How do you compare to the competition of other homes in price, condition and availability? Can your agent determine how motivated and qualified is the buyer? Is the buyer's offer a fair one? Is a higher price reasonable and justified? Does the closing date give you time to move?

Consider closing before you have to move your household. You may ask for a few days to move out after you have your money from the closing. In this event, you will become the tenant because the house belongs to the buyer. Be sure you have the proper lease documents to protect you during this time. Remember also to advise your Insurance agent so that your furniture has coverage.

The buyer will hire a real estate home inspector who is licensed by the state of Texas. He will poke and prod your home from top to bottom, inside and out, for several hours.

This may hurt. It will feel like an invasion of your privacy. He will write a lengthy report of all the bad things or the possiblility of future problems he can find. The buyer may use this information to ask for further concessions from you on price and/or repairs. If you are not sure of the condition of key components of your home such as heating and air conditioning units or active termites, you should have these items checked before putting the house up for sale. Things such as a cracked furnace heater may scare off the buyer or cost the seller serveral thousand dollars in unexpected repairs.

The appraiser is hired by the buyer's mortgage company to make sure the lender is making a safe investment. He will measure and look over your home. He then uses square footage, age and neighborhood date to make a formal written report of his "opinion of market value". If his appraisal is lower than the buyer's offer, the lender may not make a loan for as much as the buyer needs in order to purchase the house.

Discuss the appraisal process with your listing agent and ask to check the recent sales of houses comparable to yours. Make a list of extra features and recent upgraded to give to the appraiser to help justify the sales price.

The survey is a drawing of the plat of the lot with all easements,improvements and building lines defined. If the property has not been surveyed for a few years, or improvements have been added, the survey should be ordered as soon as loan approval has been obtained in order to have time before closing to address any unexpected issues.