The seller was at wit's end, a not unreasonable location given that the asking price for her beloved abode had fallen by $100,000 and further reductions loomed ahead.

The house in question is well-located and beautifully prepared, but the local marketplace has begun to ease. The vast and predictable price increases of the past few years are no longer so certain.

The issue is not that the owner will take a loss by selling, rather it is that legendary and fabled profits are becoming less available in my area. The strong sales seen in summer have given way to a market where buyers are less determined and sellers are less sure; a time when the definition of "fair market value" is increasingly debatable and demand is uncertain.

The inability to attain mythological prices is having a psychological impact on sellers, owners and brokers. Some talk about the money they have "lost" when in fact they have not lost anything. As the old song says, you can't lose something you never had.

If you've owned property for just a few years the odds are overwhelming that in most areas -- but not all -- you're ahead. According to the National Association of Realtors, the typical existing home sold for $212,000 in September -- up from $187,000 a year earlier and up considerably from $139,000 in 2000.

In other words, if you bought five years ago and sold today at a 15 percent discount from the September top, the property would still close at $180,200 -- you would be ahead by $31,800 before closing costs. If you bought with 10 percent down in 2000, if you put up $13,900 plus closing costs, you would have doubled your money or come close. That's not a bad deal when you see that the Dow Jones Industrial Average went from 10462.00 on November 20, 2000 to 10766.33 on November 18, 2005. And it's surely not a bad deal in the face of inflation.

In many areas, of course, the percentages and numbers are far larger. Some ZIP codes have seen six-figure price increases in just the past year.

But what about our friend with the house that's not selling? What can she do to make her home more marketable?

First, don't panic. Houses sell in all markets. The fact that a home is well located and in good condition means the odds favor the owner.

Second, a prompt and swift dive to the bottom of the marketplace may be unnecessary. A better approach might be to change the terms of the sale.

With real estate values rising so quickly in the past few years it's often been forgotten that homes sell on the basis of both price and terms.

What terms should be changed? The huge price increases seen recently have meant that many prospective buyers can afford the monthly payments needed to own a home but downpayment cash remains a problem.

This is the moment for owners to consider a "seller contribution" rather than a price reduction. In other words, rather than cut the price, offer to pay some of the closing costs.

Imagine that a home is priced at $550,000 and has remained unsold for several months. One option is surely to reduce the price. But a 3-percent seller contribution means a buyer would need $16,500 less at closing -- and a 3 percent seller contribution may be a better option for sellers than a 5- or 10-percent price reduction.

Lenders routinely allow seller contributions without regarding them as a pricing discount. This is important because mortgages are made as a percent of the sale price or the appraised value, whichever is less. Some loan programs allow as much as a 3 percent seller contribution, others go as high as 6 percent and some may go higher.

For details, speak with local brokers.