As the holidays approach, home sellers are often tempted to take their homes off the market until spring―or even wait until spring to list. After all, buyers are too busy now to search for houses, right? In a word, no. As a rule, you should list your home when you want to sell it, not when you think it will sell, because no one can predict with any certainty when the right buyer might show up at your door. In fact, canceling or postponing your listing may actually prove counterproductive. Here Continue Reading

Distressed homes accounted for only eight percent of all home sales in August. Six percent of sales were foreclosures, while only two percent were short sales. This is the second straight month the number of distressed homes remained in the single digits. A year ago, distressed homes represented 12 percent of the market. And fewer distressed homes available for sale led to higher prices; foreclosures sold on average 14 percent below market value in August, compared with 20 percent in July. Short Continue Reading