Ready to Sell?

You can increase your chance of selling your house in reasonable time by following a few good guidelines.

1. Play the cards you're dealt.
Have the best possible product out there at the price it should be, not what you wish you could get, not what the neighbor got two years ago, but at the price you should get now. That's the reality.

2. Scope out other houses for sale.
By looking at the good deals that your neighbors are offering. The most important thing is to really shop the competition on the market right now.

Put on your shopping shoes and look at everything from a buyer's viewpoint. Get out in the car and spend a weekend looking at everything you can. Visit some weekend open houses. Just get a feel for what your buyers are looking at.

Visit newly built houses and find out which amenities and incentives builders are offering. Eavesdrop on other visitors to open houses to find out if there's something in particular they're looking for -- something you should do to make your house more presentable.

3. Make it a turnkey, not a turkey.
The word "turnkey" is used in commercial real estate. It means a property is ready for immediate use. Your house has to be that way when buyers have a cornucopia of houses to choose from. You have to make it a 100 percent turnkey situation.  Everything has to be ready to roll, because buyers never want to buy a house that needs a lot of work unless it's an absolute bargain. You have to take away all their opportunities to say no.