Spring Real Estate Game Plan 2026: 4 Seller Tips + 4 Buyer Strategies to Win in Today’s Market

Spring is here—and the real estate market is moving.

In this episode of the Be The Solution Podcast, Maria Quattrone shares a clear, actionable game plan for both buyers and sellers to succeed in today’s spring market.

Whether you're preparing to list your home or actively searching to buy, one thing is certain:

👉 Preparation wins.

Maria breaks down 4 essential strategies for sellers and 4 critical steps for buyers so you can move forward with clarity, confidence, and a plan that actually works.

Key Takeaways

🏡 Seller Strategy: 4 Steps to Maximize Your Sale

1️⃣ See Your Home Like a Buyer

2️⃣ Your First Price Is Your Best Price

3️⃣ First Impressions Win

4️⃣ Days on Market = Lost Leverage

🏠 Buyer Strategy: 4 Steps to Win the Deal

1️⃣ Get Fully Approved (Not Just Pre-Approved)

2️⃣ Define Non-Negotiables

3️⃣ Expand Your Search Area

4️⃣ Have Your Team Ready

👉 The buyers and sellers who win this spring are the ones who are prepared.

When you're prepared:

•  You move faster 
•  You negotiate better 
•  You feel confident 

And confidence wins.

🔥 Best Quote

Maria Quattrone:
“The buyers and sellers who show up prepared are the ones who win.” 

Connect with Maria Quattrone:
Facebook: Maria Quattrone
LinkedIn: Maria Quattrone
YouTube: Maria Quattrone
Instagram: @maria_quattrone
TikTok: mariaquattronerealestate
Website: MQrealesate.com
Office number: 215- 607-3535

Transcript

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Spring Market Reality Check

Maria Quattrone 0:02

If you want the best outcome on selling or buying a home this spring, I have four tips for you. Four buyer tips and four seller tips. Hi, my name is Maria Quatron. And we're looking at the spring market. The spring market. The spray is upon us. So spring's here and Philadelphia real estate market is moving. So whether you want to buy a home or sell one, the question is the same. Are you ready? I work in this market every single day. And today I'm going to give you four action steps so you can walk away into the spring with a real plan.

Seller Tip One: See Like Buyers

Maria Quattrone 0:55

Alright, so sellers, you getting ready your house to sell. Number one, know what you're selling. Before you even go to list, I want you to walk around your house like you are a stranger seeing your house for the very first time. Not as somebody who loves it, not as somebody who's emotionally tied to it, but seeing it as the buyer through the eyes of your potential buyer. What bothers you about your house? Because that will probably bother the new buyer too. I promise you, if you don't fix what bothers you, it's going to bother that new potential buyer. So the little stuff, fix the small stuff. You have a GCI outlet that's out, get it fixed. It's not that big of a deal. But the little things, and it's the attention to detail, the little things that are wrong make a buyer think that there are bigger problems with your house. And you definitely don't want to do that. Okay.

Seller Tip Two: Price It Right

Maria Quattrone 2:17

Number two. Number two. Your first price is your best price. Every spring I see this, sellers think, well, let's price high and then we can come down. What happens? It's the most expensive, the most expensive mistake that you can make. Because what happens is the first two weeks are the most important time when your house is listed on the market. And that's when we see the most activity. And by day 21, that activity starts to dwindle. So what does that say? That tells a buyer that one, you're test maybe just testing the market and not serious and about actually selling. And it also shows a buyer when you've reduced the price that now you're going to negotiate. So getting the price right from the get-go.

Seller Tip Three: Clean And Deodorize

Maria Quattrone 3:22

Number three, making sure that your house is completely ready to go. They step through that front door, everything is shining and sparkling and clean. I can't tell you how many people list their house and don't bother to clean it before. If you have a pretty nice home that you live in, meaning it's not a shell and not livable, get the house cleaned. First impressions. You only got one chance to make a first impression. So let's come out of the gate shiny, smelling fresh, and get rid of any kind of odors. That includes pets, food, smokes, any kind of smoke, by the way, including marijuana. Any of that. We want the house to showcase in the absolute best, best possible light. And that's showing, that may be the one showing that that's the buyer that loves your house. So you gotta be prepared for that. And always treat every showing like it's super important because we don't know which buyer is the one that's actually gonna buy.

