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The depressed housing market has many home sellers acting as their own real estate agent to try and keep more money in their pockets.

With home prices falling 4.7% last year, according to CoreLogic, sellers are looking to side step the 5% to 6% commission real estate agents typically take from sales.

But selling a home yourself isn’t as easy as posting a for sale sign on your front lawn. From setting the right price to attracting buyers, there’s a lot you need to know if you want to successfully sell your home.

“Selling a home without the help of a real estate professional is no easy task, and it isn’t the right decision for everyone,” says Jill Simmons of Zillow, a real estate website. “Most sellers hire agents especially for their expertise in setting a competitive price and for their negotiation experience.”

Setting the Right Price

How you price your home could be the difference between selling it in a couple of months or it languishing on the market for several months to a year.  “Price is the most important decision you can make in the entire process,” says Matt Brown, director of business at ForSaleByOwner.com. “We recommend that home sellers get a full blown appraisal.”

A full appraisal typically costs $300 to $500, but according to Brown, the process will provide an unbiased opinion of how much the home is worth on the open market.  Brown says to build some negotiating room into your asking price because buyers like to perceive they are a getting deal.

But don’t price it too aggressively; you risk turning off potential buyers by setting the price too high. “You want to price your home to sell and avoid pricing high thinking you can come down on price later,” says Simmons. “This is especially true in today’s market where there is a lot of housing inventory and not a lot of buyer demand.”

If you don’t want to pay for an appraisal, Simmons says to use online tools and real estate websites to learn the selling prices of comparable homes in your neighborhood. You can also visit local open houses to see how your house compares.

Take emotion out of the equation when determining a selling price. Realistically look at your house and how it will sell against others on the market in your vicinity.

Make a Listing

One a price has been determine, it’s time to list the home. Experts say it can to pay for an ad in the local paper, but warns buyers are increasingly using the Internet to do their initial search. According to Brown, 93% of home buyers start their home search online. For around $80 a month you can list your home on ForSaleByOwner.com. The website offers other packages that give you access to other real estate websites as well. You can list your home for free on Zillow, Yahoo! Real Estate and Craigslist .  

No matter what online marketplace you use to list the home, the post should include detailed information about the property along with numerous images of the inside and outside of the home. Brown suggests including any extra details like marble counter tops or recessed lighting.

Post high-quality photos that show your home in the best light possible.  “Take photos of everything people care about – the kitchen, the bathrooms, the closets and the yard. The more photos the better,” says Simmons. Before you embark on your photo shoot make sure to de-clutter your home and get rid of any knick knacks or family photos. Make it as easy as possible for buyers to envision their belongings in your house.

Showing the House

On top of having a good home profile, you need to be flexible and available to show the house at a moment’s notice. Keep the house is clean and the lawn well maintained at all times. “Start to detach from the house emotionally,” says Brown. “Think of this as a business transaction and start thinking of your next house.”

Once you get an offer, experts say it pays to have an attorney by your side during the process. Rules and regulations of the home-selling process vary by state—and some require an attorney. There are websites that allow you to download contracts and attorney referral services.

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How to Be Your Own Real Estate Agent

LIVERMORE, CA--(Marketwire -02/15/12)- Epicor Software Corporation, a global leader in business software solutions for manufacturing, distribution, retail and services organizations, today congratulated Epicor customers Big Ass Fans, Card-Monroe Corporation, Chirch Global Manufacturing LLC, Drallim Industries and HARBEC Inc. on their being named winners of the 2012 Manufacturing Leadership 100 (ML100) Awards.

The Manufacturing Leadership Summit and Awards program is presented by Manufacturing Executive, the global community for manufacturing leadership. Now in their eighth year, the Manufacturing Leadership 100 Awards honor manufacturing companies and individual manufacturing leaders that are shaping the future of global manufacturing and have demonstrated achievement across a wide variety of domains including sustainability, operational excellence, workforce development, innovation, entrepreneurship, and industry advocacy.

