Showing Your Home - The First Impression Factor

We have all heard the phrase: "You never get a second to make a first impression."

This is especially true when showing your home to a potential buyer. Get your home in the best shape possible BEFORE your first showing. This of course, will help you get the highest price, and a faster sale.

Go through your home and look at it through a potential buyers eyes. Take a pad of paper and go through every room and make notes of what you need to repair or fix. Do you see scuffs on the walls? Is there a door handle that needs fixing? Rooms that need a fresh coat of paint?

Don't forget about the outside of your home. This is the first thing that potential buyers will see. Make sure you yard looks taken care of. Mow on a regular basis. Clean up weeds, or any un-necessary clutter (toys, etc) Should you add landscaping? You may want to powerwash the outside of your home along with the driveway and sidewalks.

Read more about selling your home: The Secrets To Selling Your Home Yourself In 1-6 Weeks Without An Agent And Saving Thousands In Real Estate Commissions.

The Secret to Getting Over Your Fear of Contracts As A FSBO Seller

Selling your home without a real estate agent has a lot of benefits. Many homeowners, however, fail to take this path because of a fear of dealing with the real estate contracts involved. This common fear is misplaced.

When it comes to legal issues, the prudent advice in most situations is to go talk with a lawyer about your situation. The sale of residential homes, however, is a unique situation. The process is so trued and tried that it has been reduced to pre-printed forms you can buy at local office supply stores or online.

How accurate are these forms? Well, consider what happens if you retain a real estate agent to help with the sale of your home. They are going to provide you with forms for listing, making counter-offers and the final purchase agreement. All of these forms are the same ones you can buy directly! In short, you aren't gaining any legal expertise by using an agent.

This is great and all, but what if you still fear dealing with pre-printed real estate forms? After all, the transaction is going to involve massive amounts of money. What if you get it wrong? Could you end up in court and lose your home?

As you can see, panic can quickly set in. If you feel this way, there is a simple answer. Hire a real estate lawyer to look over and prepare the documents! Who better to protect you from making mistakes then the actual professionals that probably wrote up the forms you are using?

Ah, but lawyers cost money. Yes, they do. That being said, the cost of a lawyer compared to what you will pay in real estate agent commissions is really no comparison at all. Let's say you hire an attorney who charges $250 an hour. Let's assume they spend 20 hours on your transaction. That equates to a fee of $5,000. Now assume your home sells for $400,000. The traditional six percent commission for the real estate agent will equal $24,000. Now, which one is the better choice?

Selling your home without an agent gives you a huge advantage in this cold real estate market. You can use the commission savings to list your home a little cheaper than those around you, which will bring the buyers in. Don't worry about the real estate forms. They are pre-printed. If you prefer professional advice, then get an attorney. You'll still save a bundle over using an agent.


Raynor James writes about FSBO issues for FSBOAmerica.org where you can list your land for sale by owner for free for 1 month.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Raynor_James

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Home Showing Tips for For Sale by Owner Sellers

Since many areas have been hit with declining property values, many homeowners are attempting to sell their homes themselves. With so many homes for sale out there, you will need to learn everything you can about selling your home for sale by owner.

Here are some tips for showing your home to potential buyers:

Give them freedom. Don't follow buyers around during the tour. You WANT them to look. No one is going to buy something that they haven't been able to inspect. Many buyers don't feel comfortable opening closets or drawers when the person who lives there is following them around. Allow them to look around and tell them to let you know if they have any questions. You could also give them a short guided tour and then tell them they are free to look around.

TMI. Too much information. There is no need to go into every single detail about your home. Give general information, draw attention to the positives, and wait for questions.

Be a Know it All. Have all your information ready. Know how much your yearly property taxes are. Have your electric and heating bills handy. If you don't have children find out what school district you are in. You should also make a list of general iformation about your home. You may want to refer to it when answering buyers questions. Learn the year your home was built, what type of furnace or heating/cooling system you have, type of foundation, etc.

Make sure they leave witha flyer of your home, complete with photos and general information. It is likely that they will be looking at several homes in a day and you want to make sure they remember your home. Make sure you have contact information (phone number, email, and web address) on the flyer.

You should also keep a blank offer to purchase real estate form, or real estate purchase contract on hand just in case they want to write an offer!

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Tips for Selling Your Own Home Online

According to Realtors.com around 80% of people looking to buy a home start their search on the internet. Are you missing out?

Smart for sale by owner sellers are taking advantage of all of the online tools that are available and they are saving thousands of dollars in real estate comissions. Selling your home online allows you to compete with real estate agents.

One way to advertise your home online is by listing it on Craigslist.org. Craigslist is a free classifieds ads website. They have listings from all over the United States, and you simply choose your city/state, and place your ad for FREE! Best of all you can even add pictures.

You can also list your home for sale by owner on popular for sale by owner websites like ForSaleByOwner.com and pay 0% Real Estate commissions
. You will have to pay a small fee. FSBO websites are becoming more popular and they will allow you to post photos, and sometimes even videos. Some offer yard signs to help market your home.

You may also want to consider making your own webpage to advertise your home. Setting up your own website doesn't cost as much as you may think. There are many free hosting companies around, and domain (a website address) can be purchased for around $10 for 1 year. Setting up your own website allows you the freedom to add as many photos and as lengthy of a description as you need. You can also set up a contact form for anyone to ask you questions by email. Having your own webpage allows visitors to take a virtual tour of your home 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Make sure you advertise your website address on any flyers, newspaper ads, or marketing materials.

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How NOT to take Photos of Your Home When Selling

Of course you will need to take photos of your when selling for sale by onwer. You will need photos for flyers, newspaper ads, or advertising over the internet. Check out this article I wrote on tips for taking photos of your home.

I came across a blog the other day which shows poorly taken photos by real estate agents on the MLS. The blog is called It's Lovely! I'll Take it! You can learn a lot about what NOT to do from this blog! Pretty funny too