The motivation for selling is a key factor. Are you commuting to work several hours a day and the commute is killing you? Are your children grown and your home is now too big, in addition to being a burden to maintain? Is your home too small? Have you taken a job out of the area? Can you no longer afford to own your home? Or do you no longer want to pay the price it costs to own your home?

These are all good reasons for considering making a move. Not only do current market conditions enter into the equation, but making a move like this is usually more complicated than it was the first time you bought a home.

HOUSE HUNTING TIP: First, you need to find out the probable sale price of your home and access the state of the current home-sale market in your area. You also need to know what you can do to maximize the salability of your home. Then you should consider where you’ll live next and how much that will cost.

If you don’t already have one, find an experienced real estate agent who specializes in your area. Friends whose opinion you trust are the best source of agent referrals. Meet with your agent at your home and ask for a comparative market analysis. This will give you information about what homes like yours have been selling for in the current market.

You’ll also want to know how long you can expect it to take to sell your home. How many homes like yours have sold recently? Are homes like yours in high demand? Or, is it located in a less desirable area that could mean a longer marketing time and, perhaps, a lower price than you were expecting?

Ask your agent to walk through your home with you and point out what should be done to make your home marketable. Homes that sell today are priced right for the market and are in move-in condition.

You want to make cost-effective improvements. If the kitchen and bathrooms are outdated, consider a cosmetic redo. Update paint, hardware, light fixtures and floor coverings, if necessary. Don’t do a complete remodel unless you plan to stay in your home for years; otherwise, you won’t recoup your investment.

Deciding where to move — and when — can be difficult. Some buyers can afford to buy a new home before selling, and prefer to make the move that way. Most repeat buyers can’t afford to buy first. Others who can won’t buy first due to market uncertainty and the stress of owning two homes at once.

The most prudent approach to making a move from one home to another is to sell first and rent if necessary until you find the right home to buy. By selling first, you will know exactly how much money you have to apply to a new home. Today’s housing market is volatile. A dip in the market could shave tens of thousands of dollars, or more, off your selling price.

The other benefit of renting before buying is that you’re under no pressure to buy the first listing you see. Interest rates are low and are expected to stay low through 2012. Prices are also low and aren’t expected to move up much for the next several years.

THE CLOSING: This gives you time to find the home that will suit you for the long term.

Dian Hymer, a real estate broker with more than 30 years’ experience, is a nationally syndicated real estate columnist and author of “House Hunting: The Take-Along Workbook for Home Buyers” and “Starting Out, The Complete Home Buyer’s Guide.”

We’re anticipating the seasonally adjusted month-over-month change from November to December will be -0.6% and -0.5% for the 10- and 20-City Composite Home Price Indices, respectively.

“As we mentioned last time, the Case-Shiller indices are experiencing the bulk of 2011 home price depreciation in the last quarter of the year contrary to the trend displayed by the Zillow Home Value Index, where the pace of depreciation has slowed since the start of this year with only December showing a significant pick-up in the depreciation rate,” said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. “While home values are expected to fall further in 2012 with a definitive bottom probably a year away, home sales are expected to pick up pace in 2012 stabilizing home prices across the nation.”

The full forecast and further commentary can be found on the Zillow Real Estate Research page.

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing market index, which measures homebuilders general view of the market, rose to a score of 29.

While that score is up from 25 the previous month, it is still far below 50, which generally indicates more builders view market conditions as good rather than poor.

“Builder confidence has doubled since September,” NAHB Chairman Barry Rutenberg said. “Given the recent improvements in new home starts and the increasing number of markets included in the NAHB/First American Improving Markets Index, this consistency suggests that the housing market is moving toward more sustainable growth.”

Rutenberg asserted that all housing-market dynamics are local and he advised policymakers to steer clear of solutions that could impede quality lending and growth.

kpanchuk@housingwire.com

America’s most lovable features

While there’s a small difference in what they love the most, our recent survey showed both men and women agree on which top features make them fall in love with a home.

When we asked first-time home buyers “which home amenity would make you, personally, fall in love with a home?,” here were the top answers:

Amenities All Respondents Men Women

Master Bathroom 70% 64% 75%
Walk-in Closet 63% 55% 72%
Gourmet Kitchen 56% 51% 62%
Outdoor Deck 55% 51% 58%
Wood Floors 50% 46% 53%
Pre-wired for entertainment system (e.g., home theater, surround sound) 35% 42% 28%
Pool 27% 27% 26%
Hot Tub 24% 26% 22%
Other 15% 15% 15%

The big feature conflict

While men and women agree that the master bath, walk-in closet and gourmet kitchen are top priorities when it comes to finding their dream home, not all features are created equal. Among the top features, women and men each showed they had a little more love for a few key features at the top of the list:

What women love (more than men):

Master Baths
Walk in Closets
Gourmet Kitchens

Favorites men love (more than women):

Pre-Wiring for Entertainment System
Pool
Hot tub

What the data means for agents

For buyer’s agents, be sure to send and highlight these key motivating features when selecting and showing homes to first-time buyers. For agents with listings, make sure you highlight these features in your listing description.

