Sell Your Home Yourself!

Are you planning to put your home on the market? Thinking about doing it yourself instead of using a real estate agent? In a tough economic climate where housing has taken a tremendous hit, you'll need to employ all the marketing tactics you can find to get a decent price. There's a huge inventory of houses out there, so make yours stand out from the crowd.

Set the right price. It really doesn't matter what you think you should get; something is worth only what another person is willing to pay for it. Do a market analysis, just like the best real estate agent would do. Go back one year and get listing and selling prices for homes in your neighborhood. Check out current homes for sale. Could you price yours a little less? Remember, if you sell it yourself, you don't have to pay realtor's fees, so it's possible you can price it a little lower at the beginning.

Now get your home ready for the market. Go through the house and yard with a list. Write down every little thing you need to do. You want to take care of all repairs before potential customers start looking at your home. Determine the fixes you can take care of yourself and the ones that you'll need to outsource. Start looking for people to do the work. Ask friends and the people at your local hardware store. Many real estate companies list handyman names and contact information on their websites. You don't have to be one of their clients to use these services.

De-clutter. Be ruthless when you do this. Because you're used to it, you may not even see your clutter anymore, but you'll need to look through a potential buyer's eyes. The more you get rid of, the bigger your house will look. Have a garage sale, donate to charity, put it on Craigslist or Freecycle. You don't need all that stuff. And if you're planning to downsize, you've got to lose a lot of stuff. Remember that de-cluttering involves cleaning out closets and the insides of cabinets and drawers. Buyers look everywhere. Even your attic and garage need to present a clutter-free space.

Start packing boxes. You can pack your out-of-season clothes and give your closets some breathing room. Are all the Christmas decorations laid out on shelves in the attic? Pack them. You can stores your boxes neatly in the garage.

Depersonalize your space. Potential buyers don't need to see all those family photographs. They want to visualize their own pictures in your home. Put up makeup, toothbrushes and other bathroom items. Clean off the front of the refrigerator. You may think those pictures the kids make in kindergarten are cute, but buyers don't want to see them. You want your home to look like a magazine.

De-clutter your yard, too. Put away toys, both children's and dog's. Get rid of empty or broken flowerpots. Clean away limbs and other debris. Make sure the grass is cut and the beds mulched. Plant flowering annuals and keep them weeded.

Now, sit back and wait for offers. Be willing to compromise. Consider offering owner financing, if you can. In a tight market, this may put you over the top.