subject: Important Information You Should Know When Selling Your Home Yourself [print this page] If you are one of the many sellers these days who is considering selling a house by owner, take time to think about the whole process before you begin. Of course it's never a good idea to procrastinate and leave important decisions until the last minute, and that's why I'm suggesting you start thinking about selling a house right now. It is really better not to rely on other people to lead you by the hand if you don't know where you're going, keeping your eyes on your goal.
OK, when trying to sell your own own home, the first decision you need to make involves whether or not to list your house for sale with a real estate agent. I'm not voting either way, but I do have a suggestion. You need to think about finding your buyer as a separate job, set apart from the other tasks involved in selling a house. The truth is, you are just as qualified as any real estate agent to find a buyer, and it doesn't matter that you do not have professional skills or knowledge in real estate sales. Professional skills include negotiating, locating lenders for the buyer's financing and closing the transaction when selling a house.
What I'm saying here is that you can certainly get involved in the marketing activities to find your buyer, and you can do so on your own, but then you should really consider hiring an agent to perform the professional services I described. It's a rare situation when no price and terms negotiation takes place, and so that means the sales negotiation is one situation during which you will appreciate having an agent to help you. Treat the various parts of a real estate transaction like selecting from an a la carte menu, and make sure everyone knows what to do.
You shouldn't run into any problems when you share your intentions because most agents have heard other sellers say they want to handle marketing activities by themselves. If you meet with resistance, then that's not your agent. You'll discover that it can be a good idea to calls a few agents and inquire how they each feel about sellers doing their own marketing, meaning talk to several agents before you select one.
Selling a house as a team can work out really well when everybody sticks to his or her job and the parts all fit together. Your agent may do some marketing activities, too, but your mutual understanding up front is your best key to success.
