Home Selling Tips for Sell-It-Yourself Owners

Imagine selling your home within two weeks of listing your home, at your asking price -- without paying a commission. It's not only possible, it's practically guaranteed if you play your cards right and follow these home-selling tips.

Home Selling Tip #1: Research All Your Options

Even if you've decided to sell your house yourself, you've got a multitude of options. Where you advertise, how you advertise, how you prepare your house, how much you ask for it - all those things require research to be sure that you're getting your best possible deal. Some avenues to pursue include a flat-fee MLS listing, advertising in local newspapers, and posting your house for sale on an FSBO (for sale by owner) web site like www.fsbon.com.

Home Selling Tip #2: Price Your House Right

If there were one number one home selling tip, this one would be it.
Your asking price on your house will be one of the first things that prospective buyers look at - you don't want them to rule your house right out of the ballpark. For your fastest sale at the highest possible profit, set your asking price within 10% of the average price in your neighborhood. Finding that out takes a little research. You can interview Realtors or look through recently sold listings. The Internet makes it even easier. There are a number of web sites (www.housevalue.com, www.homegain.com) where you can look up the average selling price of recently sold houses in your zip code and neighborhood. Start with that figure and go up or down according to your home's condition.

Home Selling Tip #3: Before You List: Clean Up Your Act

Want to up that asking price to the high end of your neighborhood bracket? Take a week or two to do some serious face-lifting. The better your house looks, the more appealing it will be to buyers. The more appealing it is at first glance, the more likely it is that you'll get an offer fast.

For a quick cleanup with maximum effect, try these tasks:

Rake and manicure lawns and yards. Keep grass mowed, shrubs trimmed and paths swept and clean. If you can't repaint your house, give it a good wash with a high-pressure hose. Use flower power to your benefit.
Flowers are an amazingly simple way to perk up the appearance of any home.

Inside, de-clutter and depersonalize. Improvements that will pay off, especially if you can do them yourself: modernizing bathroom fittings, repainting the kitchen, and putting new carpeting in the living room. Once the house is stripped to the bare, clean essentials, fill in bare spots with impersonal decor - flower arrangements or matching lamps, for instance.

Home Selling Tip #4: Take Advantage of ALL the Benefits Offered By An
FSBO Web Site

When you're ready to list your house, choose an FSBO web site that offers you extras like Virtual Home Tours (www.fiftystatesfsbo.com has a great sample), free professional signs, and partner listings with other FSBO sites.

Home Selling Tip #5: Learn How to Write a Killer Ad

Your classified home selling ad is one of your most powerful home selling tools. Learn to write an ad that will sell your home FOR you. Use descriptive words with positive connotations - 'cozy' instead of 'small', for instance. Aim headlines at the right market - 'Summer on the Lake, Winter by the Fire' will immediately draw attention. You can find more great home selling tips online (www.fsbotips.com) or through a sell your house fast course.