Chatanooga, Tenn.-based Card-Monroe Corporation, the world's leading manufacturer of custom-built tufting equipment and Epicor ERP customer, was named a winner in the Innovative Enterprise category. The company was lauded for its accelerated product and process innovation through collaboration with customers, partners, and internal stakeholders; the implementation of standard, measurable processes; the deployment of advanced technologies; and positive impacts on operating results and process efficiencies.

McHenry, Ill.-based Chirch Global Manufacturing LLC was named a winner in the Global Value Chain Award category for forging a new collaborative manufacturing business model. The Chirch Global Manufacturing Network is comprised of business owners of small to medium size manufacturing companies that collectively bring added-value to customers in the increasingly competitive and complex global manufacturing playing field. This marks the second consecutive year Chirch Global has been named to the ML100 list. The company has leveraged its investment in the Epicor Express Manufacturing Edition on demand Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution to innovate and evolve manufacturing to keep the dream of "Made in America" alive.

Drallim Industries, based in St. Leonards-on-Sea in East Sussex, England, was named a winner in the Information Leadership Award category for its use of the Epicor ERP solution to support competitive and business advantage via enterprise process improvements that deliver actionable, real-time visibility into critical business operations.

HARBEC Inc., a contract injection molder and precision manufacturer located in upstate New York, was named a winner in the Sustainability Awards category, for its adoption of the Epicor Carbon Connect carbon accounting solution to support its goals of being carbon neutral by 2013, and pursuit of certification to the newly released ISO 50001 energy management systems standard, which requires systematic documentation of carbon emissions using solutions such as Epicor Carbon Connect.

Also honored as an Manufacturing Entrepreneur Award winner was Carey Smith, president and chief executive officer of Epicor customer Lexington, Ky.-based Big Ass Fans.

"On behalf of all of us here at Epicor, we congratulate all our Epicor customers who have been recognized for their exceptional industry leadership, vision, and execution," said John Hiraoka, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Epicor. "We're pleased to provide the technology that runs and drives today's innovative companies that are defining the future of global manufacturing."

About Epicor Software Corporation
Epicor Software Corporation is a global leader delivering business software solutions to the manufacturing, distribution, retail and services industries. With nearly 40 years of experience serving midmarket organizations and divisions of Global 1000 companies, Epicor has more than 20,000 customers in over 150 countries. Epicor enterprise resource planning (ERP), point of sale (POS), supply chain management (SCM), and human capital management (HCM) enable companies to drive increased efficiency and improve profitability. With a history of innovation, industry expertise and passion for excellence, Epicor inspires customers to build lasting competitive advantage. Epicor provides the single point of accountability that local, regional and global businesses demand. The Company's headquarters are located in California, with offices and affiliates worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.epicor.com.

Follow Epicor on Twitter @Epicor, @EpicorUK, @EpicorEMEA, @EpicorAU, @Epicor_Retail, @Epicor_DIST and Facebook.

Epicor is a registered trademark of Epicor Software Corporation. Other trademarks referenced are the property of their respective owners. The product and service offerings depicted in this document are produced by Epicor Software Corporation.

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Epicor Customers Named Manufacturing Leadership 100 (ML100) Award Winners

As the scoundrels arrived to look for parking, little did the unsuspecting offenders of decency know that an undercover sting had been set up to ruin their day.

I'd written two columns on the fraudulent use of disabled-driver placards in downtown Los Angeles, and the city's Department of Transportation was swooping in for a crackdown. My only regret was that department chief Jaime de la Vega claimed he had other things to do, so there went my chance of riding shotgun with him in his Hummer.

We gathered at 6:30 a.m. Friday. My fellow crime busters included DOT officials and undercover officers and Councilman Dennis Zine, who had arranged for an LAPD unit to join the operation. Zine, a former cop who's running for city controller, was eager to bust anyone who'd fake a disability to park free all day, robbing the city of badly needed revenue.

