Top 10 Tips on How to Sell Your Home by Yourself

Selling your home by yourself takes planning, effort and commitment. By using some simple FSBO (For Sale by Owner) tips and techniques, the average homeowner can sell his or her own home without the assistance of a real estate agent. Just as many others have done in the past. You can sell your own home and save thousands, but, it takes work and commitment.

Below you will read some simple strategies that can stack the odds in your favor, greatly increasing your chances for success when selling on your own.

FSBO Tip 1. Understanding the real estate market
Getting an idea of your local market conditions makes good sense. Just like any other product getting a feel of what’s hot and what’s not can help you make decisions that affect the sale of your home. Consider your neighborhood and the features that distinguish it from others. If you’re comfortable, contact a real estate agent to discuss what the current market environment is like.

FSBO Tip 2. Timing is everything
Timing the decision to sell and gauging the current market conditions could be two of the most critical decisions you make. If you need to sell your home quickly, the less flexibility, you’ll be able to have. Conversely, if you’re not in a big hurry, you can sit back and wait for the perfect buyer. Just remember the real estate market is a cyclical environment. If it’s a slow period now and you’re in a position to wait it out, then, it might be a good idea to wait for the next upswing.

FSBO Tip 3. Assemble a team of professionals to help you
While it’s nice to think that you can handle things on your own, selling a home takes specialized knowledge. It’s more than just writing up a sales agreement. Depending on what part of the country you’re in, you’ll either need to find a real estate attorney or a title / escrow company to help with the legal details. As a rule of thumb, if you’re east of the Mississippi, it’s usually a real estate attorney. If you’re west of the Mississippi, it’s a title company. Either way they’ll be an indispensable part of your home selling process. Another important partner to consider is to use my company as your mortgage broker. We can assist in helping you pre-qualify buyer prospects. We’ll talk more about qualifying prospects as you read on.

I can also help you find a good appraiser who will tell you what your house is worth, based on what comparable houses have recently sold for. I can also give you some free resources that you can use to get a good idea of the market value of your home.

FSBO Tip 4. How to determine the fair market price of your home
This always seems to be a real tricky one. For many home sellers, this typically reveals itself as a major point of contention. When trying to decide on a price guessing or basing your asking price on nontraditional methods, immediately reduces your negotiating advantage. Basing your price on what the house down the street sold for or what media outlets perceives as increased market value, is not the way to get a legitimate price either. There are only two legitimate and well-recognized ways of determining a fair market value. One way is to contact a real estate agent or broker to provide you with a CMA, otherwise, known as a comparative market analysis. The best and most accurate way of determining price comes from a full-blown appraisal done by a professional real estate appraiser.

FSBO Tip 5. You’re selling a house not a home
While it’s important to become emotionally detached, you don’t have to become a robot. After all, this is your home, be objective, but, don’t be cold. Keep in mind that, people are going to perceive your home differently than you do. Either way remain positive and ultimately the right person will walk through the door and buy your home.

FSBO Tip 6. Preparing your home for sale
Today’s real estate market rewards those homeowners that place a high-value on neatness as well as cleanliness. It not only adds value, but also, generally promotes a quicker and more profitable sale. Once again the depersonalizing of your home helps your prospect with such an emotional decision. De-cluttering the inside of a home is also key to your preparation. If necessary, rent out a small storage space and store some household items there. Just as a side note, having a garage sale is also a great way of getting rid of items that clutter up the house. Not only do you get rid of the items, but also, you make a little money in the process.

FSBO Tip 7. Start spreading the news
It should be understood if you’re going to sell your home and you’re going to do it yourself. The easiest way to get the word out is to put a sign in your yard. This will immediately get the attention of anybody that happens to ride by. Naturally, this is the essence of selling on your own. Coming up with a highlight sheet to outline the key features of your home is a must. With the readily available use of word processing programs putting together, a simple highlight sheet is easy.

FSBO Tip 8. Knowing a few negotiating skills will get you a long way
It’s not necessary to become the next great diplomat. Keep in mind that, it’s necessary to keep your emotions and personal feelings regarding the negotiating price of your property in check. When discussing the selling price, it’s important that your calculations and numbers are correct. This allows you to have greater flexibility and leverage and you can negotiate from a position of strength.

FSBO Tip 9. Qualifying buyers and stopping the look-atters
So what’s a look-atters? A look-atters is a person that comes to your house and looks at everything. They look in cabinets, closets and drawers. You need qualified buyers looking at your home or it’s going to get very discouraging. One of the best ways of getting qualified prospects is to have them referred by your mortgage broker/lender. You can also take the direct approach. If you’re arranging a showing over the phone, go ahead and ask them if they are pre-qualified. Don’t be too shy when it comes to your prospects. If you’re holding an open house and someone expresses interest in your home, go-ahead and ask. Most of the time if they’re pre-qualified, they love to tell you. So, don’t worry about asking, it’s the right thing to do.

FSBO Tip 10. If all else fails, go to where the realtors hang out
If after a while, you’re not getting the results that you were hoping for, you can always go to the MLS option. This doesn’t mean that you have to list with a real estate agent or broker. As a private party, you can list your home with your local multiple listings service. Usually, this cost a fee, but, by doing this you automatically expose your house to thousands of potential prospects all over the country. The upside is that, you should be able to sell your home in short order. The obvious downside will be that you will have to pay co-op to an agent. Only in unique situations would the cost of co-opting be virtually impossible, due to low equity or some other extenuating circumstances.

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