How To Sell Your Own House
By Raynor James, Fri Dec 9th
With a robust real estate market, selling a house isn'tparticularly difficult. Here's a primer on how to sell your ownhouse.
How To Sell Your Own House
First and foremost, you need to educate yourself on how realestate transactions happen. There are online guides and plentyof books on the subject at your local bookstore. When youdecided to sell your own house, you are considered a FSBO seller[For Sale By Owner]. This FSBO market is growing like mad, whichmeans you can find form contracts and agreements ready made foryour particular state.
A second thing to
realize is real estate laws are generallygoverned by states, not the federal government. This means theparticulars of real estate transactions in your state may bedifferent from those in another state. You should look forreferences related to your state, not nation wide advice.Nonetheless, here are a few universal pointers.
1. Determine the price of comparable homes in your neighborhood.This is going to give you a very good idea of what you can askfor your house when you put it on the market.
2. Objectively look at your home and make a list of things thatneed to be fixed. Selling a house often comes down to thedetails. Buyers are making a big investment, so they are goingto be very picky about little things.
3. List your house online with photographs at a site likeFsboAmerica.org.
4. Post flyers or ads in your local property listings magazines.
5. Put a sign on your lawn indicating you are selling.
6. On the sign post, put a box with flyers describing your homeand the asking price.
7. Hold open houses for buyers to view your house.
8. Clean your house before all open houses. Add fragrant flowersto rooms, mow the lawn and so on.
9. Get rid of your junk through a garage sale and the trash.This includes cleaning out the garage and basement. Everythingshould be pristine.
10. Create a documented record of all the improvements you'vemade to the home to show potential buyers.
11. Become conversant in the offer, counteroffer process.
12. Develop a clear understanding of what happens during closingand make sure you'll be able to take care of your part.
13. Figure out what you plan to do when you sell the house, towit, are you going to buy another house and when will you move?
While these guidelines will take you a long way, it is importantyou understand the specific laws of your state. Once you havethose down, the process typically goes fairly smoothly.Considering you'll save thousands or tens of thousands ofdollars in real estate commissions, any bumps in the road willbe more than worth it.
About the author:Raynor James is with the FSBO site - http://www.fsboamerica.org- FSBO homes For Sale By Owner. Visit our "sell my home" page -http://www.fsboamerica.org/seller.cfm - to sell your houseyourself with a free 1 month listing.
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