Are you thinking about selling your home? Would you like to sell it by yourself instead of hiring a 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

Selling your home without an agent means More Money. If that's not an incentive, what is? By selling it yourself you save the fees or commissions (thousands of dollars) that you would have to pay an agent.

You are able to decide the times for open houses and showings as well as where you want to advertise. Because you are only selling one home - unlike an agent who is working with many buyers and sellers ? you will always be focused on the selling of your home. You will have more interest in the sale than a real estate agent who may be looking for bigger commissions elsewhere.

CONS

Real estate agents are paid good money for a reason. Selling a home takes a lot of time and energy. Open houses, dealing with potential buyers, closing sales and dealing with the legal issues are familiar turf for these people and their experience can impact the sale.

Be realistic about what you are willing to do. Will you drop everything to make a showing? Are you able to 'close the deal' and ask for an offer? It is not everyone who can take on such a big project or can handle the tension of dealing with buyers.

However, if the challenge excites you and if you are ready for hard work and willing to learn then it is not impossible for you to manage alone. With a little know-how and a lot of energy, you can sell your home without the help of a real estate agent and reap the rewards!

Where do you begin?

Start with evaluating your home. How much can you ask? What work needs to be done? How do you decide how much your house is worth without asking too much and scaring buyers off or too little and not making what you should?

How Do You Evaluate Your Home?

Choosing the right price for your home is crucial to making a sale. You risk everything if your price is too far off the current market. You don't want to discourage buyers because you are pricing too high and you don't want to throw away equity because of a low asking price.

Preparing Your Home for the Market

Now it's time to look as objectively at your own home as you did to other peoples' homes.

Your prospective buyers will be scrutinizing your home; has it been taken care of or neglected? Will there be expensive repairs or are they hiding something? Taking the time to clean up and make repairs will repay you with confident buyers anxious to make an offer on a home that has been properly taken care of.

How to Advertise Your Home

Don't worry. You've already done the hard work. Your research has been conducted, your home has been cleaned and prepared and you have all the vital information necessary to offer prospective buyers. Now you need to get the word out!

How to Show and Sell Your Home

You've done your research. You've priced your home, cleaned and freshened it up. Your sign is hung out and you've worked hard on creating an intriguing ad. You told everyone you know that you're selling your home. Now you wait for the phone to ring. How do you handle calls from buyers? What do you ask? How do you get them to come visit?

Legal Issues

Selling and buying homes requires legal paperwork. Writing contracts to sell your home is tricky business and you do need a lawyer to help you. Find one by asking for recommendations from family or friends or by looking for one in the phone book. Ask for a consultation before deciding.

This article is excerpted from our new ebook "For Sale By Owner". To download your copy, visit ebooks.sagedot.com/fsbo.html The ebook includes a seller checklist and sample legal forms.

Tim Robinson is the publisher of "For Sale By Owner".