It's a hard pill to swallow.  Your biggest investment, your home, has actually gone down in value instead of up.  Especially here in the Louisville, KY area, this has been a difficult reality.  For the two decades I've been selling real estate here in "Bluegrass Country", I've been able to show home sellers that they could count on between 3% - 6% yearly appreciation on their homes.  We've never seen the big peaks and valleys - just a conservative but dependable return on our home purchases.

Not so today. If you need to sell your home this year, the rules of the game have changed.   The bait you're throwing out there must be enticing enough to do much more than attract a few casual nibblers:

you need to put out enticing lures that will create a feeding frenzy of excited buyers anxious to grab up your home.

I'm not suggesting a "fire sale" price.  The message here is that you're in a competition with the guy next door, and around the corner, and across the street, and in the neighboring subdivision.  What's it take to be the "best home"?  Well, if I can drop another metaphor:  you're in a beauty contest.  Your home has to look gorgeous, smell wonderful, be dressed to the nines and send out that "you know you want me!" message. 

Gone are the days when you can just offer "allowances" such as carpet, wallpaper removal, paint, landscaping, etc.  That has never been the best idea, and in this competitive market it just doesn't work at all.  If you truly need to sell it's very important, if at all possible, to invest the time and the money to put your very best foot forward. 

So let your competitive nature break out!  Don't let the guy down the street grab up YOUR buyer!  By making sure your home is the most attractive, the most updated, the most competitively priced home in your neighborhood, you will create a sense of urgency among the pool of buyers wanting that all-important best value around.  And who knows?  You may even end up in a bidding war for your home.

Jacki and Jerry Shafer are "mega agents" with The Shafer Team and Keller Williams Realty Louisville East.  "Moving Families.  Building Friendships."