The first few weeks after a home hits the market are often busy ones. Buyers who have been watching the market -- sometimes for months -- finally have something new to look at. These buyers will schedule showings quickly. And pretty soon, the showing activity (or lack thereof) and offers (or lack thereof) will either confirm that the home and it's price are appropriately positioned in the market... or not.

Within the first few weeks, the market will have given you (as a seller) direct and important feedback about your home.

Every buyer who was going to be drawn to your home has made a decision. They've either walked through it and decided to make an offer, walked through it and decided not to make an offer, or have decided to not even walk through it.  

If showings slow dramatically after those first few weeks, the question often shouldn't be "should we wait a little longer?" but rather "are we priced where we need to be?" Waiting for a new wave of buyers to discover the home can be a long wait.  Most active buyers have already seen your home and didn't feel compelled to act.

The good news is this: the feedback comes quickly in the current market, and it is very direct and honest. If a home is sitting after two or three weeks with very little activity, that's extremely helpful feedback.

So what do we do with it?

Sometimes the answer is pricing. Sometimes it's presentation. Occasionally, it really is just timing.  But after the first few weeks, we should be talking through all of these possibilities and determining a game plan.