Here are a few tips that might help you out.
Get it prepared to be sold.
Cut the grass, remove all weeds, and do whatever you can to clean up the home cosmetically. It must have “curb appeal,” if you want people to want to buy your home. Plant flowers, add new mulch, and make sure it smells good. People will be instantly turned off, if they smell your dog or cat box.
Eliminate all clutter and take down all family pictures. Buyers want to be able to picture their stuff in your home to make it their own. If it is cluttered and over decorated you can forget about selling your home.
Homes that are listed with Realtors are in top shape, and if they aren’t they are offered at a better price. Make your home look good, and offer it at a bargain price and you have a sale.
If you aren’t willing to put in the effort to get your home ready to sell, the price must reflect this.
Pricing is Everything for You
People looking to buy for sale by owner properties are looking for deals. They believe that if the seller isn’t using a Realtor that their house should be priced aggressively. If it isn’t priced at fair market value you can forget about selling your home.
Find out what the house down the street sold for. If it sold for $200,000 with an agent, would it make sense for you to price it at $210,000. Instead sell it at $195,000 so it looks like a bargain, and therefore leading to a quicker sale.
A good Realtor will be happy to do a CMA with no strings attached. The Realtor will provide you with a price range that your home will sell for within a specified time frame, that is supported by market data.
Market your home
The MLS is the bible for all Real Estate transactions and you will not be listed on the MLS. You have to get your home listed on as many non-mls websites as possible.
Since you are saving money by not hiring a Realtor, spend some of your savings on getting your home exposed. You can put your home on local for sale by owner websites like IAHomesforSale. Don’t forget about websites like Craigslist.com, Oodle.com, Trulia.com, and Zillow.com.
Weed out the time-wasters.
Find out if people are pre-qualified for financing before they see your home. Ask questions like, “What type of loan are you approved for?” This could tell you if they have spoke with a bank or not.
Ask them to bring a pre-qualification letter. If they do, that shows they are serious about buying a home.
Negotiate a deal and write up a contract.
Get a Real Estate attorney. They will help you write up a contract that protects your best interest. This is alone is a huge reason why you should hire a Realtor from the start.
Think like a salesman. Since you did your pricing research you should know if their offer is good or not with respect to the current market. Don’t be afraid to accept an offer 5-10% below market value, because people buying For Sale by Owner properties are looking for a bargain.
Offer 3.5% to a buyer’s agent.
Realtors control about 90% of the qualified buyers out there, so be prepared to handle an inquiry from a Real Estate agent. They will expect to be payed a commission if they bring the buyer to your home.
Sometimes if you advertise that you will pay a buyer’s commission it will likely sell your home if it is priced correctly.
The Closing Process
Get ready for inspections and be prepared to re-negotiate the deal if major issues arise. Make sure you accurately disclosed the defects of your property before somebody wrote an offer on your property.
The buyer will have an appraisal done on the property to get their financing approved. If you were over-priced and the buyer wasn’t educated they will not get approved for the loan. Again, this points to the importance of pricing your home correctly.
In Summary
Price your home correctly if you want it to sell. It may just be 90% of your marketing. If you don’t you are only wasting your time and money. You’ll need a way to expose your home to buyers, and the internet makes this possible for you.
Be prepared to handle an inquiry from a Realtor, and offer them a commission to attract more qualified buyers.
Get an attorney to handle your contracts because a tiny little error could end up costing you more than if you hired a Realtor. Sometimes hiring a Realtor could be the best money ever spent.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi there. Nice website, great to see an agent focusing on de-cluttering their website. It’s funny cause agents always tell sellers to de-clutter their homes, but don’t practice their words on teh business front!
Thanks for the compliment on the website. I’m trying to refresh the way real estate is done in our area. Continue to check back, as this website is in it’s early phases.