Seller Tip Four: Days On Market

Maria Quattrone 4:42

Number four, days on market is not a seller's friend. One of the first things I talk about with clients is do you want to price your home to sell or do you want to keep it on the market for a long time? The further away from the day you list it, the further away from your asking price. You are gonna get closest to asking price in the first few weeks on the market. You go into month two, into month three, it's further and further from the original price. And it always comes down to what the buyers think. Doesn't matter what you think, doesn't matter what I think at the end of the day, it matters what they think because they're the ones that have the money and they're the ones that are bringing that money to the table to buy your house. So if you want to maximize your investment, your house, pricing it right out of the gate. Not just pricing it right, but also having a plan for launch. We have a pre-launch pre-launch process, a launch, and a post-launch. And there's all kinds of things that go into that. If you want to know more about that, you can just send me a post in the comments. You want to know more, or you can just direct message me. But I'll go through that. And it's a long and lengthy process. Too much to talk about here in just a few minutes. So launch is critical as well as it affects the days on market. So the way you launch affects the days on market.

Buyer Tip One: Full Approval First

Maria Quattrone 6:22

Now, if you're a buyer, my four tips for buyers: number one, before you tour anything, you have to get this free approval. In fact, we can set you up with a lender that's going to give you a full-blown approval. And if you have to sell your home, we can get you also approved non-contingent. So that's something that is critical, critical, critical that has to happen up the front be up front before anything else happens. Absolutely. I talked with somebody yesterday and he called about one of my listings, and he also has to have to sell. And I said, Well, how much do you have to put down? He said, Well, all the money is in my house. So we definitely need to sell that house before he can buy that house. But I connected him with my lender, Deanne, and she was able to get him non-contingent approval, so he can put that offer in without actually selling his home. He has a period of six months. So I could talk to you more about that if you want more information. So it'll be a more detailed conversation. But getting approved and not so much maybe pre-approved, but getting full-blown approval, number one thing.

Buyer Tip Two: Non Negotiables

Maria Quattrone 7:35

Number two, you gotta decide from the very beginning what your non-negotiables are. Like exactly what you absolutely have to have in your new house or in your first-time home, you have to know up front. Because those things, if a house does not have them, don't go to see the house. You don't need to. It's a waste of time, a waste of your time, a waste of seller's time, a waste of the agent's time, it's a waste of everybody's time. So make a short list, and it can't be like this long list unless you have like this really big budget. Um, and even then, the people with the biggest budget still have want to buy a house that's more than they can afford. So you make a list, and these are the things 100% you have to have. And then the next part of the list is hmm, this would be nice if we could have it. This would be nice. Number three.

Buyer Tip Three: One Ring Out

Maria Quattrone 8:29

So you have a target neighborhood. I would also consider the neighborhood surrounding that target neighborhood. You may be able to get a little better of a buy than neighborhood surrounding that neighborhood, so costs a little bit more, or maybe I mean a little bit less, or maybe maybe the house is a little bit nicer, so you have to weigh what's most important. But I would suggest targeting the area immediately surrounding, and then that also opens up more choices for you, and you're not just pigeonholed in this area. And hey, you can always decide that no, this is the area that I 100% want, and that's okay, but it it's important to look just immediately because it'll give you more choices, give you more um opportunities to see other properties, and to see if hey, you know what, maybe this will work for us, and I could see possibly in maybe a few years where this neighborhood the value is going to go up, and maybe it'll go up from a percent standpoint a little bit more than the neighborhood that you're originally targeting. So that's number three. Look one ring around your target neighborhood.

Buyer Tip Four: Build Your Team

Maria Quattrone 9:50

Number four, you gotta have your whole team ready to go. Your realtor, your home inspector, your insurance person, your mortgage person, every single person who touches that file, you need to have in place ahead of time. Because when you find that home, it's go time. You're gonna put that offer in right away, and you're gonna have to have the inspection right away. So when I work with my clients, I have all these things already lined up for them so they don't have to worry about it, but you have to have your team together and expect that the person, the guide, me, or your agent, whoever, will be the one running the show. So, do they have a strategic plan for you? Whether they're you're a buyer or a seller, do they have a strategic plan for you? And have they articulated that?

Prepared Buyers And Sellers Win

Maria Quattrone 10:49

So, in wrapping up, the buyers and sellers in this market, in our spring market, which we are in right now, who show prepared are going to win. And that is how you're gonna save money because you're going to be prepared. And when you're prepared, you're not second guessing yourself. You're rooted in what you want, you know what's happening, you feel confident, and when you feel confident, it's showtime.