1. Choose an agent to help you sell your home, or decide to put it on the market as 'For Sale By Owner' (FSBO).

2. Set the price for your home. Talk to an agent or study the sale prices of comparable homes in your neighborhood (usually listed in local news-papers) to get an idea of what your home is worth. Visit open homes to get an idea of value, and contact a title company or real estate company to learn about final selling prices.

3. Get inspections completed and make necessary repairs to your home.

4. Prepare your home to be shown. Clean it thoroughly, get rid of clutter and tidy up the yard (see "eHow to Get Your Home Ready to Sell').

5. Show your home at an open house and make it available to be shown also by appointment.

6. Ask a mortgage broker to provide free financial flyers for potential buyers.

7. Consider offers and evaluate contracts.

8. Accept an offer.

 

If only it were that easy!

 

Sold my house last month.

Friend of a friend came over on a Sunday and checked out the house.
The potential buyer contacted a real estate lawyer, and submitted and offer to me on the following Monday.
Read, made a couple of small changes to the offer, and accepted.
Inspection
Appraisal
Well water test
Closed 5 weeks after first viewing!
Saved about 15k in Realtor fees!

 

I did the "for sale by owner" on my last place but I did pay the $250 to have it listed on the MLS system. I sold it in two weeks but that was when times were good and demand was high but selling myself saved about $10,000 in commission to a realtor. You will still probably need to pay a commission to the buyers realtor and list this in the MLS posting or NOBODY will bring clients to your house.

The buyers realtor told me she never usually brought anyone to a for sale by owner house because the owners were generally not reasonable but thought I was very reasonable to deal with. Be accomodating and realistic about the value of your home. If realtors do not want to bring clients to a for sale by owner house, the worst you can do is try to be a hard ass when they do show up.

Clear out all clutter and keep the house spotless daily. I vaccuumed every day. I repainted hallways and one bedroom that had only slight marks on the wall because it was cheap to do and made things look perfect. Clean it as if your life depended on it. Dust the top of the fridge and cabinets, pull out the aplliances and clean behind them. Remove any ugly furniture and keep it at a friends place, remove personal pictures and things. People want to imagine themselves in the house, not get to know you or see it as someone else's home. The master bath should look spotless and not have the rogue pube on the floor or in the shower. Make sure of all this stuff before you leave for work each day in case someone wants an emergency viewing while you are at work.

I don't think inspections are the responsibilty of the homeowner (but may vary by state law). My house was three years old when I sold it, the buyers wanted it inspected, they paid for it. You could pay to have an inspector do one to show to buyers, but they have no reason to trust a report when you were the client so you may be wasting your money.

IMHO it is better (especially in a down market) to price closer to what you think you can reasonably get and leave a bit of negotiating room than to shoot high, sit on the market only to drastically reduce months later. When your house sits too long, traffic dries up and the ones that do show up see it has been on the market for months and low ball hoping you are desperate.