Selling a home in a sellers market may be easy, but getting top dollar for your home in any market requires brains, creativity, and hard work. The right kind of preparation and planning by a thoughtful homeowner can make a big difference in the selling price and the time it takes to sell the home whether they list it with a traditional real estate agency, or choose the increasingly popular options of either “FSBO” (For Sale by Owner) or discount brokers.

To help home sellers the American Homeowners Foundation (AHF) has published How To Sell Your Home Fast!, a 142 page book to help homeowners get the most for their home in the least amount of time. The book includes hundreds of tips which can make all the difference.

It helps homeowners weigh the pros and cons of selling a home without a real estate agent. With the shortage of homes for sale more and more sellers are choosing to skip the agent and save the commission. The book tells sellers how to develop and execute a marketing plan, and provides a directory of the national “For Sale By Owner” organizations to help homeowners identify sources of cost-effective marketing support.

Many sellers don’t have the requisite time or inherent marketing skills to market their own home effectively. Selling a home requires work, and work takes time, the commodity in shortest supply in many households. For sellers who conclude that they need the assistance, the book tells how to identify the most qualified brokers and agents. Sample questionnaires tell homeowners what questions they should always ask brokers and agents they are considering. (The names of former homeowners in the neighborhood who the agent claims to have successfully represented is one thing you should ask.) Another exercise provides questions homeowners should always ask of the agent’s references. A list of state and local real estate associations is provided in the reference section.

Other work sheets help homeowners develop a plan to market their home - an important step

they should take whether they are using an agent or going the FSBO route. With what frequency and in what publications will the home be marketed? Are you taking advantage of free marketing opportunities (bulletin boards in churches, grocery stores, offices, fraternal organizations, or other locations, mini web site hosting that is often provided free by Internet service providers)? Do those who stop by for an open house leave with a promotional brochure with attractive photos and descriptions, or nothing more than the cryptic multiple listing (MLS) form or the equivalent? Photocopying technology has improved to the point that the photograph detail comes out well on a good copier. Color photocopying has become affordable.

How To Sell Your Home Fast! also offers sound advice on negotiating techniques, the pros and cons of seller financing, and more. Work sheets walk sellers through the steps from how to make the home the most attractive to buyers at the least cost, to analyzing the buyer’s ability to get a mortgage (something you should always do before you take your home off the market).

AHF offers several other publications to help home sellers. The Foundation’s Model Home Sales Contract is a comprehensive, six page, plain English document intended to both promote mutual understanding of their respective responsibilities and protect the interests of both parties.

Often potential buyers are put off by a dated kitchen or bath or a poorly landscaped yard. A sensible investment in improvements may help sell your home faster and provide more than a 100% rate of return on the investment. “Be selective about what you improve” advises AHF’s Public Relations Vice President Chris Christensen. Christensen noted that while surveys have proven that updating old kitchens and baths and landscaping can pay back all of your investment, some investments don’t pay back as well. “You’ll never recover your money if you add a swimming pool in a northern climate. Also don’t over-improve to the point that you need to get more than 20% above the average selling price in the neighborhood. Use common sense. Today’s buyers like two or more bathrooms. If your home has only one bathroom, adding another can really help it sell, but don’t add another bathroom to a three bathroom house.”

For more information and to order The New How To Sell Your Home Fast! click on the name link.  For more information and to order The AHF Model Home Sales Contract and Remodeling Contracts, click on the contract names above. 

The American Homeowners Foundation is an independent nonprofit consumer organization serving the nation’s 70 million homeowners and millions of prospective homeowners. AHF is dedicated to helping them make the wisest and most well informed decisions regarding what for most Americans is their single greatest financial investment.

www.AmericanHomeowners.org.  Put it on your “favorites” list today!