In Simple and Sold, Sissy Lappin turns the home selling business upside down. Pretty much everything you’ve read or heard by listing agents no longer applies in today’s Internet-savvy world. Forget the old rules that require you to employ an agent to sell a piece of property. Now, you can sell your house yourself! Now, you can get top dollar when representing yourself! And yes, you will pocket thousands—or even tens of thousands—of dollars more as a result.
Sissy Lappin should know: she is a top producing real estate agent, having closed over ½ billion on deals all over the United States. But that wasn’t always the case. When Lappin first applied to work as an agent with one of Houston’s most prestigious firms, she was told, “Honey, you’re never going to work in real estate.” According to them, she had failed the personality test. They were sorry, but she just wasn’t cut-out for the real estate business.
Then at the age of 25, she went through her first foreclosure. She made the classic mistake of co-signing for a family member she thought was trustworthy. Years later, she came to a startling conclusion: she could have avoided that whole foreclosure mess if she only she had preserved the equity in the property by handling the sale herself. This was one of those “aha moments” that changes one’s life. Sissy became an independent, licensed real estate broker and has never looked back.
Now in this ground-breaking book, Sissy Lappin teaches home owners how they can successfully handle their own property sale and keep the commission for themselves. She walks the reader through how to prepare the home for selling, how to list it on the most trafficked websites, how to create marketing materials that actually work for you, how to manage appointments, how to protect yourself, how to navigate the negotiations, and how to close the deal. In addition, she explains the contract and paperwork; and honestly, it’s not that complicated.
As an added bonus, book readers receive a wealth of resources, including check lists, timelines, what to look for in a purchase contract, questions for your appraiser, and more. She also offers a DVD set for purchase.
Armed with this new information, I will sell my own home the next time I make a move. As for those who read Simple and Sold but still decide not to sell themselves, at least they will be making a fully-educated decision. They’ll know they could have opted to do it themselves and will realize paying 6 percent or more in commissions was an option they weren’t required to take.
Even though the pitch for DIY is a bit repetitive for my tastes, the quality of information in this well-written book compels me to give it my highest recommendation.
Carolyn Warren