Are you concerned about whether you can sell your apartment if the market slows down? New research shows you how to present your apartment to buyers and end up with a win-win transaction, even if the market as a whole is going nowhere fast.

An interesting story in the Baltimore Sun this week reveals exactly what it takes to make homes sell quickly. (And in Baltimore’s soft housing market, if you don’t sell your home quickly it will sit there forever – the average time on the market is now more than three months.)

In November, about 13% of Baltimore-area homes sold within two weeks. You might think that, just by the law of averages, someone had to find the right buyer on Day One – but this wasn’t random variation. When the Baltimore Sun analyzed the data, they found the fast-selling homes weren’t unusual properties. They were typically older houses, with prices just about 1% below the citywide average. The reason they sold quickly was that the sellers were especially smart.

Here’s what the reporters learned:

Rule #1: Pay very, very close attention to comparable sales, and price your home slightly below comparables. Don’t ask for more than the market will bear. And watch out for psychological barriers like round numbers – $699,000 seems like a better value than $700,000.

Rule #2: Show your home to best advantage, both in person and in the photos you take. Make whatever cosmetic improvements you can, and get rid of the clutter.

Rule #3: Market aggressively.

It didn’t seem to matter whether the owners undertook major renovations or not. Some buyers are looking for a home in walk-in condition, while others want a chance to remake it according to their own tastes. The article gave examples of both.

What everyone wants is a good deal. As a smart seller, that’s what you can give them.

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