When you sell your home and finally get that check it will not be for the full sales price amount. Even if you own your home free and clear of any mortgages, there are still fees that will be taken out before you see any money.

The agent who lists your house should go over these charges with you when they first talk to you about listing your home. You need to know what kind of money you'll walk away with (and IF you'll walk away with any) so that you can make plans for where you'll be going next.

This estimate should then be redone when you get an actual offer on the house. Especially in this market, there can be a substantial difference between what you originally listed for and what the house eventually sells for. It's in everyone's best interest to make sure there are no ugly surprises at the settlement table.

Some of the things you should expect to see on the list of estimated charges are closing fees paid to settlement companies or attorneys. This is the money they charge for preparing all the documents, communicating with your mortgage company about the payoff and for actually conducting the settlement and recording the deed.

You will pay transfer charges which are essentially a tax levied by the government on the sale of your home. In general, in our area right now, that will be $1 for every $1000 of sales price. So, if you sell for $400,000 that tax will be $400.

You will pay a commission to both the listing agent and to the agent representing the buyer.

If you have a mortgage, you'll not only pay off the existing balance, you'll also pay a partial month's interest. Because interest is paid each month in arrears, meaning in February you're paying the interest for January, there will be interest due from the partial month in which you close. How much that is will depend on what day of the month you settle.

Other charges you may pay include termite inspection fee (typically $50-$70), Closing Cost Assistance for Purchaser, and fees for well and septic inspection.

There may also be other expenses out of your pocket before settlement that you'll need to know about. If you live in an HOA there will be a charge for obtaining a copy of the homeowners association documents. (Typically about $100.) If there is a home inspection by the buyers, there may be repairs you're required to make as a result. A good estimate will attempt to give you some idea of what those might run.

This will be an imperfect document. There's never any way to know precisely each and every piece of this. But it's a great source of satisfaction to me when I get really close to that final number.

By the way, in my opinion it's a good idea to estimate on the high side. No one has ever complained at closing that they walked away with too much money! But a seller who expects more and takes away less can be a problem!

Today I was out at a number of listings and saw something that seemed worth mentioning here. If your house is for sale, with any luck, strangers are going to be trooping through it on a regular basis. Yes, they will be accompanied by a licensed real estate agent, but it's impossible to watch every move everyone makes every second.

Today I saw a diamond ring laying on a dining room table! Anyone in this business for any length of time has heard horror stories about things going missing from homes for sale. It doesn't happen often and there's much you can do to protect yourself. First of all, get expensive jewelry out of the house if you're not wearing it. A safe deposit box is an excellent idea unless you've already got a safe in the house. Don't leave valuable items laying in plain sight where it might create a temptation. And the temptation doesn't have to be an inclination towards theft. A toddler seems something pretty and shiny and wanders off with it. Believe me, these things happen!

One of the other things to think about is prescription medication. This is especially true if you have any medication in the house that is likely to sell well on the black market, think anything in the narcotic family. Hide these in a place other than the medicine cabinet.

And it's always a good idea to start packing up now! Rent a storage unit or stick boxes in basements or garages.

Some things are an annoyance if they go missing. Other things are irreplacable. Whatever the case, you're much better off taking precautions ahead of time!

I was speaking with a friend this week about how unprepared many first time home buyers are for the true costs of home ownership. When people set out to determine if they can afford a home the look at whether they can afford the mortgage payment including taxes and insurance. And, maybe they include the cost of utilities. But I don't believe most people consider whether they can afford the real costs of home ownership.

By that I mean that inevitably almost as soon as you move into a house something breaks down! And, generally speaking, repairs cost money. Each succeeding generation seems to get a little less handy, a little less knowledgeable about how to fix anything. That means calling a repair person when something breaks and shelling out your hard earned dollars for both the parts and the repair.

Houses need constant maintenance. If you have any hope of selling your home for more than you bought it for, you'll have to keep it in good condition. You'll have to paint regularly, clean gutters, have the furnace/air conditioner serviced and a host of other things. In a world where most of us have very little spare time this often gets contracted out. Again, you're talking about needing money to pay for that.

Very little is done to prepare people for the true costs of home ownership. Many people don't think about these things until they own a house and then wonder where they'll get the money when something breaks. Or, they live with the things that break and adjust accordingly and don't really think about it until they decide to sell. Then a real estate agent is going to come through and tell you that your home is unlikely to sell at the price you want until you fix those things.

The mortgage industry certainly isn't doing much to prepare people for these financial realities. And, in truth, neither are real estate agents. I think it's time to change that!

This is the next installment in our series on how to choose a real estate agent.

One of the questions I believe you should ask any potential agent is "Do you guarantee satisfaction with your services in writing and if I'm not satisifed, will you release me from our agreement?"

All of my listings have an Easy Exit Guarantee. It says simply that if you're not satisfied with the work I'm doing in trying to sell your home, you can cancel the listing agreement at any time.

And, if you're a buyer working with me, the Exclusive Buyer Agency agreement can also be cancelled with written notice.

No agent with an ounce of sense should ever try to hold a buyer or a seller to an agreement when they're not happy. (For what it's worth, I've also terminated agreements with clients when I believed we were not a good fit!)

And while common sense will tell you that any agent should let a client go when they get such a request, it doesn't always happen. This is definitely a conversation that should happen up front. You don't want to ask the question for the first time when you're unhappy.

Any one running a small business is very dependent on personal referrals for their business. One very unhappy individual can do a huge amount of harm to your business. I simply don't understand why every agent wouldn't make it their policy to release a client when they ask. But I know from experience that not everyone has this policy!

So make sure it's one of the questions you ask when you interview an agent!

I was out showing homes this afternoon and was reminded why I tell my sellers to please leave when the house is shown!

One home had a mother and her two daughters there. The home is by appointment only. And, I'm not sure why they chose to stay.

But their remarks led us to conclude pretty quickly that this is a divorce situation. They didn't say "we have to sell because of a divorce" but gave enough verbal clues that we deduced it without much trouble. The problem with that from the seller's perspective is that we've now got information that gives us leverage in a negotiation.

Every seller I've ever spoken with who wants to stay when buyers come swears they would never give away anything that would hurt them in negotiations. But strangely enough, almost without exception, every home I show where the sellers stay they definitely give me useful information. I've even had them tell me they'll take less than asking price! Talk about hurting your negotiating strategy!

And, after you've done this a few years you develop a sixth sense for what's going on. Sometimes you can sense the desperation. Sometimes they tell you they're desperate.

Back to the home today. The two daughters were clearly giving us signs they didn't want to move. No one wants to feel like they're throwing someone out of their home! If there's even an inkling that we'd be doing them a favor by not buying the house, in this market, that sale is dead. There are just too many homes to choose from where that's not the case!

So, sellers, do yourself a favor and leave the house. Or, if you just can't do it, put some duct tape over your mouth and hide in the closet!