Homes are selling in Central New Jersey, that’s the good news. Selling your home in this market, however, can be the challenge. Inventories are higher and prices are easing downward, but remember the first words, homes are selling.

What makes one home sell while others stay on the market? Well price is part of the answer; the rest is marketing, presentation, location and negotiation. It’s why using a Realtor© becomes important and not just any Realtor. Just as any house would sell a few years ago, any Realtor© could sell a house. Not anymore.

Whether your house is in Hillsborough, Montgomery, Franklin or anywhere else in Somerset County or the rest of Central New Jersey, getting the price right is the most important aspect of home sales these days. The other aspects can be overcome if the home is priced right (for instance, if you have high tension wires running through your back yard you know you have an obstacle to overcome, even if you personally don’t have a problem with them.) Listing at a high number in order to leave negotiating room often backfires. Buyers these days simply walk away from homes they think are priced too high, they often do not even put in an offer.

Choosing your Realtor© is very important and frankly more important than the company they work for. He/she must understand the current market. Remember, there is the greatest chance (some say as high as 95%) that your house will be sold by a Realtor© who is not your listing agent. That means that your marketing plan must be heavily weighted towards that statistic. In other words we need to market your house to the Realtors© in the area.

Next we have to realize that print media is dead when it comes to marketing. Ads in the paper and the “Real Estate Magazines” gets business for your real estate agent not for you. People look for homes on the Internet. In fact 85% of the buyers start their search there. So that is the second most important part of your marketing plan, Internet advertising.

A public open house is useful for letting the neighbors in to see the house (they might have a friend looking) but any more than that is mostly designed to get clients for your Realtors©

Finally a word on representation. Remember, you want a Realtors© who works for you. You need to understand how that Realtors© plans to represent you. The most important thing to find out is what he/she will do if he/she is the one who gets the client that wants to buy your home. Will he/she still represent just you or will he now be a dual agent, representing you both? If the answer is anything other than he/she will represent you exclusively, then do not sign the listing and call me, I will help you see why you don’t have to give up anything to sell your home. Remember, it’s all about you, not your Realtors©. After all, it's your house we are trying to sell and your money paying us to do just that.