One fascinating aspect of our current market is that some houses blow off the market in days, while others languish for many months. While price is certainly an aspect of this phenomenon, it is not the sole factor. Nor is it all in the condition of the home. I am blown away by the fact that people will buy houses with no toilets, or with missing windows, or with huge holes in the wall, and gladly pay up for the privilege.

At the beginning of this week, there were over 17,700 single family homes available and another 4700 condominiums and townhomes. Half of them are vacant; almost one in 5 is a “short sale” where the mortgage balance is greater than the purchase price. These people need to sell their homes, and they need to do it quickly. Just short of 1 in every 10 listings is bank-owned (REO), and they account for over half our sales! That isn’t because banks are underpricing, and it isn’t because repos are necessarily nice places to live. People are getting into bidding wars on these properties, and eventually paying more than asking price in many cases! And then other bank-owned properties have sat, gathering dust, for months upon months.

So what is the difference between the houses that sell quickly, and the houses that simply don’t sell at all? And who is to blame for the ones that don’t sell? Remember, if the market is really declining, a fairly priced house can become a wildly overpriced house over the course of a 3 or 6 month listing agreement. There are many reasons that a quick sale is a good thing, so it is worth our time to consider how to make a home sell quickly. So here is a short list of things:

1. Of course, price still matters. If you walked into the grocery store and told them you had to buy a pound of ground meat for fifty cents, odds are very good you would not get it. If they told you they had to have $15 for a loaf of bread, you wouldn’t buy it. In fact, you would leave the store and go somewhere else — and so do home buyers when the list price is too high! Sadly, your monetary needs do not change the market value of your home. Remember that every for-sale sign in your neighborhood is competition for buyers. Clinging to a need you can’t and won’t get may cost you even more in the long run. After all, you still have to pay the bills. Listen to your Realtor about current market conditions. If she says your price is too high, listen to her.

2. Of course, the condition of your home still matters, too. Volumes have been written about “staging”, the process of preparing your home for sale. I bet there’s one in your local library, or that your Realtor can give you specific tips relevant to your home. The sad fact is that most people have a hard time looking past your clutter, your dirt, your un-done list of little maintenance chores. The last is of particular importance, because prospective buyers will wonder what other maintenance hasn’t been done! A clean house just seems nicer than the same house with dirty carpet and a scratched up front door. Really good REO agents know this, and at the very least send a cleaning crew to spruce things up.

3. Be reasonable about showing your home. Buyers can’t decide whether to buy if they can’t get in the front door. What they can and will decide is that your place is too much trouble. Go ahead and let the Realtor install an electronic lockbox so people can see the place while you aren’t around. The electronic ones available in most areas are very good — I have yet to see one broken into — and can only be accessed by Realtors via an electronic key system. Most are programmed to allow showings only during certain hours. If you are in a situation where you cannot allow people to be in the home unattended, seriously consider waiting to list until that situation is resolved.

4. Don’t put in unreasonable requirements. You know that if you say you will sell your home to “only Good Christians” or “No Blacks”, the Federal government will kick your butt? Well, there are other requirements that are legal but still not reasonable: “must prequalify with XYZ Mortgage, no exceptions” comes to mind. Some requirements are understandable but still not fun to deal with, such as unfortunate cases where sale is subject to court approval.

5. Make it a good listing from the start. If Jane Average does a search on REMAX.com and finds 82 houses that fit her needs, what is the first thing she’s going to do? She’s going to eliminate everything that doesn’t have pictures! And if she still has 50? She’s going to cut everything that only has one picture! Then and only then, she will read the description in the comments while looking at the pictures and online tours. Which would she rather tour: “Bank Owned-Addendums required-Property sold AS-IS. Information is not guaranteed-Buyer to verify all. Spacious two story home with upgrades and pool. Vacant now, show anytime!” or “REMARKABLE, CLEAN, HIGHLY UPGRADED HOME. Energy efficient windows w/custom treatments. Wood laminate floors in entry & kitchen. EnergyStar rated appliances. Big cement patio. Master bdrm separate from other rooms. Antique custom cabinet/sink combo in bath.You will be impressed.” She probably won’t even call Joe Average over to the computer until she’s narrowed things down to 10 or so. House-hunting isn’t what it was even 10 years ago. More people are using the internet — not the newspaper — to pick a short list of homes before they ever get in a Realtor’s car.

6. Be aware that things change. A wise man once said that the only thing that doesn’t change is that everything changes. Both Realtors and their clients need to be aware that market conditions change all the time, and that their strategies must therefore adapt to the way things are, rather than the way they used to be, should be, or the way we want them to be. Prices change, desirable neighborhoods change, the “best” schools change, the kinds of property people want to buy changes, interior design changes (thank goodness). Don’t fight change; adapt to it.

Don’t make things harder than they need to be.