It is a big decision to make.  Now that you have made the decision to sell how do you get the most money for your home.

First you want to find other homes that are similar in age and size that have recently sold in your neighborhood.  This is called finding comparables for your home.

You want to find at least three homes that have the same number of bedrooms and bathroom, as well as similar square footage.  The closer the properties that have recently sold are to your property the better comparison it will be for the price you can expect for your home.

It is best to find homes that are approximately on the same sized lot and the same age as well.  To get comparables you can contact a local title company or a local real estate agent.

It is best to ask for 6-10 comparable properties when asking for comparable statistics.  Most agents and title companies will be happy to fax these over for you to view.

Once you have the property addresses it is a good idea to drive by these other properties to see how they compare visually to your house.

Ask yourself the following questions and take notes on them:
•    Is the property in better or worse condition than mine? (does it need paint, a new roof, fencing, etc.)
•    Are there any noise problems by the property that would lower the value. (busy street, railroad, industrial area)
•    What is the immediate curb appeal? (Do you feel drawn to the house, does it have character?

Make notes on each house as it is easy to forget details when you drive by many houses in one day.  You may even want to take photos of the houses for future reference.

When you have narrowed the comparables down to the 3 or 4 houses that closest resemble your own property, take and add up these properties sale prices.  Then add up the square footage for the properties.  

Now find the average sale price by dividing the sales price by the square footage.  You  now have the average price per square foot. 

Next simply take the average price per square foot and multiply it times the square footage of your house.

This will give you a good estimate on what you can expect to set for a fair price on your house.  This process is very similar to what is done when an appraisal is done on your house. 

If you are interviewing agents to list and help sell your property, it is best to have them do a comparable analysis for you as part of the interviewing process.  It will not take them much time and they will be happy to do it for you to help win your business.

When you have a figure to go by you need to look at your needs for selling the home.  The price you want to set for your home is partially determined by your need to sell the property.

If you need to sell fast then take the figure you have come up with and lower it by 3 to 10 percent depending on how fast you need to sell.

If you are just testing the market and are not in a hurry to sell your house you can ask more than the average that you came up with.

Keep in mind selling your home is effected by simple supply and demand.  You want to receive as much for the price of your home as possible.  The buyer wants to get the lowest price they can.

You can ask real estate agents that you interview if it is a buyer or seller’s market.  If it is a buyers market it means there are more people selling houses than looking for houses.  This means it may take your house longer to sell and you may want to consider a slightly lower price for the house.

If it is a sellers market it means just the opposite.  More people are looking for houses than there are houses available.  This drives the market price up and you may want to consider going to the high side of the figures you come up with for a fair price to sell your home.

Remember, it only takes one person that falls in love with your house to buy it, but if there are better properties on the market then yours, the house will have the tendency to sit on the market longer than you may desire.

Follow this formula for setting your price for the sale of your house.  Talk to other real estate professionals and get their opinions, but remember the final decision on pricing your house is totally up to you.