Is it better to sell at today's market price or rent your property and wait for higher values to return before selling? This is a question that is coming up more frequently, now that values have declined from their peak. There is no one right answer to this question, but I would like to offer you an approach to this decision that might prove helpful.

Knowing your alternatives is key to make any good decision, and there almost always are alternatives. One alternative is holding the property you already own. You can think of this decision as if you were making a new investment in the property you own now at today's value. The alternatives are the other things you could do with he same money if you sold now.

When looked at this way, it's easier to overcome the disappointment of having missed the opportunity to sell at a higher price that was available in the past, and put the decision in a more productive context.

The Sonoma County Economic Development Board puts out some terrific research. Follow this link for the latest Winter Quarter Report, which features residential real estate. Business Barometer Report Winter 2007

The marketing period for active listings continues to be higher than two years ago. The marketing period spiked in January due largely to a slow pace of closed sales. The winter season is commonly a period of slower sales, so it remains to be seen if the we will see any rebounding in the market as we move into spring.

Note: We have revised our approach to gathering market statistics as of January 1, 2007 in order to present more accurate numbers. As a result numbers for 2007 and the future may not be comparable to numbers for prior periods.