For Sale By Owner (FSBO)

Trying to sell your house yourself can bring substantive rewards or unmitigated frustrations. Here are a few tips to smooth the process:

• Decide the date when, if unsuccessful, you will give the listing to a broker or take the home off the market.
  
• Before advertising, allow time to tidy up the yard, clean up the interior, de-clutter the closets and clean out the garage.
  
• Do not paint your own yard sign. Buy one at a hardware store or pay a sign company to make one. Lock the house when not at home.
  
• Newspaper ads should begin with "By Owner." Also, give the address, asking price, number of rooms and special details (i.e. marble floor in foyer). Include day and evening phone numbers.
  
• Price the house realistically. Brokers interested in getting your listing might offer to do a free, no-obligation market analysis of comparable home sales in your area.
  -- Get the value of your home.
  
• Prepare an information sheet for prospective buyers. Include details about each room, appliances, special assets, lot size, neighborhood, school districts, taxes, etc. Work up a seller's condition report stipulating your knowledge of the condition of a the home's structure, its mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.
  
• During your open house, hide all valuables and farm out children and pets. If the weather is inclement, put a floor mat and umbrella stand at the entrance. Turn on all the lights, bake bread or muffins or light a scented candle for a delicious scent, put out fresh flowers and new towels. Do not let people wander around alone; accompany them to each room and point out amenities.
  
• Get names and phone numbers from everyone who looks at your home. Offer to make them exclusions to any broker's contract you might enter into later. A day or so after someone sees your home, phone to ask if he/she has any questions. If you reduce your asking price or receive an offer, phone everyone who has seen the house to alert them to these new developments.
  
• Negotiate the price of the house dispassionately and bargain creatively. For example, to get your way on the closing date, offer to include the refrigerator. If you want to take the parlor chandelier, offer to leave the swing set. Be wary of offering a land contract, or help with seller financing to strapped buyers. Require interested bidders to divulge their occupation and employer, household income, major debts and proposed down payment. Do a credit check.
  
• Hire a lawyer to guide you through the closing process.

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