“Good merchandise, even hidden, soon finds buyers.”
~ Plautus
I find that many of the quality properties in Sanpete County are listed as For Sale By Owner (FSBO). As the thorough Realtor that I am, I come across these properties in my quest to find clients the perfect home. Sometimes those homes are a perfect match for my clients. Yes, a buyer’s agent often has buyers for homes that are FSBO.
Today, I’d like to provide a little direction to FSBO homeowners on how to prepare your homes for my clients, how to sell your home quicker, and how to sell for more money. This is not a “you should list your home with me” pitch, although that would be great. It is a few tips that can help you which, in turn, can help my potential buyers.
Easy For Sale By Owner Tips
I work very hard to find my clients the home of their dreams, whether an agent is selling the home or the home is FSBO. There is one caveat, though. Before scheduling a showing for these homes, I contact the owner to sign a commission agreement. This agreement ensures I will get paid if one of my clients selects your home. I gotta make a living. But how do we get my clients to choose your home?
I am sure if you already have a sign out front, you have probably looked into the major details of selling a home. You know how important it is to educate yourself on the FSBO process. You may have come across websites like forsalebyowner.com that walk you through the home sale process step-by-step and provide general advice.
But I’d like to share a few tips for selling your home that you can do yourself with very little effort. If you want more specific advice, you can find several topics on my blog under “Sellers”.
With no further ado, here are some tips:
- Make your home look fantastic. Keep it clean and uncluttered. Remove personal items so prospective buyers can picture themselves living in your home.
- Plan to have family members, including pets, leave when you plan to show your home.
- Allow buyers the opportunity to see your home during a showing without hovering too closely. The presence of a current homeowner can cause stress to a buyer and hinder a possible sale.
- Be ready to schedule a showing on the buyer’s time, not yours.
- Take time to price your home well. Evaluate the market carefully and be prepared to change if the market changes. You can use online estimators. However, as a Realtor, I have seen these estimates come in way off, sometimes by as much as FIFTY Thousand Dollars.
- If you are unfamiliar with the paperwork or feel uncomfortable with the legal documents, hire a real estate lawyer. Protect yourself.
- Market your home. With over 80% of home buyers starting their search online, you need to make sure you take advantage of several marketing options. With websites like ForSaleByOwner.com and Zillow, you can get your home in front of more potential buyers.
- Re-examine your Multiple Listing Service (MLS) listing. If you don’t have one, there are several services that can do this for you. It really does give you the most visibility.
- Professional photos have a profound effect on how fast a home sells and for how much.
- Provide information sheets on your property. Include at least one photo, your contact information, and all the pricing information for the home and its amenities. Then make sure to hand them out.
- Place visible signs so anyone in the neighborhood or driving by knows your home is for sale.
- Examine offers on your home in their entirety. The price isn’t everything. Consider contingencies.
- Prepare to have you home inspected by a home inspector, and be ready to renegotiate or fix problems to keep your deal alive. Or better still, have the home inspected before you put your home up for sale. This allows you to make repairs or plan for contingencies. Many real estate deals fall apart after a poor home inspection.
- Determine your prospective buyer’s timeline and buying power. Is your buyer pre-approved? What does their pre-approval include? Oh, and a pre-approval is quite a bit different than a pre-qualification. A pre-qualification does not carry much weight.
- When sharing information about your home, share the specifics. You are well qualified to do so as you have lived there. But keep your personal experiences out of the stories.
- Don’t be afraid to call some local Realtors and tell them you are selling your home. I would take it a step further and call the local brokerages in town and let them know you are open to having them show your home. The more eyes on your property the better.
My hope is that we can work together to make my clients and you happy at the same time. We Realtors don’t bite, well, not very often.
If you have any questions about selling FSBO, I would love to answer them. Let me know in the comments.
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