When the real estate market starts to slow down it is time for home sellers to re-evaluate their attitude. You need a different approach in a slowing market in order to successfully sell your home at a profit. During the past few years it has been a great market for sellers.
Things have changed and you may have to change with it. The information in this article will help you to have the right attitude to sale your home.

The real estate industry has been booming, the only big concern for home sellers was to decide the right time of the year to put their property on the market and boom, they were good to go. All they had to do was place the property on the market and offers would quickly start coming in. Sellers knew they had the upper hand because the buyers were concerned about losing out on a good property and were willing to pay a slightly higher price for nearly any sort of property. Since the mortgage rates were at historic lows and the appreciation of real estate was unbelievably high, the average buyer naturally assumed that even after paying a higher price, they stood to make money.

Now things have changed and the real estate market is cooling off for the sellers and turning into a buyer’s market. This means that sellers can no longer continue the way they have been doing for the past few years. Though unfortunate for sellers, this development is not entirely unexpected. The real estate market goes in cycles and the high end cycle is now turning towards the low end cycle.

The important thing to note is that though the market is increasingly favoring buyers, the sellers are slow to change their ways and attitude. Most sellers are continuing to operate as if the market was still hot. So they get their property appraised and then set the asking price higher than the comparable properties in their neighborhood. The end result being disappointment, as the property just sits there for months on end, with out a single offer coming in.

In case you are one of these sellers, facing the problem of an unmoving property, then maybe it’s time you take a hard look at what you are doing. It is no longer possible to just list the property and wait for buyers. In a buyers market you actually have to go out and work at selling your property because it’s not going to sell itself.

One of the first things you should do is re-evaluate the selling price of homes in your area. Then taking into consideration the appraised value of your home and the other properties, adjust your asking price accordingly. Once you have done this, depending on your need to sale, you should decide what the minimum offer is, you will accept on your home.

If you insist on asking a higher price, than similar property, then you are only going to sell through luck. No buyer in their right mind will pay more, when a similar property can be had for less. Buyers are also aware that buying the most expensive property in a neighborhood, seriously affects its appreciation.

All other things being equal, a simple adjustment in your thinking and attitude, about the asking price of your home, may well be all you need to attract interested buyers for your home.

Getting the right market value of a property is important whether you are planning to sell or buy a home. Only by knowing the right market value can you judge the right price for a home. Some people don’t understand what market value is and end up selling their homes at a loss or paying too much when buying. If you wish to make an intelligent decision when buying or selling property then it is crucial to fully understand what market value is.

One of the first things you should understand is that the tax assessed value of a home is not its market value. The assessed value is calculated by the tax authorities as being the value that should be taxed. Whereas, the market value of that property is calculated by professional realtors, after taking into consideration the state of the real estate market, recent sales of similar property located in close proximity of the property being sold, current availability of similar property, and other conditions. These two values are completely unrelated and can be vastly different if tax assessment has not been done recently by the local government.

A realtor has to factor in many things when arriving at a market value that tax authorities seldom consider.

For example the neighborhood has nothing to do with assessed value and everything to do with market value. A good neighborhood means higher market value. The location of the property is equally important. The property is assessed based on things like proximity to business districts, highway, town center, schools and so on. Taking a line from the hotel industry, location is everything.

The next thing is the condition of a home. Newer homes have higher market value as they are in better physical condition. Older homes are typically in need of repairs, such as the roof, outdated plumbing, electrical fixtures etc. and this lowers their market value. The more repairs needed the lower the market value will be.

The realtor will collect all such data and then set up comparisons with similar homes in matching neighborhoods. This comparison will include recently sold and homes currently on the market with a similar market value. Based on all this data the realtor will then calculate the right market value of the home. This value is typically good for around 3 to 4 months and then should be recalculated. In case your home is not sold within this time then it may be because it was overpriced. If it sells quicker than expected, then it may have been under priced. The under pricing is not an issue because realtors naturally aim for the highest possible value they can get because it increases their commissions. It is always possible that the right buyer will contact the realtor at just the right time.

It is always a good idea to contact at least 2-3 realtors and ask them for a free market analysis of your property. This way you can compare their results for yourself. Note that the free analysis is not the actual market value, but a very good approximation. Quite often you will be given a range as to the market value. To get a more precise market value, you may have to pay one of the realtors, a fee, as this report will require more work on the realtors’ part.

As you can see understanding the market value verses the tax assessment value of your home is not rocket science. But it can save you money and time when selling your home.