Gimmicks to attract attention fool few agents and buyers

It's no fun to have your home on the market, particularly if it's not selling. Some Sellers get so fed up with the process that they remove their listing from the market temporarily. Is this an effective marketing strategy?

In most cases, the answer is no. If you're truly motivated to sell, you should keep your property on the market until it sells. It's hard to predict exactly when the right Buyer will come along. But, it's unlikely that the right Buyer will find your property if it's not on the market. A property that can't be shown can't be sold.

Sellers with unrealistic expectations about the value of their home are a different story. It's easy to understand how homeowners today might think their properties are worth a lot more than the current market will bear. There are plenty of stories about Sellers who sold last year and realized huge unanticipated profits.

The market has changed. Buyers are more cautious than they were a year ago. If you only want to sell if someone is willing to pay you more than current market value, you should do yourself and prospective Buyers a favor and remove your property from the market.

Sellers who temporarily withdraw their property from the market often do so because they assume, or hope, that the market will improve. It's unlikely, however, that the real estate market will change significantly within a short period of time. In fact, this strategy could backfire. If the market softens, you could end up selling for less later than you would if you had kept your house on the market.

FIRST-TIME SELLER TIP: Some Sellers take their homes off the market for a while because their Agents recommend that they do so. Many Agents believe that fall and winter are not the best times to sell a Muskoka property. Spring is typically thought to be the best season for Muskoka waterfront property sales. This is usually true, but our own experience is that people buy waterfront properties all year long.

The bottom line is that you can sell a waterfront property any time of year, if it's available to be shown and priced right for the market. Before you take your property off the market, make sure that you're asking the right price. Have your Agent complete a new Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) for you. The Comparative Market Analysis that your agent prepared for you before you listed your property for sale may be out of date.

Find out what has sold since you came on the market. How were these properties priced in comparison to yours? How long did it take for these listings to sell? If the real estate market is slowing in your area, listings will take longer to sell than was the case last year.

Some Agents suggest that their Sellers remove their listings from the market briefly each time they reduce the price. The Agent then brings the listing back on the market as a new listing.Would you be fooled by this trick?