Most homes that sell by owner do so in the first 30 days. Here are tips that can help. However, if your home is still on the market by owner after 30 days, here are some of the pitfalls you may run into:

• You may lack the knowledge to price your home competitively. Overpricing your home can keep the right buyers from looking at your home. Underpricing your home will result in a quick sale, but could cost you thousands.

• You may not be objective about your home or be able to stage it for showing to prospective buyers. Buyers are often not able to look beyond defects that we tend to ignore in our own homes.

• You may lack advertising experience and knowledge of optimum exposure. Writing the wrong advertisement and running it in a publication that does not address the proper target market for your home can be a waste of money and valuable time.

• You may spend money on unnecessary repairs to prepare your home for the market. Often home sellers will spend hundreds of dollars on repairs that have little visual impact, and miss the small items that can make or break a sale.

• You may be inexperienced in fielding buyers' objections. My many years of experience selling homes has taught me to read buyers and know almost intuitively what they respond to.

• You may lack negotiation skills or be uncomfortable negotiating face-to-face with the buyer. A real estate transaction involves several negotiations: First on price and terms, then on inspection repair items, and occasionally on last-minute details.

• You may not always be available for showings. Buyers often want to see a home at inconvenient times, and usually are uncomfortable viewing a home when the seller is not available.

• You may lack the knowledge to properly qualify a buyer for affordability, motivation, and ability to close. My experience has taught me how to provide creative means for non-qualifying buyers to afford your home, convert non-motivated buyers to motivated buyers, or to ask the proper questions to determine the closeability of your buyers' offer.

• Your buyers may not understand financing options, or may select an incompetent lender. The combination of an incompetent lender and an uneducated buyer can spell disaster for a real estate sale.

Call or email today for a free consultation to help sell your home!