Did you ever get that house sold — the one you listed over a year ago? I heard you did everything short of lassoing a buyer, including repainting, holding umpteen open houses, baking cookies, dropping the sales price thrice, and setting a rocker on the porch under the no-place-like-home banner.

Well, don’t sit there feeling sorry for yourself. Selling houses in this economy can be a challenge, but if you think you’ve done everything possible to attract buyers, read on.

Jan and Dan Squillace first listed their 14 year-old lakefront home in Cary’s Lochmere community for $799,900 in September 2007. When the 4,000-square-foot house didn’t sell, the couple reduced it to $775,000. “The reason we had it built was that it doubled as a vacation house,” said Jan Squillace, a SAS technical supporter. In addition to a large screened porch overlooking Lochmere Lake, there’s a dock for a sail boat or canoe.

After six months, the Squillaces took the home off the market and listed it with Realtor Kelly Cobb who had it appraised for $799,900, the original asking price. Cobb says it was a fair price — “the last vacant lot I sold on Lochmere Lake went for $500,000.” But the economy cooled and the Fonville Morisey Realtor advised the owners to reduce the home’s price to $750,000. Bingo!

That was the magic number it took to attract a buyer, Cobb said.

David Outlaw, a Cary pediatric internist, and his wife Nehal thought that home would be an ideal place to bring up their four children. But the Cary couple, who are represented by Sue Bushoff of Carolina Realty Properties, couldn’t afford to buy it until their present home was sold.

The solution, according to Cobb, was a lease-purchase agreement — a lease combined with an option to purchase the property within a specified period. “The last time I handled one of those was twenty-two years ago during an estate sale,” Cobb recalls. Drawn up by an attorney, the contract usually includes a non-refundable option fee to the seller (in this case $25,000) credited to the down payment. If the option is not exercised, the seller keeps the fee.

The Squillaces, who had already moved into their new townhome, embraced the lease-purchase agreement as creative and flexible. “There is no downside,” Dan Squillace told me, “except that you have to wait for your money until the buyer’s house is sold.”

According to the agreement, the tenants could continue to rent as long as they were making a good effort to sell their home, Cobb said. Half the rent would be applied to the purchase price for the first six months of rental and 25 percent would be applied afterward. Their warranty on the home not only covers repairs while they own it, but also protects the new owners for one year after closing. It was a win-win situation. The agreement was executed in October 2008 and the Outlaws moved in almost immediately. What’s more, their house was sold a few weeks ago and closing on the Lochmere home was scheduled for January 16. “We hit it just right,” Cobb said. “As tenants, the buyers had emotionally and physically attached themselves to the house.” And she emphasized that dealing with an experienced agent makes the transaction easier. Bushoff returned the compliment. “I know if I have a good agent on the other side that there is a trust on the part of both of us as well as the buyers and sellers.”

But Cobb, who has six listings available for lease-purchase, pointed out another possible downside to that type of arrangement: “If the home never closes because the ensconced buyer-tenant loses a job or gets sick and can’t adhere to the agreement.” Meanwhile, she added, the house has been taken off the market and the seller has to start over again.

“Life happens,” Cobb said. “But I still will always believe that in this arrangement the pros far outweigh the cons for both sides.”

Life did in fact happen to homeowners Hank and Susan Stafford as well as their tenant/buyers, David and Suzanne Kerstine. One year after purchasing their new two-story home in Wake Forest’s Stonegate community, Hank Stafford got a new job and the couple moved to Tampa. They listed their Stonegate house with Realtors Rick and Ginger Rogers of Coldwell Banker-Howard Perry and Walston for $385,900 (now reduced to $369,900).

When the home didn’t sell, the Realtors proposed a lease-purchase agreement without an option fee that allowed the Kerstines to rent the lake-view four-bedroom home and buy it within a year. Their lease expires February 1. Unfortunately, the tenants’ retirement savings have declined and the couple is currently unable to purchase the house. In fact, they’re not sure they still want to. “I’m 64 years old and only two years away from collecting full social security,” David Kerstein told me.

But Rogers has proposed a way for the couple to continue renting. Starting February 1, they will be able to lease the Stonegate’ house month-to-month and look for something else while it is on the market.” That suits the Hank Stafford who acknowledges his house is well maintained, rent payments are always on time and the tenants agreed to cover his mortgage payments. If they move out today, the seller told me, “I won’t have a cash flow until I get another buyer or tenant.”

Despite that setback, Rogers is optimistic about the agreement. “In these uncertain times for both buyers and sellers, the lease/purchase option is a good compromise for both parties. The buyers have time to "test drive" the home and neighborhood and lock in the purchase price for a period of time. Meanwhile, the sellers don’t have to bear the burden of a vacant house and can enjoy a monthly cash flow while waiting for the market to improve, and in fact may already have a buyer in hand."

OK guys, now get out there and hit 'em hard.

E-mail Iris June Vinegar at Irisjune11@aol.com.