I don't have statistics, but I guess a home is sell once every 20-30 years, and is in the market for 3 months. So if I sell a cold offer to buy it, there is a 1% chance that it's on sale or the owner is wiling to sell it.
Most home sells have a reason, for example the owner died and the children and selling it, or the home is too small because they have a new children or too big because they have an empty nest. So outside the period it's in the market it's very difficult to convince the owner to sell.
Selling a house involve a lot of taxes and commissions, like 15% here in Argentina, perhaps more. So if I have to sell my home without a good reason, the buyer must pay like 20% more to cover all my fees and taxes. Add the fuss of moving (1 week to package, and 1 week to unpackaged, does the house need painting?), looking for a new home (1 month), smiling to the real state agents that while they try to screw me, discussing with my wife because she likes another house, crossing the finger because the new home can have the plumbing made of painted cardboard, or a very noisy neighbor, or a crazy neighbor, ... so to convince me to sell my home in a cold offer, you should add a 50% premium to the price.
With a 50% more of money, the buyer can get a better house, or have a lot of freedom to fix other house.
