“Given the level of uncertainty about short- and medium-term economic performance, it really doesn’t make sense to jump in unless you have a five-to-10-year horizon,” said Ben Feldman, 44, an independent consultant and a renter in Capitol Hill.

Feldman’s quote comes from an article in the Washington Post that fosters some serious thought for those seeking to sell homes to conventional buyers.

Home prices have proved volatile. After a steady decline from mid-2006, national average home prices climbed more than 6 percent in mid-2009, but they have dipped since then. Overall, prices are off by about a third from peak levels through March of this year.

That follows the huge run-up in prices — a 90 percent appreciation — from the beginning of 2000 to their peak in 2006, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index.

Retail buyers, who have the ability to buy, are waiting. They’re waiting because despite every optimistic message that the NAR tries to put out, the buyers aren’t falling for it one iota.

“You have to be patient,” said Mark Kiesel, global head of the corporate bond portfolio management group at Pimco. Kiesel has been renting since selling his house in 2006 and recently renewed his lease for another 18 months. “You have to stick to the fundamentals. There are more sellers than buyers — it’s that simple.”

So the fence post commercial from the NAR telling people that “now is a good time to buy” is a very weak and ineffective message for today’s buyers who are much more savvy. Dare I say, even much more savvy then those trying to sell them homes.

If you are going to be successful selling a home, well then you actually have to be proficient at err..umm…sales!

Those who have’nt returned to the market yet cite a number of reasons for staying put — cheap rents and still-declining home prices, tight credit and expiration of a popular tax credit to spur home sales, lingering unemployment and rising uncertainty about the economy.

A successful salesperson needs to know how to speak to buyers and resolve the issues that they are concerned about. It’s basic sales 101. It’s called overcoming objections.

But here’s the big problem. If you don’t know yourself what the objectives are, how are you going to become proficient in learning how to overcome them?

Realtors who don’t know how to actually sell are contributing to the further decline in home prices. With the cloudy economic outlook and tightened lending standards, buyers are concerned that the shrinking pool of eligible buyers will pull prices down further.

And no one wants to be chasing the market down. So the question is what can you do to assuage these concerns? Yes, it is your job. But more than likely you are not at all prepared to be the skilled technician that you need to be and thus perpetuating the downward spiral of prices due to complete ineffectiveness.

A prospective homebuyer quoted in the Washingtono Post article had this to say about the real estate market.

“The housing market has not bottomed yet, especially for the high end, as taxes are headed higher, credit remains extremely difficult to obtain and renting remains cheap vs. buying. Supply is still greater than demand, which means prices will likely keep falling. The only place where that’s different is the lower end, because that’s where government has come in to subsidize financing and credit.”

Ok you Realtor’s out there, how to you stand toe-to-toe with this buyer’s sentiment and provide him with information that converts him into a buyer instead of a shopper?

Now there’s a commission earner…I’d love to hear your responses but be forewarned, I’ll be looking to engage you.

Let’s have some discourse!