"Selling Your House in a Tough Market" by Ilona Bray, JD & Alayna Schroeder, JD

By Alain Burrese
If you are thinking of selling your house, either because you have to or just wish to, "Selling Your House in a Tough Market" by Ilona Bray, J.D. & Alayna Schroeder, J.D. will be a valuable read in your preparations. The book contains just over 200 pages of practical advice for the home seller. Besides the two authors, the advice comes from a panel of experts. Each chapter starts with a brief bio and the favorite home selling tips from the advisor who assisted with the chapter, NOLO sets the standard for making legal information accessible to everyone, and this book does just that for the home seller.

The book consists of ten chapters, or as the cover describes them, "10 Strategies That Work." Here is what you can expect from these chapters or strategies:

One: Know Your Market and Price It Right. Setting the right price from the beginning is a crucial step for attracting buyer interest. This chapter helps explore the market and determine the right price. It will also get you thinking about if you can afford to sell right now.

Two: Get It in Shape: Preinspections and Repairs. Before putting your house on the market you should investigate and deal with your house's repair needs so buyers won't either be turned off or be able to negotiate you into a corner. This chapter discusses inspecting your self and hiring a professional to inspect for you. It then address considerations of what to fix and what not to. A small blurb on disclosure laws is also included.

Three: Dress Your House for Success: Staging. You want to "stage" your house inside and out so that it looks too good to pass up. Staging is the act of physically preparing your property for sale, and this chapter offers a lot of advice on how to do just that. Everyone should consider the tips in this chapter before allowing people to view the home for sale.

Four: Get the Best of the Best: Hiring a Real Estate Professional. If you are going to use a real estate agent to help you sell your house, you want to find the best one out there to advise you about local market conditions, help with marketing strategy, and help finalize the sale. This chapter contains some practical advice on how to go about hiring an agent such as getting referrals, evaluating agent's presentations, questions to as a prospective agent. Good to read before signing a listing agreement.

Five: Save on Commissions: Sell It Yourself. If you are motivated to save on commission payments you can market and sell your house without the help of a real estate agent. This chapter outlines many of the things you will have to do if you chose the FSBO option, including marketing, creating listing sheets, open houses, negotiating with the buyer, and closing the deal.

Six: Making It Better Than the Rest: Buyer Incentives. You can offer special incentives to bring in buyers and their agents. Some of the incentives discussed in this chapter include seller financing, buying down interest rates, cost incentives, and home value incentives. All of these are aimed at sweetening the deal to sell your house.

Seven: Market Like a Madman. You will want to advertise and market your house creatively. This chapter provides advice on marketing on-line as well as getting the work out through a variety of means, including listing sheets, open houses, signs, postcards, and other ways to let people know your house is for sale.

Eight: Adjust Your Strategy If You Need To. You must know when and how to shift strategy if your house isn't selling. Dropping your price and figuring out what else might be wrong are the areas covered in this chapter. There is also a section on taking your house off the market temporarily.

Nine: Don't Sell Yet; Rent It Out. You may wish to take your house off the market and earn rental income with it. This short chapter is enough to get you thinking about what needs to be done if you decide to rent. The chapter provides additional NOLO titles you may wish to check out if you do decide to become a landlord. (You will need more information, this short chapter is just an introduction and does not provide enough for you to know what to do to rent your home out, the book is about selling afterall.)

Ten: Seal the Deal: Negotiating a Successful Sale. You will need to negotiate with a buyer to create a mutually agreeable contract to close the sale. This chapter will not make you an expert negotiator. It does provide a lot of information regarding the issues and terms the home seller will have to negotiate. There is also a good side box with information on negotiating strategy in a tough market.

This book contains a lot of useful information regarding selling a home, regardless of the market. The samplings above just give you an overview of the topics. In a "Tough Market" the information in this book is only more important. I'd recommend reading this book to anyone who is selling, or even thinking about selling, their home.

Alain Burrese, J.D. is a performance and personal development expert who teaches how to live, take action, and get things done through the Warrior's Edge. Alain combines his military, martial art, and Asian experiences with his business, law, and conflict resolution education into a powerful way of living with balance, honor, and integrity. He teaches how to use the Warrior's Edge to Take Action and Achieve Remarkable Results. Alain is the author of Hard-Won Wisdom From The School Of Hard Knocks, the DVDs Hapkido Hoshinsul, Streetfighting Essentials, Hapkido Cane, the Lock On Joint Locking series, and numerous articles and reviews. You can read more articles and reviews and see clips of his DVDs as well as much more at http://www.burrese.com