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When selling your Roanoke Valley home, the goal is usually to sell in the shortest amount of time for the highest price. It might seem like getting there is out of your control, but the truth is, there are so many things you can do right from the start that will make your home sale go smoothly.

That said, there are also some things you can do that will make the process more difficult. Here are my Top 10:

Pricing too high

I just

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Every home seller wants to get the best possible price for their property in the least amount of time. But setting a reasonable and realistic price is essential. Get it wrong and you risk your home sitting on the market or letting it go for less than it's worth.

Here are six common errors I see sometimes in the Roanoke Valley that you'll want to avoid when determining a list price for your home:

Starting too high

It might be tempting to aim for a high price when you first list, assuming you can always lower it later if there isn't a lot of interest. Unfortunately, this is often counterproductive.

Both house-hunters and Realtors actively monitor new properties listed in their local areas, and if they see your home suffer a significant discount after a few months, they're...

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While property sells at any time during the year, the spring/summer selling season is definitely the busiest time in the Roanoke Valley real estate market. But even in our market, which slightly favors sellers at the moment, selling a home can sometimes be a challenge.

Whether your home is already on the market or you're just getting started, these are four things that can cause your home sale to stall.

1. Unrealistic pricing

The top reason a home gets stuck on the market is overpricing. You know, pricing a home is a delicate task. As a listing agent, I want my client to get the very best deal possible, but I don't want to leave money on the table.

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Are you preparing your home for the spring market now that the holidays are over? That's great, but I'd like to suggest that you speed up your timeline. Here are a few reasons why:

1. Don't be fooled: There are buyers in the market.

Buyers are looking for homes because they need to make a move for different reasons — job opportunities, financial necessities, the need for more space — but rarely do they have an unlimited timeline. If they're looking for a home around the holidays or just after the first of the year, they're looking because they need to move. And even if they do have an unlimited timeline, a smart agent will advise them that conditions are right to buy now.

2. The current housing...

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While scrolling through Facebook a couple of days ago, I ran across a funny post. It was a picture of a frazzled salesman — crazy hair and disheveled clothes. I can't remember exactly what the words said, but the idea was that everyone in any kind of sales can identify with the year-end push to close deals.

I guess that's true in real estate, too. As an agent, I compete with myself each year to better my performance, and some years, it seems like a race to the finish.

But at the beginning of a new year, when we're all pledging to make fresh starts in all kinds of areas, I'm not really thinking anymore about the number of closings I had last year. What's on my mind is what each one of those closings represented to the person or family I sat with at the closing table and what I learned that will help m...

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