An aggressive marketing plan which includes a high level of internet marketing is essential to obtain the highest price possible for a house. Every buyer that is looking for a home in an area and price range should be aware that house is for sale. However, it takes more than just marketing to sell a house today.

In today's market, the most critical component to selling a house is accurate pricing. Sellers must be realistic in pricing their home and Realtors must give an honest professional opinion and prepare a comparative market analysis reflective of today's market. The days of pricing a house unrealistically high and waiting for the market to catch up to the price are gone.

As a Realtor, I find it very important to be very forthcoming with sellers that work with me. It would be a grave disservice to feed into their unrealistic hopes and dreams of selling for record breaking prices. A genuine seller is selling their house so that they can move to the next phase of their life. If they are in a house that is not selling, they are unable to move forward in life. Worse yet, a seller may be carrying two mortgages and the money that they had planned on using for updating their new home is being depleted, ultimately reducing their happiness and quality of their new home.

Most sellers that have purchased their house 3 years ago or more will probably still realize a high return on their investment. Unfortunately, sellers look at what they could have sold for at the height of the market and then start calculating down from there as a loss. In my service area on the North Shore of Long Island, which includes Great Neck, Manhasset, Port Washington, North Hills and Roslyn, sale prices have come down approximately 10% yet asking prices have slightly increased. This statistic is indicative of the stalemate that many buyers and sellers are facing today.

Sellers should recognize that although they may not be selling at the height of the market, they are still selling in a high market. If a seller is also purchasing a new home that is worth more than the one they are selling, they are saving more than they probably would have earned if they sold in the height of the market. For example, if the real estate market depreciated by 10%, a $500,000 home would be worth $450,000 ($50,000 less). However, if that seller purchases a $1,000,000 home in the same market, they would purchase it for $900,000 ($100,000 less). As I have said many times before this is a great time to be a buyer, especially if you are purchasing up in a downward market!

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