Deciding whether or not to
sell your home yourself?*

Are you thinking about selling your own home? Would you like to sell it yourself rather than hiring a professional Tucson real estate agent? If so, it would be beneficial to review the pros and cons of selling your home by yourself before hanging out the sign.

PROS

More Money – Let's face it, nobody gets up one morning and thinks "gee, I really want to sell my own house." Almost invariably, even when done by professional real estate agents selling their own homes, it's done for the money. No wonder – it's a substantial amount of money by any measure.

If you're selling your home without a real estate agent, you'll net more money. If that’s not an incentive, what is? By selling your home yourself you save the fees or commissions that you would have to pay a real estate agent. Tucson real estate agents earn thousands, and often tens of thousands of dollars in commissions on the houses they sell. There is nothing unusual about this, and working with a professional real estate agent absolutely has some desirable elements to it. When you sell your own house, you get the commissions that you would otherwise pay the agent.

When you sell your own real estate, you're able to set your own times for open houses and showings – as well as where you want to advertise your home for sale. Because you are only selling one home - unlike an agent who is working with many buyers and sellers – you will always direct all of your efforts and focus on the sale of your own home. You will, understandably, have more interest in the sale of your own home than a professional real estate agent who may be looking for bigger or more easily acquired commissions elsewhere.

CONS

Professional Tucson real estate agents earn their commissions. Selling a home, even in a robust market such as Tucson, takes a lot of time and energy. Open houses, showing houses, ferrying potential buyers around Tucson, dealing with potential buyers' problems takes a lot. Then there are preparing for and closing sales, and dealing with legal issues. These are familiar areas for Professional Tucson real estate agents, and their experience and expertise can impact the sale – or non-sale.

Don't bite off more than you can chew. Be realistic about what you are willing to do to sell your own home. Will you (and can you) drop everything to make it to a showing of your home? At the moment of truth, will you able to close the deal? Are you the type who can ask for an offer? Not everyone can take on a project of this magnitude successfully. Some people, for example, are simply not able to deal with or handle the tension of dealing with the various buyers. Buyers are people contemplating one of the largest investments of their lives, and as such they can be extremely demanding about some of the most 'trivial' things.

It's a project that requires a cautious and thorough approach. It's a challenge. If the challenge excites you. If you're ready for some hard work. If you're willing to learn. Then you might just be cutout to go it alone. With a bit of knowledge, some patience, and a bunch of energy, you can successfully sell your own home - without the help of a professional Tucson real estate agent.

Remember as you read this that there are also alternatives. There are real estate companies and real estate agents in Tucson that offer different levels of service for increasing levels of commission. It's a nice safety net.

So, if you made it to this sentence, you've decided to take on the challenge. Where do you begin? You begin by evaluating the Tucson real estate market value of your home – how much can you ask for it? Then you decide what work needs to be done to your home to sell it?

Now it's time to start dealing with some of the issues of being your own real estate agent. For starters, how do you decide how much to ask for your house without asking so much that you start out by scaring buyers off? And you certainly don't want to ask for too little. That would largely negate the primary reason for selling your own house – to make money.