Marketing And Selling Your Own Home
What To Know Before You Hit The Market
How to Avoid Common Rookie Mistakes
Know Your "Comps"Most homeowners look to similar homes nearby to approximate the value of their own home. Most homeowners also stop right there. Here's how you can increase your odds of success: Get the whole picture. The price you ask for your home should be arrived at based on several very different criteria. The first is obvious. The industry calls them "comps" or comparisons. Nearby homes that have sold in the last couple of months that are similar in style, square footage, bedrooms, bathrooms, year built, garage size are among the first set of numbers that need to be collected. The trouble is, there are plenty of "little" things that can throw you for a loop. Location is a big one. This is where industry professionals can be a helpful resource. For example do you know how much it affects the value of two identical homes in the same neighborhood if one of them is on a busy street? It can vary from city to city. A local real estate appraiser will know.
Know Your Market
The second criteria you need to research is your local market. I recently spoke with a very discouraged home seller that had been for sale by owner for four weeks with only one phone call and no showings. After years of experience, I recognized these are the exact symptoms experienced by overpriced homes, but out of curiosity, I did some research and learned some very interesting things.
I discovered that there were 36 homes currently for sale in the same area of town and the same price range. This meant that she had 36 competitors.
I researched the sales in that area of town for the previous month and there were only two properties sold in her price range. This means there were only two buyers shopping in her area of town and price range in the last month. She was expecting a flood of phone calls and only had one, but when you do the math, for the four weeks she was advertising, one out of the two buyers called her. She had a 50% response! Do you think knowing those numbers going in would have helped her have realistic expectations? You bet! Selling your home is a roller coaster ride, even with a smooth transaction. Arm yourself with information that will help you mentally stay the course, and take the market conditions into consideration when pricing your home.
Prepare Your Property For Showing
Surefire Ways to Sell Your Own Home
Declutter & Depersonalize
Put away or pack anything that personalizes your home or gives information about your family. This includes mail, family photos, trophies and collectibles. Your home will attract more people and make buyers feel more comfortable when it's "neutral." Buyers will be distracted away from the house if they are noticing your brand of shampoo and what magazines you subscribe to.
Keep Half, Pack Half
Buyers are looking for the most they can get with their money. Plan to pack a third to half of everything and move it to an off site storage area. One of the differences between a professionally staged home and one that is lived in is "stuff." Most people have too much of it, and from a marketing perspective, it makes the house look smaller. After you have packed half of your stuff, arrange what is left neatly to create appeal.
Curb Appeal
No matter what time of year you are marketing, it's important to create a positive first impression. When buyers see the front of your home, it should have an appealing look and give the impression that the home owner is meticulous. The use of color accents is like flowers or a flag is a great trick to boost curb appeal. Just make sure the house color is neutral and blends with the other homes in the neighborhood. FSBO marketing like any other sales endeavor, means your "product" has to appeal to others.
Indoor
Sparkling clean and light and bright is the key to capturing a buyer's attention.
To increase appeal, make sure paint and carpet colors are light and neutral (you may need to repaint children's rooms or remove wallpaper.) All areas of the property should be well lit. A professional chimney cleaning is often requested buy buyers with an offer. Having it done ahead of time (keep the receipt as proof) will make your buyer feel comfortable that you have been maintaining the house regularly.
Online and Offline Marketing
Plan To Market Your Home Using Multiple Resources
Instinctively, most people duplicate real estate agent marketing strategies when they put their own home up for sale by owner; but think about it. Agents are have three areas of focus for their marketing; first, selling their own listings, second, they show buyers other listings on the MLS, and third, they market themselves, so they can get more listings or buyers. Their marketing is designed to work these three areas. If you have only one home to sell, your marketing must be designed specifically for that goal.Internet Marketing
This is the tool that levels the playing field. Agents no longer are the only source for information and marketing exposure! Advertise your home on a website that can act as your online marketing "brochure." From there, advertise your individual "page" everywhere online and offline. Once people have seen your photos and read all the details, they will have a very good idea if it is what they are looking for. It pre-screens buyers for you.
Print Media Marketing
The newspaper used to be the primary marketing tool for most For Sale By Owner home sellers. The growth of the internet has bumped this resource out of first place. It's not obsolete, but shouldn't be your main marketing focus. Most major newspapers have a dedicated Real Estate section in the Sunday (or sometimes Saturday) edition. This is the day you want to advertise. It often includes an open house directory and real estate related articles. The only time you'll want to advertise on other days is if you are having an open house on a different day or if your budget is large enough to afford the extra advertising expense. There's a great article on "Classified Ad Writing Tips" in the student resources section of By Owner University. It will help you know what the most important information to include in your ad is and how to format it.
