Belize Real Estate  Links  
Real Estate Information

Should You Sell Your Home Yourself?


Are you thinking about selling your home? Would you like to sell it by yourself instead of hiring a real estate agent? If so it would be beneficial to review the pros and cons of selling your home by yourself before hanging out the sign.

PROS

Selling your home without an agent means More Money. If that's not an incentive, what is? By selling it yourself you save the fees or commissions (thousands of dollars) that you would have to pay an agent.

You are able to decide the times for open houses and showings as well as where you want to advertise. Because you are only selling one home - unlike an agent who is working with many buyers and sellers ? you will always be focused on the selling of your home. You will have more interest in the sale than a real estate agent who may be looking for bigger commissions elsewhere.

CONS

Real estate agents are paid good money for a reason. Selling a home takes a lot of time and energy. Open houses, dealing with potential buyers, closing sales and dealing with the legal issues are familiar turf for these people and their experience can impact the sale.

Be realistic about what you are willing to do. Will you drop everything to make a showing? Are you able to 'close the deal' and ask for an offer? It is not everyone who can take on such a big project or can handle the tension of dealing with buyers.

However, if the challenge excites you and if you are ready for hard work and willing to learn then it is not impossible for you to manage alone. With a little know-how and a lot of energy, you can sell your home without the help of a real estate agent and reap the rewards!

Where do you begin?

Start with evaluating your home. How much can you ask? What work needs to be done? How do you decide how much your house is worth without asking too much and scaring buyers off or too little and not making what you should?

How Do You Evaluate Your Home?

Choosing the right price for your home is crucial to making a sale. You risk everything if your price is too far off the current market. You don't want to discourage buyers because you are pricing too high and you don't want to throw away equity because of a low asking price.

Preparing Your Home for the Market

Now it's time to look as objectively at your own home as you did to other peoples' homes.

Your prospective buyers will be scrutinizing your home; has it been taken care of or neglected? Will there be expensive repairs or are they hiding something? Taking the time to clean up and make repairs will repay you with confident buyers anxious to make an offer on a home that has been properly taken care of.

How to Advertise Your Home

Don't worry. You've already done the hard work. Your research has been conducted, your home has been cleaned and prepared and you have all the vital information necessary to offer prospective buyers. Now you need to get the word out!

How to Show and Sell Your Home

You've done your research. You've priced your home, cleaned and freshened it up. Your sign is hung out and you've worked hard on creating an intriguing ad. You told everyone you know that you're selling your home. Now you wait for the phone to ring. How do you handle calls from buyers? What do you ask? How do you get them to come visit?

Legal Issues

Selling and buying homes requires legal paperwork. Writing contracts to sell your home is tricky business and you do need a lawyer to help you. Find one by asking for recommendations from family or friends or by looking for one in the phone book. Ask for a consultation before deciding.

This article is excerpted from our new ebook "For Sale By Owner". To download your copy, visit ebooks.sagedot.com/fsbo.html The ebook includes a seller checklist and sample legal forms.

Tim Robinson is the publisher of "For Sale By Owner".


MORE RESOURCES:

San Francisco Chronicle (blog)

Real estate firm's game ad nothing to laugh at
Chicago Tribune
Five years into the housing crisis, a national real estate firm thinks there's still a national audience of potential homebuyers just waiting for the right opportunity. The combination of home affordability and mortgage interest rates are practically ...
Real Estate's Hail Mary Sales PitchSmartmoney.com (blog)
Will 1st real estate Super Bowl ad in 20 years help boost home sales?San Francisco Chronicle (blog)
Century 21 Maintains Leadership Position in Brand Awareness SurveyRisMedia.com (press release)
ChicagoNow (blog)
all 11 news articles »


$16 house man: real estate genius or squatter?
New Zealand Herald
And while real estate experts and authorities say he's misusing the law, Robinson appears to have inspired dozens of imitators who moved into the Dallas-Fort Worth area homes - some of which were still occupied by their owners.

and more »


New York Times

Real estate is a team sport
Boston.com (blog)
Sam Schneiderman, Broker-owner of Greater Boston Home Team, discusses the importance of having a team that works together when buying or selling real estate. Whether you are buying or selling, I believe that a successful real estate transaction ...
So Eager to Get Foot in Real Estate's Door, They Work Without PayNew York Times

all 2 news articles »


Aspen real estate outgained other state resort-area markets in 2011
Aspen Times
ASPEN — A flat year for the Pitkin County real estate market in 2011 is looking good compared with the performance in Eagle County and other resort areas in Colorado. A report by Land Title Guarantee Co. shows Aspen and Pitkin County had one of the ...

and more »


Bloomberg

Real Estate: National foreclosure settlement delayed, Nevada AG concerned
Reno Gazette Journal
Ap File BY THE NUMBERS Foreclosure-related filings for 2011 for Washoe County, Nevada and the United States. Filings include notices of default, notices of sale or auction and bank-owned foreclosures. Washoe: 7981 (down 27.3 percent and 27.6 percent ...
Week ahead in real estate (Feb. 6-10)U-T San Diego
Banks Paying Homeowners a Bonus to Avoid Foreclosures: MortgagesBusinessWeek

all 493 news articles »


Montgomery County eyes hefty real estate tax jump
Roanoke Times
Demands and cuts in state funding suggest a 21-cent real estate tax rate hike. Supervisors balked. By Mike Gangloff Montgomery County supervisors braced themselves Monday for the possibility of a record increase in the county's real estate tax rate.

and more »


Zephyr Real Estate Announces Top Producers for 2011
MarketWatch (press release)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Feb 06, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Zephyr Real Estate, San Francisco's largest independent real estate firm, is proud to announce the company's top producing real estate agents for 2011. The Company Top 10, in order by highest ...

and more »


Real estate title agent to add 200
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
The parent of United Lender Services, a national real estate title and settlement agent in Findlay, has acquired two large office buildings along the Parkway West, where ULS will relocate and triple its employment to more than 250.

and more »


TEXT-S&P says European real estate should weather downside credit risks
Reuters
"We think that our macroeconomic forecast of a mild recession for the first half of the year will have a moderate effect on the operating performance of our rated Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) portfolio," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst ...

and more »


Oregon Company Attempts to Bring Real Estate Into a Mobile World
LoanSafe
by Evan Bedard on February 6, 2012 in Real Estate (Source: By Sherri Buri McDonald, The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore.) - A Eugene start-up company, RealLead is trying to bring the speed and immediacy of mobile communications to real estate shopping.
Bringing real estate into a mobile worldThe Register-Guard

all 2 news articles »

Google News

home | site map | Colorado Log Homes | Homes for Sale in Denver Metro
© 2006