You may not have noticed it, but the real estate market is on the mend. We have had six straight months of consistently increasing pending numbers.

This is a sure sign that people are becoming confident about buying real estate again. Not only that, but recovery is on the way for the higher-end market as well.

The higher-end market was definitely hit the hardest by the recession. Now that the lower-end market is recovering so strongly, it’s going to do what it always does—create a positive trickle-up effect.

This is why it’s so important for you to know your facts. I cannot tell you how many agents I talk to weekly who moan and groan and whine about the market. I always tell them the same thing:

Get up. Get to your office. Get on the MLS. Do your research. FIND the market.

The truth is that there are many markets that are extremely active.

Maybe you have to stop thinking about selling something different than what you’re used to selling. Maybe you need to sit at an Open House at a lower price range. Maybe you need to find the most active price points, styles, or locations.

With market recovery comes opportunity. You need to be ready for that opportunity. It’s time for you to be out there finding new and creative ways to be a real estate agent—not just the “same-old-same-old” of placing boring ads and waiting for the phone to ring. That strategy doesn’t work anymore.

You need to wake up, get out there, and figure it out. The answer for you is going to be a different answer than for another agent. There is no “one size fits all” solution.

Don’t believe the market is recovering? Then, consider the truth about short sales. They’re on the decline. That’s a sure sign that the overall market is on the mend.

It’s very simple math. When short sales go up, that means the market is going down. When short sales go down, that means the market is going up.

People stop doing short sales because they see the light at the end of the tunnel. They can sense the market is returning and their confidence grows. This is a very good sign of recovery—and it’s happening now.

Remember the rules. When pendings are up, buyers are buying. When short sales are down, there is more consumer confidence. All of this points to one very important fact:

The real estate market is back!

So get back in the game.

Get out there.

Find your market.

By Denise Lones CSP, M.I.R.M.