Best way to sell a house?

[Flamingo13]

I personally wouldn't go sell it myself route either - I was asking for friends - I will tell them though the opinions, I agree, with all the paperwork, etc. (and she also had a call from someone she couldn't understand who she "kind of" figured out was trying to say that someone would buy it for her????) - I wouldn't go that route either.

[gg]

I have sold several homes without listing them through a realtor. The key is pricing the property correctly and it WILL sell. Still to this day, yard signs are a very good way to sell a home. Neighbors can be a big asset in sales because they may know someone. Craigslist, Post Gazette and an open house are great ideas as well. If you want, you can advertise 3% or 2.5% sales commission if a realtor brings someone in to buy the home. The key to everything is price. If you ask the world for your property don't expect it to sell.

What you want to do is find properties that have sold in your area that are similar to your home. This is easy to do with a little time. Go to the Allegheny County Assessment website and look at your street and streets that you feel are similar in your neighborhood. Look at what properties have sold for in the past 6 months. If there aren't many, you can go up to a year. If you don't have many in a year's time, that makes it harder to put a price on a home.

If you go the agent route, there is an agency out there that loves to put signs on properties regardless of price. They put their sign on there and ask for price reductions all the time. Be careful not to fall into that trap. Don't let some agent blow a bunch of smoke up your... Look at the comparable properties closely. Sure, every owner want to think their home is worth a pile of money and it is easy to believe an agent that is telling you that, but are those comparables good? Are they much better homes? Think.

**disclaimer. I have been a realtor for over 20 years, but that doesn't mean I would list a home for sale. I might, but I haven't yet.

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

**disclaimer. I have been a realtor for over 20 years, but that doesn't mean I would list a home for sale. I might, but I haven't yet.

Realtor, or agent/broker?

[trackstar13]

I agree with hcurtis in regards to price, the best way to sell a house quickly is to underprice it. If you have enough equity in the house and you are okay with taking a little bit less than the actual market value you will be able to sell quickly.

[Flamingo13]

Thanks again, it's long paid for (her mom passed away and left her the house) - it's a real fixer-upper w/a few pluses - they have a price in mind but Pgh. area and my area are totally different price-wise so I can't judge whether it's fair. When I talk to her again, I'll let her know the options though so I appreciate the thoughts.