I just encountered this great list of 25 tips to prepare your home for sale in a slow market by Austin Realtor. While it’s consistent with the advice we give our clients, it provides some details that aren’t include on our website.

All suggestions for preparing a home for sale can pretty much be summed up by these three actions though:

• clean everything
• repair what’s not working
• remove clutter, personal items, and excess furniture to open up additional space

(Via Unclutterer)

Historic learning experiences tend to look better from the rear view mirror, so I can’t wait until we are at the moment in time to look at everything in hindsight…  Until then, what the heck does this all mean for the DC Metro area real estate market?  The answer is - probably not much.  Credit has already tightened and the Fed’s recent move to secure AIG indicates no further tightening of the credit market is expected.  Today anyway…  It is the availability of financing that has caused us great pain recently so I think the damage caused by the tightening has already been done.

The volume of real estate transactions is down about 17% from this time last year (depending on which segment of our local market you look at) but inventory numbers are up only slightly.  More foreclosures are selling quickly which is chewing through or excess inventory at a respectable pace.  The recent drop in interest rates has helped spike activity and everyone is cautiously optimistic that an administration change will mean nothing but good things for the real estate market.

Bottom line - nearly everything in the US is on sale right now, including some great deals in real estate.  We don’t know when the sale will end, but like all great sales - they don’t last forever!  Keep affordability in the forefront of your mind and make decisions that are right for your life right now - and don’t worry about the market.  If it makes sense for you to buy right now - based on where you are with your life - buy.  If you want to sell because it will help you move on to something else you want in your life - sell.

We are helping about six people every month sell and buy real estate.  Let us know what we can do for you.

At Brandon Green & Associates, we have sold over 40 homes already this year. I saw an article in The Wall Street Journal and I thought it reflects well what we are advising our clients to do to be successful.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121553612650836199.html?mod=todays_us_nonsub_journalreports

So far this year, we have not had any expired listings and our average Days on Market are lower than the average in the area. Why? Because we give our clients the right advice and we know our local market.

I believe the most important factor when selling in this market is to hire the right agent, not just your friend or the agent next door. You want the agent that is going to work hard for you. I also believe presentation of your property, staging, and of course pricing, are key points to selling your home.

The bad news for seller is that if you bought your house in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 it is likely that your house is worth only a little bit more or just under what you bought it for. It is not easy for us to tell our clients the bad news, but we need to give them the facts if they decide to sell. We have no control over the market but we do on how to market and to sell.

If you decide to sell, you need to be very realistic about the market and forget how much your house was worth in 2005.  These days are over.  The good news is that if you follow our guidance, you will be able to sell your home at a price that is right.

If you have any friends that are struggling to sell their home, please send them our way. We are experts in selling houses that haven’t sold. We work hard!

Make sure to interview me if you are not a US citizen. You need good advice since there are huge differences between a US citizen a non US citizen when buying and selling. I am a Certified International Specialist Certified and have had extensive training to support foreign and domestic needs.

Perhaps the biggest question in buyers and sellers minds is – should I make a move now or am I doing so at the wrong point in the cycle? To answer this question, we need to look at market cycles better and understand how they work. Take a look at this graph which represents markets over time.

The two diagonal straight lines represent the top and bottom of what I like to call the “safe zone”. The curvy line represents the cyclical peaks and valleys within the market as a whole. The space above the top line of the safe zone, yet below the curve line is the place I like to call the “unlucky buyer zone “(or the very lucky seller zone). This is when the market is the most expensive, and it is right before a correction. If you look below the bottom line of the safe zone to the space above the curved line, you’ll find the “buyer’s lucky zone”, (or the seller’s unlucky zone). All the rest of the space is the safe zone. What this means is there are only very small periods of time when it is really a bad time to buy (right at the peak before a correction) or to sell (right at the bottom, before an upswing). The vast amount of time you’re safe to make a move. Statistically speaking, chances of you buying or selling in the safe zone are far, far greater than buying or selling in the other zones.

You can’t time real estate so waiting for the right moment in the market to make a move doesn’t make sense. When was the last time you “timed” anything intelligently? Did you “time” your career move to be ideal? Did you “time” your marriage or commitment ceremony to be on the day without rain? Did you “time” that stock sale to sell right before the company announced a gigantic loss - intelligently? Most likely not – and you cannot “time” the real estate market either. The period of time of ideal buys and sells are simply too small, and impossible to determine until about 6 months after they have occurred.

Therefore, buy or sell when the market is in the safe zone – and pay no attention to the top or the bottom. It is foolish to rely on luck as a strategy.

One thing is for certain, the market is moving… are you?

Here are nine ways to sell your home (via Metro DC Home Info). Of course, we’d like to add a 10th step—work with Brandon Green & Associates.

1. Know why you’re selling, and keep it to yourself

The reasons behind your decision to sell affect everything from setting a price to deciding how much time and money to invest in getting your home ready for sale. What’s more important to you: the money you walk away with or the length of time your property is on the market? Different goals will dictate different strategies.

