Many homeowners think that "marketing" their home amounts to planting a "For Sale" sign in the front yard and placing a classified ad in the paper.  While these are elements of a marketing plan, they are only a small piece of a comprehensive marketing campaign.

The primary reason that most sellers use a professional real estate agent is that the agent and his or her company have the knowledge and resources that cannot be matched by a typical homeowner -- a marketing services department to prepare brochures and flyers, direct mail agency to send mass mail-outs to prospective buyers, television advertising production, connections with other cooperating brokers in the area, hundreds of agents who will try to sell their company's listings, access to the Multiple Listing System (MLS) used by all real estate agents in the area, the ability to market homes on the Internet and other mass media, an "inventory" of ready and willing buyers, knowledge of the financial and legal requirements of selling a home, and so on.

Whether you use an agent to sell your home or try to do it yourself, your sales campaign should consist of most if not all of the following elements:

• For Sale sign in your front yard and directional signs leading from major road arteries.
• Open houses held on the weekend to show your home to buyers.
• Listing in the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS) computer.
• Aggressive promotion to local real estate offices (up to 50% of all sales involve other cooperating brokers acting on your behalf).
• Advertisements in selected local newspapers and other specialized market-specific publications.
• Promotion of your home on the Internet.
• Other innovative marketing strategies that may be useful or required for your type and/or location of home.