Buyers sometimes come from outside our area, and if they are from an area where real estate is priced substantially higher, they might over pay for a property.  Such luck should happen to you, but the reality is that buyers are getting very well educated these days, and they are learning to negotiate hard.  The Internet has become a very powerful tool educating both buyers and sellers, evidenced by you reading this. 

Buyers are able to view many  homes on the Internet and compare features and prices.  By the time a buyer looks at your home, most of the time, they have looked at hundreds homes on the Internet, and physically viewed a dozen or more homes in your market. The better you know the market, the better you will be prepared to negotiate the sale. 

Knowing the market involves knowing several critical components to getting your house sold.  It will be helpful to know:

1. the fair market values of comparable houses;
2. the differences between those comps and your house in great detail;
3. how and why you have adjusted the comp prices to arrive at your price;
   
4. the shortcomings or negatives of your home--objectively;
5. considering all of this, how your home looks on the market to prospective buyers;
6. how to stage your home;
7. the market timing or the "when" of selling your home.
   

WHEN you put your home on the market is a very important decision.  First, the market might be in a correction mode, so it could be the worst time. Second, the season or time of the year can be disadvantageous.  Third, annual events often create the best and the not-so-good times to put a house on the market, like school starting at the end of August. There are many things that effect timing decisions. You will want to be aware of these, because wrong timing can mean the house does not sell within a reasonable period of time, or it could mean you take a substantial cut on the price.  Ouch!

Here's a snapshot of the residential housing market in Sequim and Port Angeles for the past five years (from data I compiled from our Olympic Listing Service):

Clearly the market has slowed down recently, and that reverberates throughout the market.

You would also benefit from having a written comprehensive plan.  Do you know what you are going to do, and do you know when you are going to do it between now and closing? Chaos is not in your best interest when it comes to selling your home with so much money at stake. Write a good and thorough plan, including the contact information of key professionals you will involve, such as the title company, the escrow officer, inspector, loan officer, and so on.