When does the peak of the market come? Unfortunately, we never know until we start to slide down the other side. The same is, of course, true of the bottom of the market. Until prices start to climb and demand for properties increases, we don’t recognize that the bottom of the market has come and gone.

Pricing your home for sale when the market is starting to shift from a high can be tricky. When inventory is low, demand is high, and every new property for sale is flying off the shelf with multiple offers, it can seem as though you can’t go far wrong with pricing. Under these circumstances, there is an opportunity to push your listing price as far as you can and hope that someone will offer you your number.

But, once the market starts to decline, once open house activity starts to slow down, once we start to see price reductions occurring daily, then pricing requires a much more sophisticated approach.

The market doesn’t shift overnight, nor does it shift in all price points or across all neighborhoods. What tends to happen is more of a “fraying around the edges.” Those properties that perhaps have some challenge or other–an un-renovated kitchen, a less than perfect location, an unusual layout, one bedroom too few, and so on–are the properties that start to feel the shift first.

As that fraying of the edges starts to happen, it is essential to work with a real estate agent who recognizes the signs of a shifting market, an agent who has worked through market undulations before, and an agent who is going to give you honest and intelligent advice about how to price your home to sell.