FSBO - 7 Steps to Working With Buyers by Bill Carey

1)Analyze Why You Are Selling - You need to know but the buyer doesn't. Don't let the buyers or buyer agents on to your reason for selling. Your best answer to the question why are you selling? Is, our needs or requirements have changed.

2)Set Your Price - Your reason for selling will determine how you price your home. The price you set will tell the buyers the maximum you think the property is worth. Your main concern should be how much you have in your pocket after closing and how long the property is on the market during the sale process.

3)Condition of The Home - Buyers and buyer agents will know when your home is in pristine tip top shape that you mean business when it comes to a higher asking price. Your home is being compared to others in regards to price and condition if either one is not equal to the other the buyers will know and move on.

4)Easy to Get Information - Yard sign with an 800# 24 hour recorded message. E-mail visual tours and photos to friends, neighbors, and co workers. MLS and Realtor.com use real estate agent websites. Newspaper advertising use short ads 3-5 lines with an 800#.

5)Understand Your Buyer - You don't want to give out your information, but you always want to know what's going on with the buyer. Ask questions determine their goals, objectives, and their financial ability. The more information you have the better bargaining position you are in when negotiating.

6)Home Inspections - They are a standard in today's world of home buying and selling. Its best to be ready and way ahead of the game by getting your own inspection and having all repairs complete. This will help with your required disclosures and put everything on the table no questions asked.

7)Paperwork - It may be in your best interest to hire a Real Estate Attorney to review all your paper work. The legal requirements we have in the real estate business has come full circle in protecting buyers rights. Don't save a few hundred dollars to lose thousands in court or lose the sale.

Bill Carey offers insights to the buying and selling process of residential real estate for F*R*E*E information and reports see Inside Real Estate Secrets Revealed ...a must-read for Home-Owners and Renters! It's a FREE 12-lesson e-course covering more than 20 topics exposing the realities behind buying real estate.

The Top 3 House Hunting Resources - Other Than Your Realtor - To Help You Find Your Dream Home! by Kris Bickell

If you're ready to start house hunting, it's a good idea to come up with a plan for finding your dream home.

The first step is to find a good realtor to help you through the house buying process. There are lots of little details, and having someone to help you remember all of them is a great idea.

Your realtor should be able to provide you with the most up-to-date house listings. But, your realtor should not be your only resource to find houses for sale.

When buying our first house, we decided to look everywhere possible, and not just rely on our realtors. And boy, are we glad we took matters into our own hands! While we checked our email daily for more listings from our realtors, we also did our own searching - and luckily, we found our dream home!

Where else can you look to find houses for sale in your area?

1) Realtor.com

The best place to look online is Realtor.com. This is the official sire of the National Association of Realtors, and contains most of the MLS listings (Multiple Listing Service, which most realtors use to list the houses they are selling). You can search different states, cities, and towns throughout the U.S., to find houses in your price range, your size range, and compare what is available.

There are dozens of other house listing sites out there - but Realtor.com is considered the best (but feel free to look through the others, you never know where you might find your dream house!) Keep in mind, some of the houses may have been listed for a while, so if you find one you like, don't wait - contact your realtor to visit the property as soon as possible!

2) For sale by owner

Typically, there are two places to look for houses being sold directly by the owner (without help from a realtor, which means they probably won't be listed on Realtor.com):

First, you should look at several "for sale by owner" websites. Some of the most popular are ISoldMyHouse.com, ForSaleByOwner.com, FSBO.com, and you can search for more on the Internet.

Second, you should drive through the town you want to buy your house in, and look for yard signs. These days most people selling their own house will likely place an ad on the one of the "for sale by owner websites" - but not everyone has a lot of money to spend on advertising. So if you have the time, drive through some of the neighborhoods you want to live in, and look for houses that might be for sale. If nothing else, you'll get a good idea of exactly where you want to live.

3) Your local newspaper and homes magazines

These are two more great places to look for houses to buy. Smaller local realtors sometimes rely on newspaper ads to sell houses. You can also look for "homes for sale" magazines inside your local supermarket or restaurants (sometimes located outside a shopping area in the display stands).

It can be time consuming to find the right house. And it is definitely easier to find a realtor, and rely on their expertise. But if want to give yourself the best possible chance to find your dream home, look in as many places as possible. You never know where you'll find the right match. Hopefully, these strategies will help you find your dream home.

Happy house hunting!

Kris Bickell is the owner of HouseBuying-Tips.com, a site that helps first time home buyers avoid the costly mistakes that many new homebuyers make. For more tips on buying a house and finding a realtor, sign up for the free "How To Avoid These 10 Costly Mistakes When Buying Your First Home" email course at: House Buying Tips.

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