Ava Terry

Step 2. Set your price right and sell your own home fast.

Find the true value of your home by comparing it to similar homes recently sold in your neighborhood. In one of her best home selling tips Flatfeemlsdirect.com describes where to find recent selling prices and how to compare your house to other homes in your neighborhood.

Step 3. Good Advertising sells Homes

New low cost web sites will put multiple pictures of your house on the Internet. Use Internet ads in combination with local newspapers and neighborhood flyers. Newspaper ads and Internet ads both require headlines that grab attention, a few lines to describe key features of the home, and closing lines that get buyers to call.

A good ad grabs the reader's attention with a catchy headline. Remember what motivated you to buy your home and put it in a headline:

• A Gourmet Kitchen and More!
• Snuggle by the Fire!
• Solid as a Rock!

Step 4. Assemble a team of professionals to help you

While it's nice to think that you can handle things on your own, selling a home takes specialized knowledge. It's more than just writing up a sales agreement. Depending on what part of the country you're in you'll either need to find a real estate attorney or a title/escrow company to help with the legal details.

As a rule of thumb, if you're east of the Mississippi it's usually a real estate attorney. If you're west of the Mississippi, it's a title company. Either way they'll be an indispensable part of your home selling process. Another important partner to consider is a reputable mortgage banker/lender. They can assist in helping you prequalify buyer prospects. We'll talk more about qualifying prospects as you read on.

Step 5. Marketing your home

Every home seller likes to be assured that their listing agent or the real estate company will run ads featuring their home. Newspaper ads could be large display ads with lots of listings or small classified ads featuring just your property. Ads may also appear in local real estate magazines and your listing will also show up on the Internet.

Of course the agents and companies will run ads featuring your house, but not for the reasons you expect.

You see, the main job of advertising is not to sell your house directly. Advertising creates phone calls and some of those callers become clients of the agents answering the calls. This builds up a pool of homebuyers looking for property in general, all represented by selling agents (buyer's agents). Multiply this by all the agents and companies who also advertise homes, and there is a large pool of homebuyers in the market at any given time – all of whom are represented by selling agents.

The agents representing those homebuyers know about your home because it is listed in the Multiple Listing Service, has been on office and broker preview, and because your agent may have also sent flyers to all the local real estate offices.

The agents match up their clients with available homes, one of which may be yours. Then they show the homes to their clients, who eventually make an offer on one. That is how your house gets sold.

Ads create a pool of clients, one of which buys your home. Ads do not usually sell your house directly.

Step 6. Knowing a few, negotiating skills will get you a long way.

It's not necessary to become the next great diplomat. You will want to keep in mind that it's necessary to keep your emotions and personal feelings regarding the negotiating price of your property in check. When discussing the selling price it's important that your calculations and numbers are correct. This allows you to have greater flexibility and leverage and you can negotiate from a position of strength.

Step 7. Home inspections

All standard real estate contracts are going to give the prospective home buyer the right to inspect your property - so be prepared. Under a general inspection you are obligated to make major repairs to appliances, pluming, septic, electrical and heating systems - or the buyer may cancel the offer. The inspection will also include your property's roof, as well as a termite inspection (in some states, home sellers must provide proof that the home is termite free).

If you are concerned about how your home will fair when inspected, you may want to contact a local home inspector. They can conduct an inspection for you before a potential buyer has one done. This way, you can address the problems before a buyer stumbles upon them. Contact your lender or Loan Officer for a referral.

Step 8. Buyer appraisals and other details

The mortgage lender will order an appraisal of your home to make sure they are not paying more than the house is worth. They'll also order a land survey to make sure that the property boundaries are properly laid out. They will also order a title search to determine if there are any liens against your property. These tasks are all the responsibility of the buyer and/or their mortgage lender.

At this point too, the mortgage company will issue a loan commitment. Again, the buyer must complete all conditions listed on the mortgage commitment.

Prior to closing, you should notify your lender that you will be paying off your mortgage to find out if they will apply your escrow to your balance or mail a check. The title company can do this for you and get an approximate payoff.

Step 9. Closing the deal and selling your own home.

The day of the closing, the home buyer will do a "final walk through" of the property to make sure all agreed repairs are completed and that the home is in the same condition as when the buyer made their offer. If problems arise at this point, the closing can still take place with funds held in escrow to remedy the problem.

Closings usually occur 30 - 45 days after you have signed the sales contract. Depending on what state you reside in, you may close with an attorney, or with a title company. At the closing, all monies will be collected, any existing loans or leans will be paid, the deed will be transferred, and insurance will be issued insuring a free and clear title. The home seller will receive the proceeds of their home equity at the closing although it can take one to two business days after the closing.