My mantra in 2009:

"In today's market, you are either ahead of the market or chasing it."

I feel like a broken records. I say this to my buyers when they ask "How did that home sell in 3 days?" or "Why is this still on the market after 300+ days?". It's simple, "Exceed the market or chase it".

It occurred to me recently just how very much I learn from successful agents in other real estate markets through professional organizations. Even further, each time I come back from any training event, I put together a plan for implementation.

One of my goals after a January Cyberstars Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona was to KNOW the statistics in the St. Louis Market....know them verbatim and better than anyone else in our market. If I'm going to be the expert for my clients, I better truly KNOW our market. I rarely come across an agent in the St. Louis area that know what is selling and where.

Here are stats on the St. Louis market YTD:

January 2009 Market Performance:

St. Louis County

• Listings:
  Average Days on Market: 133 Days (Active)
  Average Days on Market: 92 Days (Sold)

St. Charles County

• Listings:
  Average Days on Market: 157 Days (Active)
  Average Days on Market: 97 Days (Sold)

Homes that are well prepared are SELLING and outperforming the market averages.