As a real estate investor who regularly buys and then re-sells houses, I often have occasion to hire real estate agents to put my houses on the MLS. However, I see my relationship with my real estate agent differently than most homeowners, that’s probably fair to say when I try to sell my house.

Back when I was beginning to learn how to sell my house I starting out doing it like everybody else did it at the time, and hadn’t developed the understanding about my personal responsibility as a seller. What I mean is that I thought if I signed a listing agreement then the agent became completely responsible for the transaction immediately. Basically, I turned over all responsibility and attention to my agent and pursued other real estate deals. But, over time I realized that is not how to sell my house at all. And it is certainly not how to go about the process required to sell your own home.

It’s easy to find plenty of websites and lots of articles online as well as printed pamphlets describing the common traits that house sellers want to find in agents. They want agents who understand their needs, who are trustworthy, who bring qualified buyers and not just lookers to see the house, who do not pressure them to lower the price or sell to a particular buyer, who have good connections with buyers and other people in their industry, who are expert negotiators and who have careful attention on the details of all their listings every day.

I’ve noticed that some sellers desire a long history of sales success, as well, when they are contemplating hiring an agent. I’m not sure they that list always provides what a particular seller needs. Probably the thing I’ve learned about how to sell my house that is most important is that every seller has specific needs. An agent must be sensitive to the needs of each seller. Sellers, for example, selling a quaint cabin in the woods have very different needs than owners of a large horse-training property. While that’s just one example, it shows you what I mean by specific.

I hire real estate agents who allow me sell my house by owner without obligation to pay a real estate commission. This is not a common arrangement, but it is legal. I also hire agents who put my house on the MLS with the agreement that I can market my house myself, too. I discuss all these requirements with my prospective agents before hiring them to help me sell my house, and I am suggesting that you think carefully about your own needs as well. Take time to find the right agent for your own purposes, one who agrees to provide all the services, and only the services you want.

I’ve noticed that more and more house sellers, probably more than ever before since I’ve been an investor, are looking to get on with selling houses as fast as possible.. Many of these sellers to their real estate agents first, and by doing so they seem to think their agent and everyone else involved will share their anxiety. Well, it simply won’t work that way when you’re selling houses fast. How it works is quite different, but it’s pretty simple when you understand the reality of it.

I have become quite familiar with various levels of pricing in the local real estate markets where I operate my business, and understand that those levels change over time. Naturally, market prices fluctuate due to the economy, especially right now. Certain buyers pay more than other buyers in any economy, so I plan my marketing and sales activities on the various types of buyers I am acquainted with. Probably the biggest difference between various types of buyers is just how fast they can close on a sale, meaning, how fast they can come up with the money.

Selling houses fast is primarily due to two things, which are finding the buyer and getting the right buyer with enough money to close the sale now. Sometimes a seller can run across issues that cause delays in closing, but this is not as common as sellers having their own issues. Typical delays are all about buyer financing, especially in the current mortgage market. Buyers and sellers are all devastated when a buyer with a good job and a good credit rating is denied a mortgage loan for inexplicable reasons, a somewhat common occurrence for learning how to sell a house.

I assure you that finding your perfect buyer, the person or the couple with the motivation and the cash to close quickly is much faster if you call investors who buy and sell houses. Investors might decide to keep some of the houses they buy as rentals, but more often they repair and remodel their houses and re-sell them in order to profit.

I doubt you can find a better way or a faster way, when you’re focused on selling houses fast, than deciding to work with real estate investors who pay cash and close quickly. For the most part, it’s much faster than working with typical homeowners. You get to decide whether you’re more interested in a higher selling price, usually to a homeowner, or a very fast and easy close, usually to an investor. It’s your call.

You’ve probably seen that there are thousands of articles on the web telling you how to sell your home, even if you haven’t actually read most of them. Does it make you wonder what information you still need to learn on the subject of how to sell your house? After selling dozens of houses over the last thirty years, I can see that the experiences individual sellers are having selling a house directly influences what they think about selling houses in general.

I guess that’s basically what most people do whenever they accumulate some personal experience on any subject. Personally, because I have decades of personal experience about how to sell your house, and when I write on this subject what I share comes from my personal experience over many years, selling many houses.

I’m guessing that most of you are curious, and wondering what I have to share about how to sell your house. You’re probably wondering if I’m any different from all the thousands of other “experts” on the web. This article has a main point, and it is designed to convince homeowners that they are completely, 100% responsible for selling their own houses.

Furthermore, I’m not saying that other people cannot be of assistance to you, and help you sell your house, because they definitely can be of great help. When you choose to delegate some of your personal responsibility to agents, lawyers, bankers and title company professionals, you will find that you cannot delegate the whole project to others. Please take note: this is an incredibly important point when you’re looking for ideas about how to sell your house.

As I mentioned, there are certainly professionals available to help you sell your house. However, in spite of all their knowledge and skills, none of them will ever have your deep personal motivation and strong drive to sell your house. It’s not fair to expect even the most professional real estate agents or lawyers to “own” the pressure when trying to sell a house. Having the abilities and the documents needed to sell a house is not the same thing as having the personal need to sell a house, not even close.

So, how do these basic facts affect you as a seller? Now you know that whoever you hire to assist you in selling your house is only helping you, not replacing you. It’s your job to follow up and refuse to blame others if your house has not sold in your chosen time frame for a sale.

It’s possible that you haven’t chosen the best people to help you out, or perhaps you failed to invest sufficient time in the project yourself. Just remember that you must absolutely feel the full weight of the responsibility and you must care. There you have my best advice on the subject of how to sell your home.