Garlic: planting garlic in your garden helps get rid of onion flies, red spider mites and borers. Juiced and diluted garlic sprayed on plants helps repel rabbits and mosquitoes

Onions or leaks: juiced and diluted with water, they repel soft body and flying insects when sprayed on plants

Coffee Grinds: plant the used grounds around your crops and the acidity will help keep insects out

Crushed eggs shells and sea salt: eliminates slugs and snails when placed around your garden

Many agents mistakenly think their open house details are automatically updated from one site to the next, but it’s essential to make sure your open house times are updated on Trulia and other popular sites. With nearly 30% of Trulia’s weekend traffic coming from mobile, you’ll want to be sure your listing appears on buyer’s devices when they are out and about. Trulia’s open home calendar makes it a cinch to keep your open homes updated on the site.
2. Invite the Likers on Facebook

It only takes minutes to set up a Facebook Event for your Open house. Make sure you include property photos and selling details on the event page that will make people want to see your home. See Facebook.com/events and click “Create Event” to get started. Once you have set up the event, you can advertise it on your Facebook Business Page. Be careful not to spam your entire network with your open house events or you may find yourself quickly losing friends.
3. Tell Craig

Home searchers often frequent Craigslist.org to find open houses in their area. Marketing your open house on Craigslist is another simple way to spread the word online. Make sure your event stands out. , and add photos or upload your online ad or flyer for the property to add to your post’s appeal.
4. Attract the Lookie Loos with FourSquare

Encourage your attendees to check-in on FourSquare while at your open house. This lets everyone in their networks know they are at an open house so you can expand your event’s reach. Offer a gift for people who check in , like a scratch off lottery ticket, or a Starbuck’s gift card. Let people know you will have a gift for attendees that check in when you are marketing the event. Print a flyer and remind your visitors to check in for a chance to win.
5. Shout all about It

Ok, don’t really shout, but do talk about your open house on social networks. Minor modifications to your message will help you talk about it without being a turn-off. Try this, “Baking cookies to bring to my open house at 123 Main St today” or “Bummer it’s raining, I have my towels packed to protect the carpets for the buyers who brave the weather and come to my open house at 123 Main St this afternoon”. Tweet on Twitter, Post on Facebook, Update on Google+, Pin on Pintrest, wherever you are – spread the word!

According to a recent survey by Trulia, 1 in 3 women and almost 20% of men prefer to date homeowners, while only 2% of Americans prefer to date renters. Is it stability? Financial prowess? The ability to say, “Let’s have a drink at my place” and really mean it? Who knows? But percentages don’t lie.

And if you still live with your parents, you better get out of there fast. Turns out only 6% of men and 4% of women are willing to date someone living with their parents. This probably comes as no surprise.

But what will surprise you is that men find the idea of cohabitating to save money more attractive than women — by almost a 10% margin. Nearly 80% of men are in favor of the idea, while about 70% of women are ready to throw in the towel and make the commitment. These are higher percentages than ever before, probably because everyone is equally broke right now.

Trulia also released some stats on what makes men and women fall in love with homes. The usual stereotypes are present in the survey: women look for great master-bathrooms, walk-in closets and gourmet kitchens, while men focus more on home entertainment systems. Pools were a virtual tie (though lower than one might expect at around 26%), while men liked hot tubs 4% more than women.

Interestingly enough, women were more likely to be tipped by a wooden deck than men, as 58% of women wanted a walkable patio space, while 51% of men did. I guess half of the surveyed men are cool with charring their meat outdoors, even if its on the lawn.

If you are looking for more insightful tips, not to fear, this is just a sneak peak. Trulia will release the full results on Monday.

But for now, if you are a guy looking to attract a woman for the long term, you should buy a home — preferably with a spacious walk-in closet, a luxurious master-bathroom, stainless steel appliances and ample ‘thin’ mirrors. If you are a woman looking for a man, invest in a state of the art surround sound and a hot tub. And even if it doesn’t end up working out, you’ll at least have increased the resale value of your house.

I think I see cupid peeking out from behind that for sale sign.

Related: San Diego MLS fights for Zillow, Trulia exposure

The big “if” is whether third-party syndicators including Point2 and ListHub decide to pull in and disseminate the data from Sandicor, the region’s MLS. That’s important because the big real estate search sites use those syndicators. I’ve learned that Point2 officials plan to work with Sandicor, while ListHub’s won’t, at least not right now.

Update 6:19 a.m. Thursday Feb. 9: I’m getting mixed signals from the officials at ListHub (owned by Realtor.com) about whether they are pulling in the extra field from Sandicor, or not. Stay tuned. I’ll get this squared away ASAP.

So what did folks across the web say about Sandicor’s recent decision to try to take more control of its data?

Here’s a sample. (Note: All of these bloggers also weighed in when a local real estate brokerage decided to cut ties with Zillow and Trulia):

…Right now I am standing on my chair and offering a personal round of applause. This was bold and rather creative. Maybe it’s not “No more syndication. Period!” uber-bold, but I can think of about forty reasons why it was a smart middle-ground approach to take. I can start with the simple argument that not all of Sandicor’s subscribing agents and brokers are on my side of the syndication argument and, while I might lack polital acumen, they must be political; I could end with the idea that our MLS would probably have a hard time defending a position of telling us where and with whom we can and can’t advertise our listings.

-From Kris Berg, co-owner of San Diego Castles Realty.

I’m sure this is welcome news for listing agents often frustrated to have listings appear on 3rd party sites appear to be owned by other agents. From a buyer’s agent (selling agent) perspective the news is not as good. The 3rd party sites will likely spend more time getting listing agents to upgrade the listing.

Jeffrey Douglass, owner of San Diego-based RealtyV2.com.

While I am not one to believe that we need to wrest all control and display of listing data away from third-party sites, I don’t see anything wrong with including additional information about the listing brokerage. BUT, if you are a home buyer, think about why you’d want to work with the home seller’s agent. The seller’s agent has THEIR best interest in mind, not yours. If you are buying a home, work with a buyer’s agent that will have YOUR best interests in mind.