BEFORE GOING by Owner there are 10 Essential Questions to Ask Yourself:

CAN YOU QUALIFY A BUYER?
How do you or the buyer determine that he is financially qualified to purchase your home? Can you obtain the buyer's income and expense figures without the buyer feeling you're getting too "personal"?

HOW MUCH WILL YOU REQUIRE FOR A DEPOSIT?
Would you take a $1000, $5,000 or what amount for a deposit? Remember you will possibly have your home off the market for four to six weeks? What type of legal instrument will you use to bind the sale?

WILL YOU HOLD "OPEN HOUSE" 24 HOURS A DAY?
Will you always be home for prospective buyers? How can you prevent strangers from parading through at all hours? What about unsavory characters? Can you tell by looking at a person whether they should be admitted to look you over? They could be totally waisting your time and you would not know. Prospects looking at homes do not like to disclose personal information to a seller

WILL YOU FOLLOW UP ON YOUR PROSPECTS?
How do you keep track of prospective buyers? In most cases, a sale is made the second, third or fourth time a house is shown to a buyer.

CAN YOU SPOT TROUBLE IN A DEAL?
If problems arise, do you have the knowledge OR the experience to hold the deal together? Many times, stubborn "head-to-head" confrontations between seller and buyer result in a lost sale. Other times is the financing that kills the deal at the last minute and sellers are never kept udated on what is going on until it is too late!

CAN YOU UNCOVER HIDDEN OBJECTIONS?
Prospects will readily discuss their objections to your home with a Realtor but are very apprehensive about telling an owner directly to his face... and all you will hear is what a nice home... but will never see them again!

HOW WILL YOU FIND THE "BEST" BUYER?
3% of sales come from ads; 1% from open houses with yard signs attracting even less!

WILL YOU PRICE YOUR HOME PROPERLY?
Do you know how to price your home correctly? -- You can overprice it and sit with it or under price it and lose much more than the cost of a Realtor's fee.

Or would you know if your home has not so obvious added inherent value a given buyer will pay additional money for?

CAN YOU HELP A BUYER SECURE A MORTGAGE?
Do you know how to help the buyer obtain a mortgage? What would you do if the buyer goes to his 'friend' to obtain a loan and that mortgage person has little experience, is unethical or has no clue how to truly get an approval from an underwriter in time for your closing date... leaving you stranded to start all over again with a different buyer if financing fell through.