Avoid Estate Agents - A Different Way of Selling Your Home
By : Andrew Mark Schroeder

When you first think about selling your home, nine times out of ten, you will first think that the best way to sell it is through an estate agent but this is not the case. Estate agents are seen as the easy and less stressful method to sell a property but in reality the best person to sell your home is you. With just a little bit of hard work and spending a bit of money you can sell your house easily and it's not as stressful as you would think.

When selling a house, industry experts will advise you to make your home as appealing as possible by making your home appear like it is from the pages of an interior design magazine. In reality very few people live like that and will have to do some decorating to get the full potential from their home. This can range from painting the walls and replacing the handles on doors and kitchen drawers to give them a more modern look for the least amount of cost. The garden will also need some work doing to it, make sure any grass is kept nicely trimmed and also think about purchasing some flowers to brighten up the borders. Try to keep family pictures to a minimum, you want to give the potential buyer the impression of themselves living there, too many pictures and you are telling them that it's your space. If you are still living in the house you are selling, always try to keep the house clean and tidy at all times. Nothing puts potential buyers off more then dishes in the sink and unmade beds. If you can, try to get into a routine where you vacuum the floors every other day and make sure the furnishings are dust free. Enhance the properties selling points, if it has a fireplace then make sure the chimney has been cleaned if it has been used and buy some flowers and put a couple of arrangements on the mantle.

When you have done all of the above you are now ready to put your house on the market. Go get an appraisal and always be realistic with your price, if you aim too low to attract more buyers or maybe a quick sale you will end up losing money as the buyer will always try to lower the price. Also don't set the price too high or no one will bother to look and you will just waste time.

When advertising the house the best place to start is online. Many websites now offer to market your home for a one-off fee which is about 150. Some send round a photographer and will put a 'for sale' board outside. It is a growing trend in today's market and now one in five properties is advertised privately. Also advertise the property in a local or Sunday newspaper to attract more potential buyers.

When you start getting people interested in the property and start showing people around, remember these three important points which can help the buyer make there mind up and could potentially lead to a sale.

1. When showing viewers around rooms, let them walk in before you do, this makes the room appear less crowded to them and allows them to view the entire room.

2. It is always good practise to have accurate information on hand such as dimensions, average annual bill costs and boiler history.

3. Always try to be interested and enthusiastic but not too much to appear desperate, this could make the buyer think that you are hiding something and may be put off. Or they could offer a much lower asking price.

Even though you aren't working with an estate agent, try to look in an estate agents office windows to see what houses similar to yours asking price are and how long they are for sale for before they are sold.

So don't despair if you are having trouble selling your house, as there may well be an alternative solution than using an estate agent.