On Friday, the action was light at 4th and Hill streets. Having run my own stakeouts, I recommended that we move the operation to Grand Avenue between 2nd and 4th streets, and let me tell you something: I ought to be in line for a consulting contract. It was easy pickings up there.

Two undercover cops from DOT worked the street while Zine and I, along with the DOT suits, held back. We tried to look inconspicuous, but with Zine, it's like you're out there with Kojak, and the red jacket he was wearing wasn't exactly camouflage. Fortunately, even Barney Fife could have handled this job.

Right around 8 a.m., a woman in a black Honda Civic pulled into a metered space on the east side of Grand, near the Museum of Contemporary Art, and hung a blue placard. You never know for sure who's cheating, because not all disabilities are obvious. But when DOT sergeants Manny Garcia and Jessie Dyar ran a check, they learned that the placard was issued to someone other than the driver.

"It's my aunt's," the driver told me, claiming she had dropped her off at court.

It's OK to use a disabled person's placard to drop off or pick up that person and park within "reasonable proximity."

But was this driver parking for the day to go to work?

"No comment," said the woman, who was in her late 30s.

I asked how she could defend taking a space that someone on crutches, or in a wheelchair, might need. She looked past me as if I wasn't there. But she can't look past the $353 citation written by LADOT for parking the vehicle illegally, and another one written by the LAPD officers for using a placard issued to someone else. The latter fine starts at $250 and could go as high as $1,000. A judge has the option of tacking on six months in jail. An LADOT officer also confiscated her placard.

But before the ink was dry on the citations, another bust had begun across the street.

Two women had parked at consecutive meters and hung placards. They were both walking fine, no apparent disabilities. The first woman had a placard that had been issued to her, so she was in the clear legally, if not necessarily ethically. The second woman, driving a brand-new black Camaro, claimed she and her sister each have placards, and she happened to be in a car with her sister's placard.

Sgt. Dyar ran a check and said there was no record of the driver having any placard issued to her. DOT confiscated the placard and wrote her a $353 citation, and LAPD senior lead officers Karen Owens and Mike Fernandez wrote her the ticket with the $250-$1,000 fine.

The cited drivers looked more indignant than remorseful. Zine said they looked like "they'd been caught with their hand in the cookie jar." He said he plans to introduce a City Council motion calling for the city's legislative committee to explore ways to crack down on this kind of nonsense.

State legislation would be required to allow California cities to establish their own rules on placards. In other states, some cities have begun charging disabled drivers for parking at meters, thereby discouraging fraud. And it seems at least a no-brainer to hold someone with a placard to the same time constraints as any other person parking. Zine said he would consider all these things, especially if they could mean more spaces for the truly disabled. LADOT spokesman Bruce Gillman said that in Washington, D.C., disabled drivers have to pay at designated meters but can park for double the time as the non-disabled.

We could have filled a paddy wagon on Grand, but we moved to the 600 block of Hill Street, where the DOT had fielded a complaint about a serial placard abuser who ties up spaces that could be used by shoppers.

Just after 9 a.m., a guy in a big black Mercedes pulled into a metered space near the St. Vincent Jewelry Center. He looked around cautiously before placing a disabled placard on his dash. The coppers nailed him when he stepped onto the sidewalk, insisting it was his wife's placard.

He told me this was "the first time" he'd ever used it himself.

Do I look that stupid?

As the tickets were written, he sulked around with a "how dare you" look, as if we were the bad guys. Twice, he came over and stood 12 inches away from me, as if we were in a stare-down.

"Are you happy?" he asked.

No, I told him. I'm sad there are people like him in the world.

And I left him with something to think about:

"You could have parked for $10 today," I said. "Now it may end up costing you $1,000."

steve.lopez@latimes.com

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Cracking down on parking meter cheaters

13-02-2012 16:54 SLOM TV DOT TV

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