Tips to selling your home the stress-free way

Putting your house -- probably your biggest investment -- on the market is a complex, nerve-racking process, especially as values soften in many areas. What's the right asking price now? Should you hire an agent or go it alone? Which new Web tools are really worth your time? Relax. Our plan gives you everything you need to send your profits shooting through the roof.

You've managed to weather the bear market and kept your head through the recession. Even now you're picking off bargain stocks and prospecting for new opportunities. So you're no Cowardly Lion, moneywise. But there's one financial challenge you still may shrink from: selling your house. Even for the most seasoned investor, unloading an abode is a nerve-jangling experience. Are you pricing it right? Is now the time to sell? If, like so many property owners, you've seen the value of your home go up like crazy in the past few years, you may be especially eager to reap profits ASAP. What happens if you can't find a buyer in time to close on your new dream home? Let's face it, anyone who isn't just a little bit nervous about selling their house is nuts. After all, compared to your now-puny 401k, your home is the mother lode, your single biggest investment. Not to mention your shelter from the storm and your children's first memory. Better get it right.

To make the home-selling experience as lucrative and blunder-free as possible, you need a plan -- an aggressive program for pricing your home correctly, readying it for sale and then marketing it to the max. In the steps below, we'll walk you through all that, plus hiring the very best agent -- or going it alone and selling the place yourself, keeping that fat commission right where it belongs. You'll learn how to avoid the seller's most costly mistakes: over- and underpricing your house. You'll also find out about cool new Web tools that can help you close the deal quicker. It's work -- sometimes a lot of it. But by putting in the time and thought beforehand, you can bring the fear factor down to zero as the cash-in quotient shoots through the roof.

1. Research. Before you even think of calling a real-estate agent, you'll want to get a reality check. Most people live in their homes seven years before selling; in that time, prices have changed dramatically. And buyers' expectations have been changing -- and no doubt rising -- too. To get a sense of the competition your house will face, go to Realtor.com, the nation's biggest real-estate Web site, and check out properties for sale in your town that are listed at the price you expect to ask. Will you be competing with many homes? (Fewer is definitely better.) What's the square footage? Number of baths? What about extras like a deck, fireplaces and a pool? If you find a big gap between the amenities of your home and those of your neighbors, your expectations for the selling price may be way out of line.

One more thing: Be sure you're ready to sell. The last thing you want to do is start the ball rolling, then stop midprocess as you and your spouse get wistful over selling the house where Johnny took his first steps. It's an emotional transaction; you're dealing with one of the most stressful things that can happen to people.

2a. Going It Alone. What if you could add more than 6% to your sales price? You can, if you sell your house without using a real-estate agent. (In 2001, listing agents pocketed some $35 billion in commissions.)

Gomez Research, an Internet research firm in Waltham, Mass., estimates that by 2005 the for sale by owner, or "fizbo," market will grow from its current 20% share to over 40%. Besides the savings on commissions, one major factor fueling the fizbo market is the growing reach and sophistication of online sites that not only list properties but offer other services as well.

An even bigger innovation, though, is starting to transform the business. Online fizbo sites are offering discount Multiple Listing Service (MLS) listings -- a powerful service used by listing agents to market properties. At GoneHome.com, users pay $500 and get the standard MLS listing, says Myron Mullins, chief executive of GoneHome. Not only do you forgo paying the 6%, the nearly 100 brokers who are part of GoneHome's network also agree not to solicit the business of clients using the service. GoneHome is available in 37 states, mostly in larger cities and towns. The best part? The listings are picked up by the big listing aggregators, like Realtor.com and Yahoo Real Estate.

If you decide to sell on your own, William Supple, author of How to Sell Your Own Home, advises you to hire an appraiser to help you determine a cold-hard- light-of-day price. If you've owned your home for 10 years or more, hire a home inspector to find potential problems. Ask friends for a good inspector, and consult the American Society of Home Inspectors. And call your attorney early on. Since most attorneys charge a flat fee for handling a sale, you might as well call her early so she can review all the paperwork as you go from the listing agreement to writing (yes!) the sales contract.

2b. Hiring an Agent. If you decide to use a real-estate agent, you'd like to have an experience like that of Goldie Wright and her husband, Vince Outlaw. The San Diego couple listed their house in the suburb Del Cerro for $329,000 in the summer of 2001 and immediately drew three bids over their asking price. Not bad. They accepted an offer for $337,000, more than twice what they paid. But it gets even better. Ms. Wright, with the help of her agent, Teri Hill of Hill & Hill Realty, located a five-bedroom house about a mile away that had been substantially underpriced at the original listing of $499,900 and that had gone down another $15,000. Perfect for Ms. Wright, Mr. Outlaw and their two children, Miles and Madeleine. Sensing opportunity, the couple bid $465,000 and were accepted. Ka-ching!

Not everyone can buy and sell as opportunistically as that couple, but if you're going to use an agent, shop carefully. One key? Finding agents with local savvy. Ms. Hill has been in the business for 16 years in Del Cerro, where her grandparents started the realty firm she works for more than 40 years ago.

How do you find a winner? Identify agents who've sold homes successfully in your area. Another key factor: the marketing plan. Ask agents how they will promote your house. The broader an audience that sees your home -- these days, that's mostly on the Internet via MLS -- the better. Make sure your agent picks a photo to put online that shows your home in the best light. Some agents will use 360-degree views to show interiors and landscaping.

The MLS isn't the only game in many towns. Mark Zervos, founder of Century 21 Leaders in suburban Cleveland, buys the back page of the local newspaper's weekly real-estate guide to showcase his clients' homes. Your agent should be taking similar steps. Skimping on promotion is one way agents can keep more of their commission.

Check your listing contract for any special fees or assessments. Some agents charge a fee of 1% or 2% of the asking price if you cancel your listing before the typical 90-day contract expires.

3. Grooming Your Home. Don't panic and assume you need major upgrades to attract buyers. If you're in a market where demand is steady or rising, you won't need big projects to draw customers. "It's not about home improvements," says Brad Inman, founder of HomeGain.com, a Web site that matches home buyers and sellers with agents. "It's about getting the house cleaned up. It's like a date: Put on a nice suit."

Mow the lawn and plant brightly colored flowers at the entrance to the house. And whatever you do, Mr. Inman says, open up all the curtains so the house appears bright and airy.

Beth Pressler, sales director at Higbie Maxon Agney in Detroit's upscale Grosse Pointe suburb, says to take care of the small things. She advises smokers to have their rugs and carpets cleaned and to spritz furniture and drapes with an odor-removing product such as Febreze. Then she tells them not to smoke inside the house until after it's sold. Other tips: Clean the kitty litter once a day. And rent a storage unit and put knickknacks and extra furniture away. Your home should "look like a model home," Ms. Pressler says, "but lived in."

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