Livingston sellers: price it right and it's gone in three weeks.

If you are thinking about selling in Livingston County, this post is worth reading with your coffee. Prices are up, homes are moving fast, and the difference between a fast sale and a slow one is almost always the price on day one. The September numbers make that case better than I ever could in a listing presentation.

The numbers favor sellers, decisively

The median sale price in Livingston County was $436,655 in September, up 6.5 percent from a year ago, and the year-to-date median of $435,000 is up 3.8 percent. Homes sold in 22 days on average, down 38.9 percent, which means the typical Livingston home is closing more than three weeks faster than it was a year ago. Sellers collected 99.3 percent of list price. By any definition, that is a seller's market.

The edge belongs to the priced-right home

Here is the part the headline numbers miss. With just 2.5 months of supply, Livingston buyers do not have many options, so the moment a fairly priced home hits the market it is gone before the weekend. The overpriced home does the opposite: it sits, it misses the first wave of buyers, and every week it lingers tells the next buyer it is negotiable. Momentum is the whole game in a 22-day market.

Three ways to win the fast sale

• Price to the most recent closed sales in your actual neighborhood, not last spring's best guess.
• Prep for the first two weeks. That is when the overwhelming majority of your showings will happen.
• If the first offer sits slightly below your number, respond with movement, not silence. In a three-week market, the second offer is not guaranteed.

"In a market this tight, the risk is not pricing too low. The risk is pricing against momentum, and losing it."

Nicole Elizabeth Yaeger