The number of listings is up 22% since the start of the year.

For all the sellers out there daring to brave the current market place either to take advantage of move up pricing or because of personal circumstances, make sure that you take a rational approach toward pricing your home and in evaluating how long it might take to sell. Make sure to get the good, the bad and the ugly news about sales in your neighborhood. Try not to be unrealistically optimistic and too strong willed about how 'perfect' your home is. Counting on the 'very special features' of your home to get a higher than average price may not work for you in this market. Raising the price to recoup upgrades and remodels may be foolhardy and counterproductive in this challenging economic environment. The upgrades you installed reflect your tastes; you'll likely find that buyers aren't willing to compensate you those costs.

Aggressive pricing is your friend when the housing market is unstable or weak. Those sellers who realize this and allow it to work for them often times come out ahead. With so many foreclosures and short sales skewing the comparative statistics, it is best to err on the conservative side. If your home is priced well, buyers will compete for what they see as 'a great value'. There will be early interest and it is likely there will be multiple offers.

We are beginning to see more buyers searching for good value instead of the 'bargain hunting' of the past two years. Buyers have become more astute on pricing thanks to online real estate sites. I am seeing more buyers with an understanding that many, if not most, homes are already priced at market value reflecting the latest market conditions and closed sales. Those homes that come to market with pricing that is unreasonable will sit for a long time, get stale, and inevitably need price reductions. Bank owned properties (REOs) and short sales are usually priced to solicit a sale price within 1-3% of what is acceptable to the bank. All too often in the past, buyers came into the market hoping to 'steal' the property with a low ball offer. This is counterproductive for two reasons.

This home in Danville, California was priced aggressively. It
generated 3 above list price offers and was in contract
after being on the market only 10 days.

The first is that they lose out on many opportunities where real value could be had. The second is that they waste their time and may in fact end up paying more for a property they become emotionally attached to than they would have had they come in with a fair and reasonable offer to begin with. Although there certainly may be circumstances under which buyers will get an 'incredible deal' in this market, this is not the norm.

Most often, 'bargains' require significant remodeling, landscaping, or other concessions from the buyer in exchange for a low purchase price. As realtors have no crystal balls from which to gauge the future of real estate values, the opportunities out there for buyers are subjective in nature and what a good price is differs from person to person, property to property.

When trying to determine what offer to make on a property, my job is to give the buyer my opinion of the lowest price where an agreement can be reached. I have no inside information - my opinion is based upon: 1) my understanding of the particular market - the neighborhood, competing properties, recent sales, school desirability, proximity to employment, and about 100 other factors that affect desirability in that neighborhood; 2) my interpretation of the sellers' motivations; 3) my many years of success arranging residential real estate transactions, putting buyers and sellers together. Part psychology, part statistics, part math. Successful real estate agents have a knack for accurately sizing up the motivations and then steadily working towards a conclusion satisfactory to the client.

Working with sellers involves, as above, a thorough and accurate read of the immediate market, but also requires a strategic marketing plan. Is the market such that we might be able to generate a little 'market frenzy' around the property? How do we make this home stand out? How should we price for a declining market? How can we maximize exposure?

Once we have offer(s), I tell my clients that they should consider the 'whole package' the buyer presents, and not just the price. More deals are falling apart for a variety of reasons these days, including low appraisals, buyer's getting 'cold feet', surprises in inspection results. Often times, it's the magic of pricing a property correctly that prevails from the start and eliminates the uncertainty and the fall out. Those are the homes most highly sought after.

Your dream home is out there! What are you waiting for?