From Elizabeth Weintraub,
Your Guide to Home Buying / Selling.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!

When real estate prices fall and more than six months of inventory remains on the market, the market is (take your pick):

• Slumping
• Depressed
• Softening
• Falling
• Slowing Down

Whichever term you choose, it doesn't matter. What matters is the fact that people still buy and sell. The market hasn't come to a crunching stand still. You simply adjust to the market. Those who don't will get squished.

Strategies for Slowing Markets

If you are a seller, shoving a For Sale sign in your front yard isn't going to help much. Nor is plopping the listing into MLS. You've got to be aggressive and make your home stand out like a shining star among the hundreds of others on the market. Whether you plan to hire an agent or you want to sell your home yourself, you can use these strategies to sell quickly and for more money in a depressed market:

• Getting Your Home Ready for Market
  Here's how to make it sparkle and twinkle with that come-hither-and-buy-me look. We've left no cobwebs behind and no window sill unpolished.

• Setting the Stage
  All about how to add the "WOW" factor to your home. Staging goes beyond decluttering and cleaning. It's inserting the magic and invoking that mysterious urge that makes a buyer say "Yes, I want this house."

• The Queen of Home Staging
  Barb Schwarz founded home staging and shares her secrets with you. This interview highlights the methods Schwarz preaches that actually do work!

• Improvements that Return the Investment
  If you have time before hitting the market, a bit of cash and the energy to do it yourself, this is about the little repairs and upgrades that will return rewards.

• How to Effectively Market Your Home
  The top 10 tips to market your home the way professional agents do it. From signage to virtual tours and open houses, this is a complete A to Z tutorial.

• Selling a House With Pets
  Here is how to delicately balance between trying to keep your pets safe yet out of the way when selling.

• Marketing Blunders
  Especially in markets with falling prices, you can't afford to mess up, yet people do. Learn how to avoid making mistakes when selling and how to gain that upper hand by recognizing the difference between good marketing and bad marketing.

• Protect Your Identity
  While your home is on the market, the last thing you need to worry about is identity theft or strangers rifling through your personal belongings. Here's how to protect yourself while your home is on the market.

Page 1 of 3 -- Follow Link Below for Buying Tips & Mortgage Tips in a Falling Marketplace.

NEXT PAGE . . . Strategies for Buying in a Falling Market