In today's market the home BUYER is top dog. The five year boom market is over. The thousands of dollars you had in increased equity has shrunk considerably. But you find yourself in the situation of having to sell your home for whatever reason. The situation looks bleak but there is a way to insure you get the most out of the sell. If you have owned your home for more than three years your equity situation is not has bad as you probably think. Although the market will not support the price you had hoped to get from your home, you will not pay as much for your next one. If you do not want to invest in an appraisal of your property contact a real estate agent. Explain that you are thinking of putting your home on the market. That you would like a list of all the homes that have sold in your neighborhood in the past six months and what they sold for, that you would like to know how many homes are on the market in your neighborhood and the asking price. You will want to know the average number of days on the market before you can expect to sell your home. Most agents call this a comparative market survey. They should be willing to provide this at no cost to you. Once you have this information you have the ability to determine what price your home will sell for. Now in all probability you are going to make a huge mistake when you put your home on the market. Although you know the average selling price per square foot you are going to come up with at least three reasons why your home is worth more than the others on the market. You are going to reason that you can always come down on the price. Do not open this door to grief. If you have to sell your home put the right price on it to start with. You can kill the initial interest in your home with to high a price and lengthen the selling process by months. Do not put yourself in a position of having to ask an agent what your home is worth. Determine your selling price by the information you have gathered. Once you have this information you can now decide whether to sell yourself or engage an agent. Look for Agent Selection on this blog in the next few days.