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Selling Your House - Types of Listing Contracts

A listing contract is an agreement between you and a licensed real estate broker that authorizes the broker to represent you in the process of selling your home. There are several different types of listing contracts, but very few of them are used. The most common one used is the "Exclusive Right to Sell". But you will find that there are a lot more types, allowing you to choose the level of authorization to give to your agent. Here are some of them:

Open Listing Considered the one most generally used, this type of contract is for people who want to both sell their home and work with real estate agents. What the contract does is give the right for agents to do showings of your home, and gives them an amount of commission if the client chooses to buy your house. The good thing about open listing is that there is nothing exclusive or painfully bonding about them. The bad thing is that you can expect less marketing or advertising done.
One-Time Show This type of listing contract is pretty much the same as open listing. It’s generally used by people trying to sell their own home and involving an agent for the home showings. The listing contract identifies the potential buyer and guarantees the agent a commission if that buyer buys the home. Just like open listings, this type lacks of marketing efforts.
Exclusive Agency Listing During your home selling, you will find that different types of listing contracts involve a lot of different people. This one involves a broker. Basically an exclusive agency listing will give you the right to sell your own home, without paying the broker any commission unless the house is sold through a licensed real estate professional. Should the house be sold without any help from agents, the contract allows homeowners to pay no commission at all. The reason why this type of listing contract is widely used is the temptation of not having to pay your broker.
Exclusive Right to Sell Listing The most popular type of listing with sellers and brokers, this contract gives your broker the full right to do whatever it takes to sell your house. For obvious reasons, this is probably the type of contract where you can expect the most incentive from the agent – a good marketing effort can take place here, and the homeowners’ work is much reduced.

Before you choose your contract, always make sure you know every type of listing contract available to you. Consider how much effort you would like to contribute to the home selling – this is often what distinguishes the types. Discuss the possibilities and disadvantages of each type. Remember, a listing contract is your first legal step in selling your house – take that step carefully.

Home Selling Checklist

It’s not an easy job selling a house. It’s a process. You don’t just publish your house, meet a buyer, negotiate and sell it. There is a checklist of things to do in order to sell your house. The home selling checklists include some procedures you must carry out in the process of home selling.

Here is a suggested checklist to help you sell your house:
-    Decide whether you are going to pay an agent to sell your house or just do it by yourself. Paying a realtor agent reduces the effort required on your own part as the agent will carry out much of the business. You just hire an agent and pay him. But it will incur costs of course. So, it’s up to you to decide whether you want to make less effort or more.
-    Be a communicative and informed seller. This correlates with your promotion strategy. You can use media to promote your home, such as newspapers, pamphlet, DVD, or websites. Don’t forget to set a reasonable and proper price for your house.
-    Get your house ready to sell by doing some work on your house exterior, interior, and appliances.
-    Decide whether you pay a professional to do pre-listing house inspection or not.
-    Sell off some of the furniture and appliances you don't intend to take.
-    Get familiar with financing terms, such as mortgage financing (fixed, adjustable, seller financing, assumable loans), pre-qualified, pre-approved, commitment
-    Get familiar with negotiation and related terms, such as contract, offer, deal, etc. You should learn to do some offer approaching and everything related to the legal transaction process.
-    Know about what you can improve or not in your house; what you can improve such as interior and exterior and what you cannot improve such as location, style, etc.
-    Decide whether you will put a home warranty to your house or not.
-    Start looking for your new home before selling the old one.
-    Decide on a buyer and on a settlement process.
-    Make moving plans.

The home selling checklist above shows us that there are many things involved in selling a house. You should pay attention to the checklist or pay your realtor to organize the process.

Tips on Selling Your Own Home

Selling your own home is never easy, and the difficulties amount to more than just doing without an agent. There are those memories and feelings of attachment to get over, for one. You want to make sure the house you’ve lived in passes to the best buyer possible – and you want to make sure they’re willing to pay what it’s worth. Do you really think you can do this? A lot of people do manage to sell their own home quickly. Here are some tips that might help:

·    Make sure you have every legal issue covered before you even think about handing your house over. Does your state law require you to give property disclosures to potential buyers? It’s always a good idea to invest in a good attorney to help you.
·    An attorney also come in handy for helping you make the contract form. Selling your own home requires a contract that would both protect you and the buyer – think about the buyer deposit and the local estate laws.
·    A useful but normally disregarded tip in selling your own home is: make sure you pick out the best picture to put in the advertisements. Like humans, not all houses are “photogenic”, so pick out the best angle that still represents what your house has to offer.
·    Something the agents have and you don’t is experience, especially in observing buyers. The large amount of potential buyers coming to your house should not convince you that everyone can raise the finance for a house. If you’re selling a house on your own, more buyers will come in hope of a more flexible negotiation – check them all. Ask if they’re able to buy your house immediately, or do they need to sell their own house first.
·    Cleaning and preparing your house for home showings is only a part of your effort. Some potential buyers love to do drive-bys, and rely on that first impression. Make sure your lawn and the front part of your house is well maintained. If your 'curb appeal' is low, clients often won't bother to see what’s inside.

These tips on selling your own home came from people who managed to sell their house successfully. There’s a lot to consider before you take every next step, so take your time. And remember, it’s useless to do the selling on your own if the revenue taken from not hiring an agent is spent heavily on fixing your own mistakes!