Foreclosures are popping up everywhere. In Atlanta, it is reported that 1 out of 5 homes are foreclosed properties. Neighborhoods are suffering in both depreciation of homes as well as emotional suffering. However, this is just a state of mind. To compete with foreclosed homes is very easy when you know what to do and keep your thoughts and focus on the end of the mission; selling the home.

Foreclosed properties are easy to compete with in the fall and winter because they are often kept cold and they are vacant. Cold homes do not allow buyers to stay in the home to get emotional about the home. Vacant homes lack the warmth of a well planned sale full of furniture and vacant homes show every mark in the wall and floor.

Foreclosed properties in the spring and summer lack the extra touches to the front and back lawn, the flowers on the porch and the deck or patio table set with a full place-set table that leads the buyer to the lifestyle of what the home could be for their family. And just in the fall and winter, these homes are vacant with no warmth from carefully placed furniture as a result of a professional stager or a wise homeowner.

Music, smells, lights on and often just the feel of a loved home are just some of the reasons that buyers state that they felt good enough to make the plunge in an investment of a home. Also, don't discount Staging that has made a huge sweep in the United States and is not considered a career. Stagers are making a huge impact in the real estate marketing by make a home a product that not only sells at a higher price, it remarkably makes a home sell quicker than their neighbors.

One other thought about foreclosures is that a lot of investors are purchasing these homes, upgrading them and then putting them on the market for a profit. Perhaps your neighborhood could use a lift in rehabbed homes and higher values. Although the short-term may look bleak, the long term could payoff for you and your neighbors.