There are three primary ways to sell a house by owner. First, you must be able to promote your home to the right buying audience. Next, preparing your house to sell is important. Finally, moving through negotiations and contracts to close successfully.
Promote Your House to Sell
Promoting your home to sell by owner can be done successfully. This is especially true if your property is in a highly sought after location. If your property is in a prime location with lots of public traffic nearby then you can place your for sale by owner signs and expect inquiries.
An example of this would be if you have a boardwalk property on the beach or a vacation rental near a tourist attraction. In this case, your property will do a good job of selling itself. It will be up to you to determine the best sale price and negotiate the contract.
If your home is not highly desirable and near a good amount of public traffic then you will have to find other ways to promote your property. You can list it on the various For Sale by Owner websites. From those choices you can list it on the MLS. This is how all agents with buyers access your property listing information and become aware it’s available. Deciding not to list your house on the MLS will produce far less awareness of your house sale for potential buyers.
When listing your home on the MLS you also must decide if you’re going to give 3% to buying agents. If you list your property on the MLS but don’t give the 3% offer to the buying agent then your property will most likely not get much attention.
Skipping the MLS listing means you’ll have to find other solutions to list your house in an effective way to attract qualified buyers that best match your property. If you are advertising locally only then your buying pool will be very limited. The more exposure you can get for your home online to the right qualified target buying audience, the better.
Home Sale Preparation
Some For Sale by Owners want to sell their own property because they don’t mind selling at a discount in order to sell as-is. This is mostly to avoid time and money fixing up the property to sell. You can sell as-is. Be sure to expect your sale price to be below market value when taking this approach. If you are handing over a project property to someone else, they will want to account for the time and effort it will take them to restore the property to normal use.
If you want to sell your property at or above market value then you’ll need to put some time and effort into making sure everything is in good working order. You’ll also want to make sure that the property is cleaned up. If buyers come out to look at your property and it’s not in good working condition they’ll offer you below market value. Even if your property is in good working order but not clean and de-cluttered, they will still offer you below market value.
Market Value
A huge element to selling your home – whether yourself or with an agent – is knowing the precise market value. There are several search engines online that provide a general estimate of your homes value such as Zillow. This will give you a rough idea of the sale price. However, it doesn’t substitute for an accurate market value estimation. If you want a precise and current market value you’ll need to hire an appraiser or a real estate agent to produce one for you.
Contract to Close
There are two primary parts to the home sale contract. The first is the negotiations stage. Most real estate transactions involve negotiating. It is very rare to get a buyer who settles on all of your terms. In addition, there are many buyers who have to move through financing in order to provide you with a valid offer. You’ll need to discern a verified offer and know which terms you’re willing to agree to and which ones you are not.
If you don’t have a real estate agent, you will need to hire an attorney to draw up the sale agreement. If you do not, your sale may be determined as invalid down the road. Unless you’re willing to risk losing your property entirely you’ll need to use a real estate attorney or real estate agent to help you through the contract to close process.
Buying and selling of property has a lot of legal details that must be completed in order for the transaction to complete. Here are some For Sale by Owner statistics to help you to decide if you should sell your house yourself or put a professional real estate agent to work for you.
FSBO home sale has an 11% success rate.
FSBO sell for 32% less then those with an agent.
Top Reasons Sellers Choose FSBO;
36% did not want to pay a commission or fee
32% sold to a relative or friend
16% buyer contacted seller directly
6% did not want to deal with an agent
5% agent was not able to sell home
1% seller was an agent
4% unknown
Data Source: National Association of Realtors
Primary reasons sellers chose For Sale by Owner according to Zillow;
57% thought it would save them time
36% thought it would save them money
7% thought they could sell their home better then an agent
Selling a house by owner is a little bit like deciding to represent yourself in a court case. Can you represent yourself? Sure. Should you represent yourself? It depends. The more at stake in the case the less you should represent yourself. Your risk is high when representing yourself and much lower when you have representation. Of course, the better representation, the higher the likelihood of winning. This means you will accomplish your goal with lower risk and stress to you.
Ready to put a professional real estate agent to work for you to get top market value and save you lots of time? Book your appointment today!
