How to sell your home by owner

Then, you get the closing statement from the title company, only to find that you paid that sweet realtor $14,000 and dropped an additional $7,000 on closing and title costs. Suddenly, your 50k profit on selling your home turns into a paltry-looking $29,000. You’re eyeing a shiny new $250,000 home, and with your own closing costs on a new loan, you won’t even have ten percent for a down payment. What’s the answer, you ask? Simple, sell the home without the use of a realtor -- By Owner.

There are several basics to a successful By-Owner sales transaction. Follow these steps and you’ll be well on your way to eliminating most of those exorbitant, superfluous costs.

First, get busy advertising. Even if you have things to do, in order to prepare for your By Owner sale, such as home improvements, making your house look nice from the outside and proper paperwork, you need to generate interest from buyers. Realtors have a network of buyers lined up, so advertising is the least of their worries. You need to make use of your own network and your resources.

Before you run to the local hardware store and grab a For Sale By Owner sign, compose a nice point-of-sale sheet that outlines the features of your home. This is another product that realtors provide that you can make very easily or have a friend or family member make for you. It should be eye-appealing and include all of the best features of your house, as well as all of the things you might not normally consider, such as square footage, new items, amenities, etc. If you are struggling with completing this, find a sample at a home for sale in your neighborhood and just take one as a model. As soon as you’ve done this, get that For Sale By Owner sign and place it in your yard.

Next, run some inexpensive ads on the Internet. Just go to free classifieds at either Yahoo or AOL. You’ll be surprised at the response. Also place ads in inexpensive magazines and newspapers in your neighborhood, and post signs at community places. Plan open houses, the same way your realtor would. This is something most For Sale By Owner people neglect to do. They simply say call for appointments. Open houses are wonderful selling tools, because when people see that others are interested in your home, they may decide to bid faster, as well as higher. Plus, they have the freedom to come on their schedule (within set limits), instead of an exact time on an appointment.

Once you’ve placed some ads and posted your sign, get yourself a mortgage professional. This person can help in many ways, even with a For Sale By Owner transaction. He’ll help you with loan and closing cost information, a title agent, and, most importantly, he’ll provide you with all of the necessary paperwork you need -- for free. Just tell the mortgage broker that you are looking for someone who may be able to finance two transactions – your sale and your next purchase – and you need some professional guidance in selling your home. Explain that you need a purchase agreement and all other important point-of-sale material. You’d appreciate his help and you’ll encourage your buyer to use him. The broker will be very enthusiastic and will likely refer you to a title agent who will get you all of the paperwork you need to be successful.

What these steps do in the eyes of potential buyers is make you look like a professional – like a real estate agent. You see, you can do all of the things a realtor does, without special training. The key is to use resources available to you and to find people who are willing to work for free, because they know they’ll get paid later.

At your open houses or when people call for information, you may be asked how you came up with your asking price. Never hedge on this. In fact, another service your mortgage broker can provide is getting you a value of your home, without charging you for an appraisal fee. He’ll have his own appraiser do some simple office work to come up with the number. Now, you can tell people the home was appraised by a professional. Also, have your mortgage broker check on recent sales within one mile of you. He’ll probably have his appraiser do this too, but it won’t cost you anything. Assuming the recent sales are similar to your house, this is a great tool in setting your price and selling your potential buyers on its fairness. You’ll be able to say, “Take a drive by 1255 on School Street. It’s almost identical to this house, and it went for $215,000. As you know that’s $3,000 more than I’m asking.” This is a great salesmanship – the type of tactic a realtor would use.

When it comes to setting your price, be sure not to ask too much, based on the appraised value. This is a common mistake people make, especially when being influenced by a realtor, who wants to inflate the price, so she’ll make a higher commission. If the value is $220,000 and you want to get $200,000, ask for $208,000 and settle for $196,000. Remember, you are saving tens of thousands of dollars by selling your home By Owner and eliminating the realtor. So, it’s okay to take a few thousand dollars less than what you want. Plus, when you tell prospective buyers that your start price is twelve thousand dollars below the fair market value, you can add that they’ll be getting that twelve grand as instant equity in their new home. That’s powerful selling.

Follow these basic steps, post your For Sale By Owner sign, and you’ll be amazed at how quickly you’ll sell your home.

Now, go buy that big screen TV; you’ve earned it.

Thank you to Mark Barnes for this how to sell your home by owner article

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