Selling Your Home
By Elizabeth Weintraub, About.com Guide to Home Buying / Selling
The longer a seller's home is on the market, the less attractive the home becomes to buyers. The best home selling tricks are to price it right, prepare it for sale, hire the best listing agent and attract that excited home buyer who will offer top dollar in record time.
Getting Ready to Sell
Knowing how to professionally spruce up your home is part of the battle. The other half is figuring out if you have too much furniture, the wrong type or a bad arrangement, and whether it's worth making repairs or staging your home to transform that house an irresistible and desirable showcase for potential buyers.
- Reasons for Selling
- Seller's Remorse
- Repairs Before Resale
- Selling When Divorcing
- Preparing Your Home For Sale
- Home Staging
- Interview with Staging Pro Barb Schwarz
- Preparing for an Open House
- Selling With Pets at Home
- Getting Rid of Fleas
- Selling During Holidays
- Selling in Winter
- Selling in Spring
- Protecting Privacy
- Selling Before Buying
- Measuring Square Footage
Home Pricing
How much is your home worth? Pricing a home is part art and part science. It's a combination marrying analytical statistics to emotional appeal and market movement. You do not want to overprice your home or try to "test the market." Like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, you want to price it just right.
Working With Real Estate Agents
A good real estate agent can make or break your deal. You want to hire the best real estate agent you can find, which means hiring an agent who will put your interests first, above his or her own. All agents are different. They charge varying rates, specialize in certain areas, utilize a variety of marketing techniques and possess particular skill sets, all of which sets them apart.
- Reasons to Hire an Agent
- Finding a Real Estate Agent
- Interviewing Real Estate Agents
- Choosing a Listing Agent
- Novice Real Estate Agents
- Real Estate Agents vs. Realtors
- Full-Service Real Estate Agents
- Discount Real Estate Brokers
- How Real Estate Commissions Work
- Negotiating Real Estate Commissions
- Hiring Agents When Selling and Buying
- Real Estate Agent Myths
- Guide for Working With Real Estate Agents
- Real Estate Agent Duties
- White Knight Real Estate Agents
- Firing Real Estate Agents
- Real Estate Designations
- Listing Agreements
- Length of Listing Agreements
- Closing Gifts
Marketing and Showing
Effective marketing is more than sticking a sign in the yard. Successful sellers utilize dozens of marketing techniques to draw the largest pool of buyers. When buyers show up on your doorstep, here are tips on how to create a magical experience and encourage the buyer to make a purchase offer.
- How Lockboxes Work
- Appointments or Lockboxes
- Selling By Owner
- Increasing Traffic
- Marketing Tips
- Showing Tips
Home Selling Mistakes
The first inclination that something is wrong happens when weeks go by without calls from buyers or their agents. Or when buyers don't spend more than 30 seconds inside the home before scurrying out the door. If your neighbor's homes are selling and yours is sitting on the market, here is how to correct the problem or, better yet, to avoid making selling mistakes at the beginning.
Negotiation Strategies
Sellers and buyers are often polar opposites. Buyers want to pay as little as possible and sellers want full-price offers. Somewhere in between those two extremes, sellers and buyers find middle ground or the deal doesn't happen. Here is advice on how to give sellers a clear edge in negotiations.
- Negotiating as a FSBO
- Real Estate Counter Offers
- Full-Price Counter Offers
- Lowball Offers from Buyers
- Multiple Offers
- Selling on Land Contracts
- Seller's Markets
- Buyer's Markets
- Removing Contingency to Sell
- Buying Before Selling
- Contingent Contracts
- Timing the Market
- Hot, Cold, Neutral Markets
- Commissions
- Crediting Buyer Closing Costs
Financing
In tough markets, buyers ask sellers to help finance properties. Owner financing attracts more buyers, and sellers have a variety of financing instruments to choose from. Sometimes sellers obtain home equity loans to or bridge loans to buy a new home before their existing home sells. Here are articles that cover financing options for a seller.
- Bridge Loans
- Home Equity Loans
- Reverse Mortgages
- Buying Down Mortgages
- Figuring Mortgage Loan Interest
- Owner Financing
- Installment Sale Land Contracts
- Selling on Land Contracts
- Low Appraisals
- Lease Options and Lease Purchases
- Selling Carry-back Mortgages
- Mortgage Loan Types
Home Inspections and Disclosures
Almost every home buyer will get a home inspection before committing to buy your home. You can help the process move more smoothly by preparing for the home inspector and making minor repairs beforehand. No home is perfect, not even new homes; however, buyers may offer less for a home if major defects are discovered.
