For Sale By Owner: The Inside Scoop On Selling Your Own Home

If you're thinking about selling your home perhaps the 'for sale by owner' signs posted on neighborhood lawns have intrigued you. When you browse the newspaper listings you see ad after ad boasting 'for sale by owner' as an added incentive for buyers and you envy the owners that are confident enough to try it.

There is plenty of money in real estate and who wants to split the profits with an agent? You have to ask yourself the question 'Should I try to sell my own home?'

Before you stick the black and orange 'for sale by owner' sign on your front lawn here's a few questions you need to answer?

"Do I have time to sell my own home?"

You guessed it - a lot of the money you are paying your real estate agent pays for their time. When a prospective client is motivated the real estate agent is available to take the call, show the home and follow up the interest. It is vitally important to be available when an interested buyer is ready to act.

If you want to keep your cash then be prepared to handle calls in the middle of supper or even the occasional drive-by visitor. Knowing you're saving a few thousand dollars can make this little more than a tolerable distraction.

"Do I have the skills to sell my home?"

Not everyone is a born salesperson, but that doesn't mean you can't learn. If you find the challenge exciting rather than overwhelming you've got what it takes to pick up a few pointers and sell your home.

You'll also have to develop a keen eye for creating appealing ads and learning where to advertise. With the increase in 'for sale by owner' websites you can have your listing made available to a wide audience along with your newspaper listing.

"What do I need to know about handling the sale?"

All the information you need can easily be found in a book or you might ask someone who has successfully sold their own home. Looking for appropriate legal advice is not only necessary but will also help make the process run smoothly.

If you have an interest in selling your own home be prepared for real estate agents to contact you and try to convince you that you're missing out on opportunities that only they can provide. Make it your aim to do a little research, know your market and strategy and you can handle this just fine - and keep your profits for your hard work!

Shannon Emmanuel is a freelance researcher and writer. Find out more about real estate investing and selling at http://ask-real-estate-listings.com

MORE RESOURCES:

Sitar Company Brokers Named New Jersey#39;s quot;2008 All-Star Commercial ... - MarketWatch

Hypo Real Estate#39;s Viermetz Steps Down After Bailout (Update1) - Bloomberg

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Hypo Real Estate Denies Report It Withheld Data on Liquidity - Bloomberg