Signage
Plan to invest in a professional looking real estate agent style yard sign. It postures you professionally at the curb and is a HUGE part of your first impression with buyers. Those homemade or cheap hardware store signs are known as "five thousand dollar yard signs." It's because they give several negative impressions, none of which you want your buyer to have because it frequently results in lower offers. They say things like: "tightwad," "strapped for cash," "new at this," "do-it-yourselfer," among other things that may or may not be true. Nevertheless, the impression of you transfers to your upkeep of the house. You don't want your buyer wondering if your maintenance budget was "tightwad," "strapped for cash," "new at this," or, "do-it-yourselfer." Go professional with your sign and give a good impression. Also, make sure your sign doesn't say "For Sale By Owner" but instead says something like "Home For Sale." Subconsciously, it sends a better marketing message.
Photographing Your Property
A Bad Photo Can Hurt You
Although photographing your house may look easy, you should know that buyers have strong opinions about how your photos should look and what you should show (and not show.) Often times, when buyers are searching online, the main photo of your home is the only criteria they use to determine if they want to see more. It has to be stunning!
Interior photos are more complicated. You can only back up so far indoors. You'll need a wide or super wide angle lens in order to capture the entire room. Buyers don't want to see a picture of your furniture, they want to see the size of the room along with where the doorways and windows are placed. The more expensive your home is, the nicer your photos should look.
Check out the two photos above. They're both taken from the same position, one with a wide angle lens (10-20mm lens set at 10mm), one without (18-55mm lens set at 24mm, still a bit of a wide angle). Remember, furniture adds perspective to a real estate photo, but it should not be the highlight of the scene. Buyers will want to see the size of windows, cathedral ceilings, doorway arches, etc. The only way to get an overall feel of the whole room is to... well... get the whole room in the photo.
Real Estate Resources
Get What You Need Online
- By Owner University
- Learn in depth strategies for selling your home by owner. A one time fee gives you access to articles, worksheets and podcasts. Learn from experienced industry professionals.
- Seasonal techniques to help you in Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter.
- How Donald Trump's boardroom techniques can keep your marketing on track.
- Which agent style marketing technique to modify to get better results.
- How to avoid common pricing mistakes.
- Premium "Student-Only" content such as Podcasts and Worksheets! - US Legal Forms
- U.S. Legal Forms is the original and premiere site for legal forms on the Internet.
Over 36,000 legal documents and forms, including wills, name change, real estate and more. Real estate documents for all 50 states. - Law Depot
- Legal documents for all 50 states. Simply answer a few easy to understand questions online. LawDepot instantly creates your contract.
Print or download your document...without the expensive lawyer fees. - PrePaid Legal Service
- Group legal services are an affordable way for home sellers to have the protection they need. It is recommended that attorneys review your offers before you sign them and be consulted about questions relating to disclosure and the process of the transaction.
- Getting Curb Appeal In The Winter
- Get tips on how to boost your curb appeal in the winter season when the predominate colors are brown and grey.
Sell Your Home Faster Online
When Is It Considered Sold?
Have Documents Ready
Not only is it important to let the buyer know who can help them with the next step, but it's a bonus if you have blank copies of a Purchase and Sale Agreement (also called an Earnest Money Agreement) ready to give them. Make it easy for them to take the next step.How will you know if everything is filled out correctly and you aren't being taken advantage of? Use an attorney. Can you believe they are cheaper than agents? Many people have memberships to group legal plans as part of their employee benefits package. If you don't have one, you can learn more at GetRealEstateLegalHelp.com
Group legal memberships usually have document review coverage that will let you fax contracts to the attorney for review before you sign them. When you have an attorney reviewing your disclosure statement, offers and closing documents, you can feel comfortable signing things knowing that a qualified professional is looking out for you.
The biggest mistake people make after they accept an offer is to stop advertising and slap up a SOLD sign! Don't do it. It's not sold until you've completed the escrow process. Both parties have to sign closing documents AND the buyer's loan has to have funded. Keep up the advertising and don't use the "S" word until closing is completed. When your buyer sees you continue to market for back up offers, it's like holding their feet to the fire. They tend to be the squeaky wheel with their lender and keep pushing their "people" to move their end of the transaction along quickly.
Be wary of agreeing to stop marketing your home after you have accepted an offer. Some buyers may ask for this, but it is not in your best interest. If it's a deal-breaker and the buyer insists, request a pretty hefty non-refundable earnest money deposit.
Create A Safety Net
Continue to show your home. At this point it's easiest to funnel people into one or two slots per week and treat it like an open house. When interested buyers or agents call about the home, let them know you have a buyer that's made an offer and ask them if they want to be contacted if it falls through. Again, explain all of this without using the word "SOLD." You want to build up this list as much as you can. It's your safety net. Buyers lose their jobs, lenders change the rules and previously qualified buyers suddenly don't qualify any more under the new rules. You never know, and you don't want to learn this part the hard way.
Selling your own home is not that difficult or complicated when you work with professionals. Architectural photographers, inspectors, appraisers, attorneys along with title & escrow staff are all meant to be part of a team of people that you assign different responsibilities to. Like a general contractor works with sub contractors, you work in your area of expertise (you know your home better than anyone) and delegate to different real estate professionals to save you both time and money.
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by Jill_McIntire
Jill McIntire has been helping people sell their homes by owner since 1998. She co-founded Spokanebyowner.com and is an instructor with By Owner Unive... more »
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