Questions about how to sell a house & Looking for realtor recomendations in Naperville/Aurora? (sales)

[buyingntheburbs]

I've never sold a house before. What is a typical contract with a listing agent? How long is it generally? What is a normal percent for commission. If I want to net 130k what would I need to sell for to cover closing costs and realtor fees? Also, just so I can playwith the numbers is there a general percentage to expect to pay for realtor and closing costs, docs, etc. Like 10 percent or something like that? Just trying to get an idea so I can figure out if I sell for 140k I pay 10 percent or 14k and walk away netting 126k or something like that? Also, any other tips or things you think I should know?

Also, can anyone recomend a good realtor in the Naperville/Aurora area?

[chet everett]

The amount you need / want to net is kind of irrelavent and I would avoid any discussion of it.

What you ought to do is research the recent sales of homes similar to yours, that MUST be the sort of "zero step" you take. If prices in your area have suffered it may be unrelatisic to expect any buyer to pay as much as you want...

If the have been sales that would make sense for you to believe your home can find buyers willing to pay what you would like you should then plan on intereviewing several real estate agents. The agents should present you with a completive market analysis that fits with the data you assembled on recent sales. The agentet should also discuss how they will market you property, including details about how they best get your home exposed to potential buyers via web sites and other information. It is not unreasonable to expect agents to discuss the fee that they would expect, with 6% being a not uncommon, but high, amount.

There is not much reon to sign a contract for longer than 3 months, as even if the average time on the market exceeds that a good agent ought to be confident that you will renew with them in the event more time is needed to find the right buyer...

Sellers do not have much to pay -- major fees fall onto the buy side of the deal. You ought to, however, plan on putting your home in TIP TOP condition and it may make sense to hire a home inspection svice to pin-point the areas that need immediate attention.

Thee are dozens, maybe thousands, of active real estate agents in Naaperville and Aurora. Choose the one that is responsive and realistic and your will be way ahead of one that works cheap, but no one eve can get ahold of, or one that sets prices that no one would ever pay...

If the agents you interview do not seem to doing the work full time, be very leery. It takes a full time agent to get the kinds of exposure your property needs, to answer inquiries from buyers and their agents, to stay tuned into market trends.

Some "mega listers"do a good job and have a system set up to be responsive, but test that out BEFORE you commit -- if you or friend tries to get info from the mega list about a home similar to yours before you list and there is not kind of contact that would encourage a quick and trouble-free sale then no discounted fee will make up for the fact that some mega listers do not lift a finger to actually HELP THE SALE PROCEED...