How To Sell Your Home in a Hurry

Pros share some time-tested tips and techniques to speed up the home selling process and turn a substantial profit.

Each year, about two million Americans sell their homes, some more successfully than others. How do you put yourself in the successful category? It only takes a little showmanship and a few tried-and-true tricks of the trade.

Trust the Experts
In today's highly competitive market, selling your home is no do-it-yourself project. Placing your home with a reputable real estate agent brings faster results, primarily because it brings more viewers to your home-more viewers means more prospects.

Why, you might ask, use a Realtor® when I could sell the home myself and save the commission? There are as many reasons not to do this as there are houses on the market. The buyer, for example, who sees a for-sale-by-owner sign in the front yard expects a bargain. He expects the amount saved on commission to play to his benefit.

And, there are other pitfalls. Are you familiar enough with the market to properly price your home? Do you want curiosity seekers tramping through your home after work each day? Can you handle the intricacies of negotiating and financing? Do you want to?

Your real estate agent performs several functions that will save you time, and probably increase profits as well. For example, your agent screens prospects, eliminating those who do not qualify financially from those who are just looking. He is familiar with zoning, financing, and the market in your area.

Put Your Home's Best Face Forward
Nothing prevents a sale more that a rundown exterior or unappealing interior.

If your house needs exterior paint to make the grade, paint it. With a word of caution: be sure the value of the improvement added into the price of the home does not exceed normal neighborhood property values.

Other areas of improvement might include replacing those loose shingles or tiles, fixing the fence, replacing loose floor-boards, repairing leaky faucets, tightening loose fixtures or doorknobs, planting flowers, trimming the hedges, or mowing the lawn.

Other touches that don't cost a dime include; placing a vase of flowers on the dining room table, simmering cinnamon sticks on the stove, playing soft music on the CD player, or lighting a fire in the winter.

Never forget, all the improvements in the world won't make up for a dirty house. Be sure your home is clean inside and out. Organize your closets, clean out the basement, keep the dishes washed and ready to receive guests at any time.

Don't Help the Realtor®

Once you've selected an agent, disappear and let him do his job. Tell your agent in advance about the plusses your house has to offer, such as low electric bills, insulation that exceeds requirements, special paneling or extensive attic space, and leave when prospective buyers come. Simply put, too many people distract.

A professional Realtor® will lead prospects on a guided tour that emphasizes the best aspects of the property. Pets, children, radios, televisions, and washing machines should not be included in this process.

Recognize Your Best Offer

If your asking price is a realistic appraisal of your home's value, it should be relatively close to the selling price of the home.

An accurate appraisal, factoring in appreciation or depreciation, should reflect your home's real value. That makes it easy to recognize a good offer, because it falls within a predetermined plus or minus of the asking price.

If a buyer makes an offer that falls within those parameters, don't hesitate-just accept. It could be that a first offer falling on the low end of your pricing structure, may be the best offer you'll get. Recognize it when it comes.

Hopefully, these tips will facilitate the selling process. Remember, buyers are all looking for the same thing: an attractive, well-maintained house in the right neighborhood, at a reasonable price. Be sure you give them what they want.