• 5 Feng Shui Concepts to Help a Home Sell
• 5 Things to do Before Putting Your Home on the Market
• 8 Reasons Why You Should Work With a REALTOR®
• 12 Questions to Ask When Choosing Your REALTOR®
• Checklist: 17 Service Providers You’ll Need When You Sell
• Does Moving Up Make Sense?
• Understand Agency Relationships
• Navigating Short Sales: What to Do When the Sale Price Leaves You Short
• Forms You’ll Need to Sell Your Home
• Open House Safety Tips
• How to Get an Offer on Your Home
• Moving Checklist for Sellers
• Simple Tips for Better Home Showings
• Low-Cost Ways to Spruce Up Your Home’s Exterior
• 12 Tips for Hiring a Remodeling Contractor
• Understanding Capital Gains in Real Estate
• What to Have on Hand for the New Owners

• Simply Stated Closing Summary: A quick reference guide used during the closing process to help the homebuyer better understand the key terms of their settlement documents. (Available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Russian, Japanese, & Tagalog)

• Prepare and Avoid: 70-Something Ways You Could Lose Your Home:  (Available in English, American, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Russian, Hindi, & Punjabi)  Title insurance is one of the most valuable forms of security that a home buyer/seller can have, yet its benefits are rarely explained.  This brochure provides the information.

• 41 Steps To Buying Your Home (Available in English, Spanish, Chinese, & Vietnamese) This color-coordinated checklist outlines the functions of the real estate professional, the lender, and the title company team.

• En Camino Al Sueno Americano -The Home Buying Process DVD This seven minute step-by-step description of the home buying process will assist in explaining the real estate process to first-time homebuyers, in Spanish.

Open House Safety Tips

An open house can be a great sales tool, but it also exposes you to numerous unfamiliar people for the first time. Stay safe by practicing these guidelines. 

• Call the local police department and ask them to have a squad care drive by during your open-house hours.
• Check your cell phone’s strength and signal prior to the open house. Have emergency numbers programmed on speed dial. Carry an extra, fully charged cell phone battery.
• Determine several “escape” routes that you can use in case of an emergency. Make sure all deadbolt locks are unlocked to facilitate a faster escape.
• Turn on the lights and open the curtains. These are not only sound safety procedures, but also great marketing tactics.
• Make sure that if you were to escape by the back door, you could escape from the backyard. Frequently, high fences surround yards that contain swimming pools or hot tubs.
• When prospective buyers begin to arrive, jot down their car descriptions, license numbers and physical descriptions.
• When showing the house, always walk behind the prospect. Direct them; don’t lead them. Say, for example, “The kitchen is on your left,” and gesture for them to go ahead of you.
• Notify a friend or a relative that you will be calling in every hour on the hour. And if you don’t call, they are to notify the police immediately.
• Inform a neighbor that you will be showing the house and ask if he or she would keep an eye and ear open for anything out of the ordinary.

Reprinted from REALTOR® magazine (REALTOR.org/realtormag) with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.