Sellers. time to get ready.

Buyers have arrived. Make sure you, as a seller, are ready.

If you need to sell for one of the following reasons, be prepared:

• You are transferred and "must sell."
• You want to "scale down" to a smaller place or move up to a larger place because you know that if you "sell low," then you can "buy low."
• Illness or financial reasons are forcing you to sell.

If you are "testing the market," do not sell now. Only serious sellers should be in this market.
You have heard it before. We are in a buyers' market, and if you are the seller, unfortunately, you are not in control. A motivated seller must do several things to market his or her home.

Price it right: Most important is price.

This, very obviously, is a price-driven market. Sellers need to make sure that their home is competitively priced. One must keep abreast of all sales and all listings that are comparable.
Don't be fooled by "overpriced" listings. We all would like to believe that our home is worth much more than our neighbor's home. Of course, it is to us . . . but probably not to today's buyer.

Get a reality check if you want to sell.

Sales price determines value, unless list price is less than the most recent sales. If so, then the low-priced listing now has become your neighborhood "benchmark."

Make it look good: Now that you are priced right, how does your home look to the buyer?

First impressions: Your front yard -- is it manicured?

Freshly painted on both the exterior and interior of your home?

Sparkling-clean from the front door and throughout the entire house?

And what about that purple bedroom? Paint it beige.

If you answered "yes," and you have neutralized the coloring of your home, you could be one of the buyer's top three choices.

• Make it easy to show: We've established a competitive price, the home is freshly painted and sparkling clean, but we are inconvenienced by the showings from Realtors. If you make this home difficult to show, it will not sell. Sometimes, an agent shows 10 homes in one day, and proceeds to show the buyer (who wants to see everything out there) 10 more homes for the next five or seven days. Yes, the Realtor may run late or early, but he/she is trying to please the buyer, so this buyer will buy. And if you make your home too difficult to show, there are many others that will make it easy for the agent. Stay in the running. Make it easy to show.
• Getting the offer: When it comes to the offer, this is a stressful time. Buyers are making very low offers, but if they try the offers on the top three, and none negotiate to 25 percent off the list price, then the buyer comes back to his/her first choice, and gets the message that maybe the homes are "priced right."
• Don't get your hopes up. The buyer is not going to pay list price unless you are way below the market, or unless you have all of the features and exact taste of the buyer. That is, this buyer could move in and bring furniture that looks like it was made for your home.
  You, then, have found the perfect buyer. Most buyers are beginning to settle on 10 percent off of the list price if the home is priced correctly.
• Financing and inspections: Do not think your home is sold until after the buyer has had the home inspected and accepted the inspection results. Then, you are getting close. Financing is the most important part of this transaction. We would all like the cash buyer. There are some, but not that many.

The seller should ask for a pre-approval letter from a local lender. But it is still not a sure thing.
Lenders are getting very particular. A full-loan commitment is a must before closing can take place. Do not move out of your home until your agent has reported the good news. Monitoring the loan process is of the utmost importance. Even with a loan commitment, the deal can fall.

Some lenders, in this changing market, can come back and ask for more information or actually deny the loan or change the terms on the buyer. If the buyer is marginal, make sure you have a good, conservative agent to guide you in your move and closing of this very important transaction. Closing papers have been reviewed and approved then.

Next, the cashier's check is given to the closing agent, the wire transfer from the lender has been received. The closing agent hands you your check. Now, breathe easy. You are closed.