say an increasing number of purchasers are so gloomy about market conditions that they’ve abandoned their search altogether.

“Mortgage rates well over 6% are spooking homebuyers,” says Taylor Marr, deputy chief economist at Redfin, the national real estate brokerage.

Indeed, “housing affordability is at a more than 10-year low,” says Jerry Konter, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (nahb.org).

But rather than pulling back entirely from the market, real estate specialists suggest that motivated buyers regroup.

“Even if you’re frustrated and upset, we always tell people to stay the course. You never know when the right house will pop up, and you want to be ready,” says Rich Harty, who with his brother operates a small boutique real estate company in Highland Park, Illinois.

In a rapidly changing real estate market like the current one, Harty stresses the need for advanced planning and the cautious selection of both property and neighborhood.

“You don’t have to stay in high gear all the time. But you should be ready to move forward when the right opportunity presents itself. One positive for buyers in the current market is that there are many fewer bidding wars. So you have more time to evaluate your options,” Harty says.

Here are a few pointers for buyers:

-- Plan ahead before zeroing in on a neighborhood.

It’s not uncommon for buyers to let emotion dominate their decision on where to live, says Michael Knight, a financial advisor affiliated with the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (napfa.org).

“You’ve got to do plenty of research," Knight says. "Have an informal talk with a few knowledgeable real estate agents in any area you’re considering. Ask them lots of hard questions before making your choice of the best possible community,” he says.

Which neighborhoods are most likely to hold or gain value in the future? Knight says top-quality public schools are critical, particularly now that private schools are out of reach financially for many families.

Access to quality public transit is also high on the list.

When talking to real estate agents, ask them to show you the neighborhood’s amenities on a map. Also, ask them to assemble data for you on sales trends in the community -- including the median time it takes to sell a home there.

-- Seek sellers who are motivated to move.

These days it’s still very rare for owners to face foreclosure -- yet it’s possible to find some who are highly motivated to move.

As a would-be buyer, you may feel uncomfortable about seeking out owners who must sell quickly due to the loss of a job or mortgage payments that are too high for their income. But Michael Crowley, a broker in Spokane, Washington, says you need not feel guilty about doing so.

“You could actually be doing the sellers a favor in such a case. Even if you buy at a discount off the current market value, the owners will likely do better selling to you than they would if the bank took away the house and ruined their credit in the process,” says Crowley, a past president of the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (naeba.org).

How can you identify highly motivated sellers? Obviously, your agent can often find them through the Multiple Listing Service. An additional approach is to walk around the neighborhood on a weekend, striking up informal conversations with residents there.

“On a Saturday or Sunday, you will likely encounter residents who are out walking their dogs or taking their kids to the park. If you’re friendly and express your admiration for their area, they’ll likely chat openly with you and tell you neighbors they know who intend to move soon and the reasons why,” Crowley says.

-- Evaluate property values in the area where you wish to live.

Once you’ve chosen a neighborhood where property values are solid and you’ve found your dream home there, you’ll want to carefully assess its true current value before formulating a bid.

“With warnings about recession in the near term, it’s vitally important you obtain a true ‘opinion of value’ to ensure your bid is at the right level,” Crowley says.

To help develop a realistic estimate of the worth of the home you wish to buy, ask your agent to provide you with statistics on properties that have sold in recent weeks. Make sure this analysis takes into account any likely “distress sales” that have occurred lately, which often come at a sacrificial price for the sellers.

“Even if we face an economic downturn, it’s unlikely that prices will plummet in the coming years. Still, it’s a very good idea to resist overpaying, even if you love the house you’ve found,” Crowley says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)