Customer Reviews

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Selling your Own Home

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Maybe you've watched "Designed to Sell" on HGTV and think your home will bring big bucks and an easy sale. This author covers the options for selling their house without a realtor.
The Complete Idiot's website describes the book as: "Whether readers are willing to pay a small commission for online help or a flat fee for an MLS listing, or they want to handle every step on their own, this guide will walk them through the process, providing tips on everything from signs and open houses to appraisals and inspections. Also includes a CD with sample contracts, boilerplate forms, checklists, and more."
We tried listing our home online (the freebie real estate sites) two years ago. I still get inquiries from those listings, but none were ever real people looking for a home. It did get us lots of calls from people wanting to sell us services related to selling a home.
Finally we sold the home through a realtor. Maybe if we'd had this book, our results without the realtor would have been more successful.
One thing they don't cover in the book is using newspaper ads. I'd recommend getting several books on this topic before attempting to sell your home yourself.

I think this book gives a nice global picture of what it takes to sell your own home. The book description states there is a CD with forms. My book copy did not have one nor is CD refered to in the book but the appendix has plenty of forms and sample reports. One reviewer stated that there is no mention of newspaper ads but Chapter 5 begins right off with newspaper ads.
Overall, it is a good book with helpful information.

This book is really helpful for anyone thinking about selling their home. It has a wide variety of info even things I hadnt considered. I gave it 4 out of 5 because I was hoping for more lists and checklist type things inside but as far as being easy to understand, its great.

We bought this and it does have good information and guidance, but I think it lacks direct and specific information on how to use the internet to market your property. I still think Craigslist or ChoiceA offer the best options for FSBO on the web, but overall this purchase would not be a waste of money.

This is a great book for basic help and advice, lots of good stuff inside.