Xcountrymove

Lets say you have sufficient time to sell your home and you honestly believe your house is sellable. You qualify (as far as I am concerned) to try and sell your home FSBO. The next thing you need to do is develop a game plan. Today we will discuss how you determine how much your home is worth.

How much is your home worth and what will your asking price be? This is probably the single most important factor in selling your home. If your asking price is too high you run the risk of having your home sit on the market for months. If your asking price is too low, you are basically giving away potential profit. So how do you find the sweet spot? There are at least two ways to figure this out. One will cost you money and the other willnot. If there are other homes in your neighborhood for sale that are similar to yours (square footage, year built, overall condition) you want to price your home in line with those homes. A good measuring stick is to calculate the cost per square foot. If the other homes in your neighborhood are selling for $100 per square foot and you are at $120 you are probably priced too high. I say probably because there could be good reasons behind you asking for more. If your house has wood floors and crown molding while the other homes do not, you may be justified in asking for more. Again, you need to investigate. Go to some open houses in your neighborhood to get an idea. If there aren't any similar homes for sale you will want to have a professional come in and do an appraisal. This will cost you but your peace of mind is well worth the expense. I don't want to endorse any sites but you can find an appraiser by looking in your local yellow pages or by simply Googling Home Appraisal. Using an appraiser is the best way to insure that your asking price is reasonable. Another good way to find an appraiser is to ask friends if they can recommend somebody.

Now that you have your price, you need to market your house. This is where things get fun so we will leave this topic for tomorrow.