Most people realize selling your own home can be costly, time-consuming, even risky. Unless you're just naturally lucky, you need the help of a professional REALTORŪ. A person who can save you a lot of time and headaches. For a lot of good reasons.

If you're thinking about selling your own home, maybe you should consider some of them.

What's Your Price?
The first thing the professional can do for you is recommend a fair and reasonable asking price.

Do it yourself and you will probably ask too much or too little.
Either way, you lose.

And don't be fooled by the belief, you know pretty well what your home is worth. Market demand, seasonality of sales, location, and many other variables affect your home's value. A skilled real estate person knows all about these things. And, most important, knows people.

Don't talk to strangers.
If you love talking to strange people at strange hours, by all means sell your home yourself. The "For Sale by Owner" sign in your front yard means you're fair game for everyone even those passers-by who "just kind of wanted to see what the place looked like."

That sign may not get all the prospects you want, either. You may have to advertise. And that means phone calls at all hours.

A REALTORŪ can solve these problems. First of all by screening prospects. Finding out their needs, desires, and financial situations. Separating those who are seriously looking for a new home from those who are just looking.

And best of all, showing your house only when it's convenient for you.

That beautiful art.
Okay, tiger. You're selling your own home. You know the needs and desires of your prospective buyers. And you know what to say, how to present your home to convince them. Right?

Wrong.

REALTORSŪ are trained in the art of salesmanship. (And believe us, it is an art.) Their study of sales techniques has shown them how to get the uncommitted buyer to make a decision, how to close the sale. In fact, they've gone to school to learn how to do precisely that.

After all, selling is what it's all about.

Formal negotiations.
What happens when a prospective buyer makes an offer one that's well below your asking price?

You're going to argue. And that's the worst thing you could do.

As a principal, you'll discover it's pretty hard to bargain with a buyer to negotiate about such things as price, terms and possessions. Misunderstandings may crop up. And those small disagreements can spoil a sale.

When a real estate professional helps sell your home, he or she takes on the difficult task of negotiation, acting as a sort of go-between and advisor. One who's objective. One who can tell you when the buyer is right and when you should stick to your guns.

And one who is usually a heck of a nice person, too. One who knows how to smooth over, or completely avoid, those sale-killing misunderstandings.

How to shop for money.
Many prospective buyers don't know much about financing how and/or where to get a mortgage.

Sell your home yourself, and there's not much you can do to help them.

A REALTORŪ knows just about all there is to know about financing. Knows how to work closely with all kinds of financial institutions, knows their methods and requirements.

Very simply, the professional real estate person can help your buyer find the money needed to buy your house.

Red tape.
Selling a house involves many details. Paperwork, title searches, financial arrangements. There are a hundred little things to be done.

Unless you have a mind like a computer, you'll need professional help to get everything done and keep it straight. A REALTORŪ and your attorney will guide you through the tangle of details as painlessly and safely as possible.

Be it ever so humble.
Crowded closets may make a home look lived-in, but they don't do much for a prospective buyer. Neither does a dripping faucet, unkempt lawn, or loose door knob.

There are dozens of little things you can do to make your house more saleable. The real estate expert can show them to you. (Some of them would have never occurred to you.)

Showmanship is all it's cracked up to be.

And now a word about the next home you buy.
Now that you have been a homeowner, you know what a valuable investment real estate is and will want to protect the title to your next home with a policy from Greco Title, an agent of Chicago Title.

Your mortgage lender will insist upon a Chicago Title insurance policy to protect the lender's investment in your property. However, this policy will insure only the lender against title defects that might affect the security of the mortgage loan not your investment!

You will need a Chicago Title owner's policy to protect your investment. Your REALTORŪ will advise you to request a Chicago Title insurance policy at the same time that the lender's policy is ordered. There are cost savings when both are ordered together.

And, unlike most other forms of insurance, you pay for a Chicago Title insurance policy just once! It costs less than you think, and this relatively modest charge insures you for as long as you or your heirs own the property.

To find out more about Title Insurance click here.

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