Selling Your House: Nolo's Essential Guide

by Ilona Bray J.D.

Overview

Homes are in high demand: Don’t sell yours for less than it’s worth!

The U.S. housing market offers solid possibilities for selling one’s home at a profit. But what should you do first—or at all? Renovate or remodel? Call an agent? Wait for peak selling season? Selling Your House: Nolo’s Essential Guide gives you useful tools for strategizing and preparing, selecting the strongest offer, and closing the deal, including:

• making your property look its best
• determining the right sale price and time
• working with agents
• choosing among buyers’ bids, and
• negotiating the contract.

Arrange a quick and successful home sale with this all-in-one guide.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781413332278
Publisher:	NOLO
Publication date:	02/01/2025
Edition description:	6th ed.
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Ilona Bray is an author and legal editor at Nolo, specializing in real estate, immigration law, and nonprofit fundraising. She is coauthor of Becoming a U.S. Citizen, U.S. Immigration Made Easy, Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home and numerous other top selling books. Bray's working background includes solo practice, nonprofit, and corporate stints, as well as long periods of volunteering, including an internship at Amnesty International's main legal office in London. She received her law degree and a Masters degree in East Asian (Chinese) Studies from the University of Washington. 

Table of Contents

Introduction: What's Ahead in Selling Your Home 1. First Steps: What You Can Do NOW to Get Ready to Sell 2. Getting Expert Help: Hiring a Real Estate Agent, Lawyer, and Accountant 3. Prep Work: Pre Inspections, Repairs, and Improvements 4. Telling Buyers What You Know: Disclosure Laws 5. Spiffing Up Your House: Decluttering, Cleaning, and Staging 6. Pricing Your House to Sell and Sell High 7. Websites, Open Houses, and Other Marketing Tools 8. Receiving and Evaluating Offers 9. Demystifying Your House Sale Contract 10. Keeping Up Momentum, From Escrow to Closing 11. Selling Without an Agent: Smart or Scary? Index

Interviews

This was a fun book to write, as it involved talking to a people with multiple perspectives on the process of selling a home―real estate agents, stagers, inspectors, attorneys, and so on. Each brought a depth of knowledge that can only be gained through years of experience. They have seen not only how home-sale transactions go right, but how they can quickly go awry―and how to get them back on track.

Editorial Reviews

"Author Ilona Bray won the first place Gold Award in the Robert Bruss competition for her book: Selling Your House: Nolo's Essential Guide, published by NOLO. The awards recognize excellence in books published in 2015 covering the broad field of real estate. NAREE's (National Association of Real Estate Editors) judges commented that Bray's book is a clear, thorough handbook on selling a house and judges noted the helpful tips served as good preparation for those who may not have been in the market for a while."
"With the help of real estate agents and home sellers who contributed stories and tips, Bray presents the big picture: key steps for selling your home. She recommends reviewing these steps before diving into the process of learning what to expect and seeing how the different pieces fit together. The book covers getting your property ready for sale, selecting a real estate agent, lawyer, and accountant, learning about disclosure laws, marketing tools, and your house sale contract, among other things." Eithne O'Leyne, Editor, ProtoView

"Another helpful offering from a company goes out of its way to provide timely material." Tom Kelly, nationally syndicated columnist and author.

"Nolo's Selling Your House is a good way to dip your feet in the housing market without getting wet". Midwest Book Review, Peggy Tibbetts, Reviewer

Author Comments: This was a fun book to write, as it involved talking to a people with multiple perspectives on the process of selling a home―real estate agents, stagers, inspectors, attorneys, and so on. Each brought a depth of knowledge that can only be gained through years of experience. They have seen not only how home-sale transactions go right, but how they can quickly go awry―and how to get them back on track.

From the Publisher

"Author Ilona Bray won the first place Gold Award in the Robert Bruss competition for her book: “Selling Your House: Nolo's Essential Guide,” published by Nolo. The awards recognize excellence in books published in 2015 covering the broad field of real estate. NAREE’s (National Association of Real Estate Editors) judges commented that Bray’s book is a “clear, thorough handbook on selling a house” and judges noted the helpful tips served as “good preparation for those who may not have been in the market for a while.”

"With the help of real estate agents and home sellers who contributed stories and tips, Bray presents the big picture: key steps for selling your home. She recommends reviewing these steps before diving into the process of learning what to expect and seeing how the different pieces fit together. The book covers getting your property ready for sale, selecting a real estate agent, lawyer, and accountant, learning about disclosure laws, marketing tools, and your house sale contract, among other things." Eithne O'Leyne, Editor, ProtoView

"Another helpful offering from a company goes out of its way to provide timely material.” Tom Kelly, nationally syndicated columnist and author.

"Nolo's "Selling Your House" is a good way to dip your feet in the housing market without getting wet.
Midwest Book Review, Peggy Tibbetts, Reviewer

Eithne O'Leyne