 Posted 12/11/2006 4:13:05 AM
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We have never sold anything by owner. Please tell us (in order) the different things we have to do to make the sale.
thank you,
Al and Pat Herren
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Posted 12/11/2006 10:58:27 AM
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There are 4 key things involved in selling your home on your own:
1) Prepare it - make sure it looks spic and span. You want an inviting home inside and out to attract buyers. Curb appeal is very important. If potential buyers are turned off by the outside of your home, they'll drive right past and won't look inside no matter how attractive that is.
2) Price it to sell. You can get the right price for your home by doing one or all of the following: professional appraisal; CMA (comparative market analysis) from a real estate agent which is free; check on the sale prices of recently sold homes in your neighborhood.
When you sell by owner, you're saving thousands of dollars on the agent's commission so you can afford to price your home a little less than comparable homes listed by an agent.
This will enable you to make a quick sale.
3) Advertise your home. In today's buyer's market you need to make sure as many people as possible hear about your home.
-- 80% of home buyers begin their search on the web so make sure you have a complete property listing on our website that includes 5 photos of your home - one outside and the rest inside.
-- Have a "for sale by owner sign" outside your home with your number and code for your property listing so people can learn more about your home. We sell signs with banners. You can also get signs at any hardware store or Home Depot etc.
-- You can print flyers from your property listing with us. Make sure they are available in a holder with your sign. Distribute them at nearby apartment complexes. Renters are the major source of home buyers.
-- Take out classified ad in the local newspaper. Save money by referring to your online listing.
-- Hold open houses.
4) Negotiate and Close. You can order forms for the purchase contract from our site: http://partners.uslegalforms.com/partners/owners/index.htm?loc=SNB
Depending on the requirements of your state, you can handle the close through a real estate attorney, title company, or escrow company.
For detailed step-by-step instructions, use the home seller's handbook on our website:
http://www.owners.com/Tools/SellerHandbook/DecideToSell.aspx
The successful homesellers on this forum have done an excellent job explaining how they sold their homes. They offer tips as well. So be sure to check out all the forums. The one on Making the Sale can give you a good overview of how successful sellers sold their homes.
Best of luck to you!
FSBO Guru
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Posted 12/22/2006 10:40:17 AM
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These are the two primary reasons why real estate does not sell, according to appraisal theory:
Either it is priced to high or it has been poorly or improperly advertised, or both.
Think about that…if you had a $100,000.00 house that was immaculate and all you did was put a sign in the window that said “For Sale $200,000.00”, people would think you were nuts. Now if you put a tiny ad in the newspaper, saying “immaculate $100,000.00 house for sale, asking $50,000.00”, it would be gone!
You need a balance. That Principle of Substitution will apply and again that principle states: No one will pay more for something that they could get for a lesser amount somewhere else within a mile or so. Those comparables are out there. They are your competition; beat them.
So the first two things you will absolutely have to do is price it right and advertise it properly. Those are prerequisites to your sale!
Here is what I do and it works without fail every single time. From the start, I know I’m not going to have to pay a commission to sell my own property. I bought it without an agent so I will just reverse the procedure and I will now sell it without an agent. With this in mind, I also know that I’m not paying a 6% sales commission on a $200,000.00 house, which saves me $12,000.00 right from the gate over other sellers who are supposedly my competition and are using agents!
Let me explain the psychology involved with buying major assets. People who are not used to spending large sums of money or transacting seemingly complicated deals are very fearful of making a major mistake that costs them in a variety of ways, those being monetarily, a loss of self-esteem, appearance of incompetence and being taken advantage of. No one wants to be looked upon as a fool. So the bottom-line reason why people hesitate to buy something so large is due to FEAR!
So the first thing you are going to do is remove as much fear as you can. Here is how I do that. First, since I have a $12,000.00 head start, I will use $500.00 of that to get my own bonafide appraisal by my true blue networked licensed appraiser. My house is immaculate when he comes to perform his appraisal inspection, so now I have a true sales price that is accurate. Often this appraisal comes in a little higher than what the property is actually worth, but this allows the buyer to negotiate a little and feel good about the purchase.
Next I will get my own home inspection for approximately $200.00. I now have a bound report that details any problems that I may have missed. I then fix these things, detailing the repairs and keeping the receipts, if any. Note: Buyers will negotiate your price lower if they find defects that you should have found or known about beforehand.
Finally I will provide the buyers with a home warranty, approximately $400.00, to go with the house when they buy it. So I have spent a grand total of $1,100.00 dollars to achieve the following: If the buyers are afraid they are paying too much, I show them the appraisal and explain that it is fairly priced and it will appraise. The next thing buyers fear is what may be wrong with this house. What are you hiding? What am I missing? What can’t I see? To alleviate those fears I show them the bound report, telling them what was found wrong and how I fixed it. Here’s the report, call the inspector; I have nothing to hide. So my dear buyer, what else are you afraid of? Well, since you asked, what if we do buy it and then things start breaking and falling apart? Here is where the home warranty comes out and we are protecting them after the sale.
Preliminary Marketing List
Have the following items ready to go on open house day. Put them on the counter or table laid out in the following order:
The appraisal
The inspection report
The home warranty
Property disclosure sheets
Copy of your survey
Current title policy
A copy of your warranty deed
Your latest real estate tax statement
Utility bills
Copies of any deed restrictions, homeowner’s association
Rules, all home and appliance warranties
A pest inspection report
Sales contracts
Information sheets giving complete details of the facts and features of your home including a digital photo of the house so they remember which one it was.
That’s your list.
Helping people sell by FSBO at www.magicbullets.com (for free)
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Posted 1/1/2007 3:13:10 PM
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I wish I had more sellers (my clients and FSBOs) like Dan in my market. For whatever reason, the majority of people are so cheap not only do they not want to pay me a commission they don't even want to take the initiative with the appraisal and inspection report. As if they are scared what is going to come back. So let's just fly blind. And most fsbo's think that a sign is all it takes. Hell if that's the ticket I would save about $2500 a month quit working for RE/MAX and start a new company called For Sale By Brandi. You need to know what every step of your marketing is for and what results are expected. I am not saying spend an arm and leg but don't just throw pennies away on ineffective marketing either.
If you stand to save a lot of money on commission even if just the listing side, then do yourself a favor and follow Dan's advice. If you have no desire to invest any money upfront on the sale of your home, feel free to try the sign for maybe a couple of weeks. If no offers, save those buyers names list with an agency (since you pay commission out of closing) exclude the buyers from the listing. Everything is negotiable even commissions so you may not necessarily have to pay out 6%.
I often reduce the commission if I am a dual agent. Sometimes if an offer comes in quicker than expected but not as high as the seller wanted I will reduce commission to meet some of the difference because who knows we may not see another contract in a while meaning more expenses for me. You will have to look at all options and pick the one best for you. Beware of trying one scenario for several weeks as the market can change while you are midst of trying to sale.
Brandi Lockhart
Quality Service Certified Platinum
RE/MAX Gold III
(314)333-4824
http://brandil.stlgoldhomes.net
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