When marketing a home for sale it is important for the buyer to be able to imagine himself/herself living in the house. After all, people don't buy houses, they buy homes. To ensure a successful sale, a home needs to be priced correctly and it needs to be welcoming.

Ask a real estate agent for a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) because a real estate agent will normally have easy access to records of property sales in the local area. The real estate agent will search a radius around the property and will be able to tell you the high and low values in your area.

A CMA can serve as a guide to establishing a reasonable listing price when a property is placed for sale. The price is established by comparing the property to similar properties that have sold in the area within the past year.

However, a word of warning: just because a neighboring property sold for a particular price, doesn't mean all properties in the street are worth the same amount. And, just because a neighboring property is for sale at a particular price, doesn't mean that it will sell for that price. This is why it still pays to talk to an appraiser to get a more accurate accessment of what a particular property could be worth.

Although it's more time-consuming, sellers in the US can find the comparative sales information by visiting their county courthouse.

Although county records do not always list values on their transactions, they will give you a good indication of how many properties are selling.

Before you put your home on the market to sell... decide how “SERIOUS” you are about selling your home.