How to Sell Your House

How to Sell a House in Five Easy Steps

It can be hard to understand how to sell your house. Extensive paperwork, showings, open houses—where does a homeowner even begin? This guide will help you to understand the process of selling your house, and will teach you how to sell your house as easily and quickly as possible. To make it easier, we will break the process of how to sell a house down into five steps, each of which can be completed in a fairly short period of time.

Step One: Check Out Your Competition

If you don't know how to sell a house, one great way to begin the process is by looking at other people selling theirs. Check newspaper listings, an MLS database, or simply look around your neighborhood to see if there are any open houses for similar homes to yours. Once you find a similar house in a similar neighborhood in your area, go to the open house and take a look around.

Make notes about the differences and similarities you see between the homes you look at and yours. It can be easier to understand how to sell your house if you see what other homeowners are doing right—and what they're doing wrong.

Step Two: Find a Real Estate Agent—and a Lawyer

If you don't know how to sell your house, you may want to leave it to professionals. Real estate agents know how to sell a house in any market, even the current buyer's market. You may also want to hire a real estate lawyer who can help you to understand the paperwork and documentation that you'll need to sign, and who can help you to expedite the process. Each of these professionals can explain how to sell your house in a way that will make sense to you.

Step Three: Price Your House

Figuring out what price to sell your house at can be a challenge. In order to get the most bids, you will want to keep your price 10 to 15 percent lower than comparable houses in the area. If your realtor suggests a price that you think is too low, remember that he or she knows your area and knows how to sell a house in that area—it may be that the higher-priced houses simply haven't been receiving any offers.

Step Four: Get Out of Your House

One of the hardest parts of selling your house is realizing that it's not your house any more. If you want to know how to sell your house quickly, one of the biggest things you can do is making sure you're not at your home—either literally or metaphorically. Make sure you can clear out quickly if the realtor needs to do a showing. You should also get your personal memorabilia and family photos out of your home. Keep them in storage until you move, so that potential buyers can picture themselves, not you, in the house.

Step Five: Take an Offer

If you want to know how to sell a house fast, you need to understand that you may receive an offer lower than what you wanted. It's okay to take a lower offer, especially if your house has been sitting on the market for a long time in the current recession.