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2i-0fd=Rurl=http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/10/04/hypo_real_fights_for_life_after_rescue_collapsescid=1251970064ei=eezvSKDRNKSeygTXtbHNBwusg=AFQjCNE3dJUSo5ysRB5eWhJDAM1QbZgwQQimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=JUdfQ3ZvixEJimgurl=cache.boston.com/resize/bonzai-fba/Reuters_Photo/2008/10/04/1223152328_1718/539w.jpg width=80 height=45 alt= border=1brfont size=-2Boston Globe/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2-0fd=Rurl=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news%3Fpid%3D20601100%26sid%3DaqQ6AbAsxYqs%26refer%3Dgermanycid=1251970064ei=eezvSKDRNKSeygTXtbHNBwusg=AFQjCNEd_xl-UvaarKA95f8LqeIyhtez0gHypo bReal Estate/b Denies Report It Withheld Data on Liquidity/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fBloombergnbsp;-/font nobrOct 9, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1By Oliver Suess and Karin Matussek Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Hypo bReal Estate/b Holding AG, the commercial property lender that needed a revised 50 billion-euro b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2-1fd=Rurl=http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DdlzSEbBo2hocid=1251970064ei=eezvSKDRNKSeygTXtbHNBwusg=AFQjCNE7Hz-0IKdhryH3RePambkYTACR6gVideo: Wells Fargo#39;s bid for Wachovia/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrReutersVideo/nobr/fontobject width=448 height=356param name=movie value=http://www.youtube.com/v/dlzSEbBo2ho/paramparam name=wmode value=transparent/paramembed src=http://www.youtube.com/v/dlzSEbBo2hotype=application/x-shockwave-flashwmode=transparentwidth=448height=356/embed/objectbr/fontfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2-2fd=Rurl=http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/006200810061785.htmcid=1251970064ei=eezvSKDRNKSeygTXtbHNBwusg=AFQjCNGyzjA4fjeASqfpngZcIUB3gebiPAGerman Govt rescues Hypo bReal Estate/b in a Euro 50 bn package/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrHindu/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2-3fd=Rurl=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/hypo-real-estate-tripped-funding/story.aspx%3Fguid%3D%257B2B1A4778-8429-4E11-88E0-96FD0D888991%257D%26dist%3Dmsr_1cid=1251970064ei=eezvSKDRNKSeygTXtbHNBwusg=AFQjCNHUomdUNR-DAAstVUzvdKQydNnFrAHypo bReal Estate/b tripped by funding strategy/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrMarketWatch/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2-4fd=Rurl=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news%3Fpid%3D20601100%26sid%3DavupZJMdl7gQ%26refer%3Dgermanycid=1251970064ei=eezvSKDRNKSeygTXtbHNBwusg=AFQjCNEMNeVhJr2C5DlW1JNsuB3JPtbmOwnobrBloomberg/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2-5fd=Rurl=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news%3Fpid%3D20601100%26sid%3DaNwuFX43GF04%26refer%3Dgermanycid=1251970064ei=eezvSKDRNKSeygTXtbHNBwusg=AFQjCNFcBMnjJGuUmXew9uimF9qW3V2rfgnobrBloomberg/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1251970064hl=ennobrall 1,071 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Forestar Real Estate Group to Release Third Quarter 2008 Results ... - MarketWatch

Triad group to give real estate tour The Business Journal of the ... - Bizjournals.com

Movoto.com Expands Real Estate Search Service to South Texas ... - MarketWatch

Real Estate close-up: New York - International Herald Tribune

eawood real estate agent pleads guilty in mortgage fraud scheme - Bizjournals.com

Weak real estate continues to draw down Bank of Florida earnings - Bizjournals.com

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-0fd=Rurl=http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2008/10/06/daily46.htmlcid=1255944991ei=eezvSKDRNKSeygTXtbHNBwusg=AFQjCNFGkzYlT37Ite5bMgUqqbydR0e2JwWeak breal estate/b continues to draw down Bank of Florida earnings/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fBizjournals.com,nbsp;NCnbsp;-/font nobr9 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1The bank said in a release announcing preliminary third quarter results that continued weakness in breal estate/b values caused it to set aside more money for b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-1fd=Rurl=http://www.businesswire.com/news/google/20081010005144/encid=1255944991ei=eezvSKDRNKSeygTXtbHNBwusg=AFQjCNFaCKFqwbEAf06i7GjFaf22eWeCJABank of Florida Corp. Provides Preliminary Third Quarter 2008 Results/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrBusiness Wire (press release)/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-2fd=Rurl=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/scvbank-finds-growth-opportunities-challenging/story.aspx%3Fguid%3D%257BDFD429D2-4296-4A76-A76B-FF298837B9F6%257D%26dist%3Dhpprcid=1255944991ei=eezvSKDRNKSeygTXtbHNBwusg=AFQjCNEGThf9g3aAl5lYvqmyek4ug9lbgwSCVBank Finds Growth Opportunities in Challenging Market/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrMarketWatch/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-3fd=Rurl=http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/oct/10/bank-florida-reports-34m-third-quarter-loss/cid=1255944991ei=eezvSKDRNKSeygTXtbHNBwusg=AFQjCNGJyv2wUny6l_M6eLOjLmQMcuqIzABank of Florida reports $3.4M third quarter loss/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrNaples Daily News/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1255944991hl=ennobrall 27 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

TEXT-Moody#39;s on Hypo Real Estate Bank International AG notes - Forbes

Real-Estate - Google News

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