So I'm on the way home from Inman Real Estate Connect, a real estate and technology conference I was attending in New York City this week.  Lots of great sessions on, well....I am sure you can guess, the state of the real estate market and how to utilize new technology to improve real estate services and marketing. 

There are two major differences between homes that sell in this market and homes that don't: correct pricing and proper staging.

Neither is more important than the other, and both play key roles.  They are dance partners who must be in sync for a sale to take place (not that I know much about dancing!).  I'll give you a classic example that recently took place.  In early spring, my business partner and I met with clients who had their condo in the Back Bay on the market for nearly 4 months with no success when they called us for help.  The asking price had started at $695,000 and had been lowered a few times over the 4 month listing period, eventually to $649,000.  Their condo should have been able to sell at that price, so they thought.  Still no buyers emerged. 

We went in to meet with the owners, Alma Dell and Lyle, and actually agreed with them.  Their property should sell at that price and we even suggested it could even sell for more.  But the current problems were two-fold.  The price was too high from the beginning, eating up market time and not creating an atmosphere in which buyers felt they needed to act quickly.  The other issue was how it showed.  Since the property was mainly used as a home office, it was configured that way.  The bedrooms were used for desks and books and chairs, the living room was functional but sparse, etc.  Buyers did not see it as a home.