Don’t reveal your motivation to anyone else, however, or they may use it against you at the negotiating table. When asked, simply say that your housing needs have changed.

2. Do your homework before setting a price

Settling on an offering price shouldn’t be done lightly. Once you’ve set your price, you’ve told buyers the absolute maximum they have to pay for your home, but pricing too high is as dangerous as pricing too low.

Remember that the average buyer is looking at 15 to 20 homes at the same time they are considering yours. This means that they have a basis of comparison, and if your home doesn’t compare favorably with others in the price range you’ve set, you won’t be taken seriously by prospects or agents.

As a result, your home will sit on the market for a long time and, knowing this information, new buyers on the market will think there must be something wrong with your home.

3. Do your homework

Find out what homes in your own and similar neighborhoods have sold for in the past 6 to 12 months, and research what current homes are listed for. That’s certainly how prospective buyers will assess the worth of your home.

4. Find a good real estate agent to represent your needs

Nearly three-quarters of homeowners claim that they wouldn’t use the same Realtor who sold their last home. Dissatisfaction boils down to poor communication which results in not enough feedback, lower pricing, and strained relations.

5. Maximize your home’s sales potential

Each year, corporate North America spends billions on product and packaging design. Appearance is critical, and it would be foolish to ignore this when selling your home.

You may not be able to change your home’s location or floor plan, but you can do a lot to improve its appearance. The look and feel of your home generates a greater emotional response than any other factor. Clean like you’ve never cleaned before. Pick up, straighten, unclutter, scrub, scour, and dust. Fix everything, no matter how insignificant it may appear. Present your home to get a “wow” response from prospective buyers.

Allow the buyers to imagine themselves living in your home The decision to buy a home is based on emotion, not logic. Prospective buyers want to try on your home just like they would a new suit of clothes. If you follow them around pointing out improvements or if your decor is so different that it’s difficult for a buyer to strip it away in his or her mind, you make it difficult for them to feel comfortable enough to imagine themselves an owner.

6. Make it easy for prospects to get information on your home

You may be surprised to know that some marketing tools that most agents use to sell homes (such as  traditional open houses) are not effective. In fact only 1 percent of homes are sold at an open house.

Furthermore, the prospects calling for information on your home probably value their time as much as you do. The last thing they want to be subjected to is either a game of telephone tag with an agent or an unwanted sales pitch. Make sure information about your home is available online.

7. Know your buyer

In the negotiation process, your objective is to control the pace and set the duration. What is your buyer’s motivation? Does he or she need to move quickly? Does he or she have enough money to pay you your asking price? Knowing this information gives you the upper hand in the negotiation because you know how far you can push to get what you want.

8. Make sure the contract is complete

For your part as a seller, make sure you disclose everything. Smart sellers go above and beyond the laws to disclose all known defects to their buyers in writing. If the buyer knows about a problem, he or she can’t come back with a lawsuit later on.

Make sure all terms, costs, and responsibilities are spelled out in the contract of sale, and resist the temptation to diverge from the contract. For example, if the buyer requests a move-in prior to closing, just say no. Now is not the time to take any chances of the deal falling through.

9. Don’t move out before you sell

Studies have shown that it is more difficult to sell a home that is vacant because it looks forlorn, forgotten, or simply not appealing. It could even cost you thousands. If you move, you’re also telling buyers that you have a new home and are probably motivated to sell fast. This, of course, will give them the advantage at the negotiating table.

Recently we’ve seen three instances of multiple contracts. Though the price escalation isn’t occurring with such fervor as before, it is still possible to get multiple bids with aggressive pricing.

As seen in the Washington Business Journal: “Area Home Prices Down More Than 4%.”

There is no doubt that the market has declined and that we have returned to a much more normal market.

But what’s with the talk of doom and gloom? Are prices falling monthly? The answer depends on where you are—and by where I don’t just mean DC, Maryland, or Virginia. Trends vary by neighborhood, block, or even building.

Blanket statistics—the kind that appear in the media—rarely speak to how the real estate market affects the individual. Don’t get caught up in market stats (good or bad), but focus your motivation to buy or sell.

Most buyers are looking for homes to live in. It is always a good time to buy a roof over your head. If you’re buying only for appreciation gain, you need to be careful in this market.

Sellers selling today are doing so because they need to—not to be misinterpreted to say they are desperate. (If you want a big foreclosure market, you’re not going to find it in the DC area.) It is always the right time to sell if you need to do so. If you just took a job in Phoenix and want to buy a house there, but can’t afford the down payment unless you sell your townhouse in Georgetown, now is the perfect time to sell.

Remember, 80 percent of the marketing happens when you set the price. It is time to start talking about how normal the market is and how buyers and sellers every day enter into agreements that satisfy everyone’s goals.

A good deal, and a good market, is only a state of mind.