No, we are not giving up and selling our house.

After putting an offer on our current money pit we started the process of selling our condo so that we could afford to renovate our new home.  We decided to sell it ourselves and were so glad that we did because we needed every cent we could get.

We thought others out there would benefit from our experience.

1. The first thing you need to do is get your home in shape to show to prospective buyers.  My advice is to watch a bunch of episodes of HGTV’s Designed to Sell.  The show covers how to upgrade the look of your home on a budget.  A little paint and a lot of organization will go a long way.  When you take photos of your home make sure you removed clutter.  All those nik-naks you love will just make your home look smaller, so box them up and store them in the closet or better in a storage facility.  When we had an open house we would put stuff in our car.  There are apps that allow you to take panoramic photos of a whole room so they look spacious.
2. Create a blog on WordPress or some other free blogging service.  You can present all the information that potential buyers need in a clean efficient manner.  Things like taxes, utilities, maintenance fees and you can even feature highlights of your neighborhood.
3. List your home in MLS.  All the real estate websites feed off of MLS.  You need to do this through a realtor service.  We used Clickit Realty and it cost about $500 for 6 months.
4. Clear out during the open house.  If you have kids or dogs, get them out of the house while one person hosts the open house.  The last thing you need is your pet growling at prospective buyers or worse your child telling them she saw a cockroach the other day.  We once went to an open house where the owner was in the front room laying on the sofa apparently sick.  UNCOMFORTABLE.
5. Curb appeal.  Even if you live in a condo make sure the hallway or entryway is clean and smells good.  Pick up any trash in the front of the building.
6. Clean your home.  Really clean your home.  I’m talking q-tip detailed car clean. You should give your home a complete once over before your first open house and then as needed.
7. Price your home accurately.  Check out real estate in your area and make sure your property is not listed too high or too low.