A few areas to focus your initial attention and get you thinking
We are firm believers that with a concentrated effort and the right approach it is possible to sell your home yourself. However, that decision requires courage and confidence. We don't want to make it sound easy, and it is not the purpose of this article to give you everything you need to be effective at selling your home. What we have tried to do is outline the four basic steps that you will need to follow. These steps should be customized to meet your needs, and a more detailed plan must be developed, and the steps outlined here should give you a place to start:
1. Look at the condition of your home. Creating a positive first impression will make it easier to turn prospects into buyers. It cannot be overstated how important that first impression is to buyers. The aesthetics of your home, inside and out, is very important in driving prospects to want to know more. Make sure your property is clean, neat, and well-cared for. You will see houses advertised for sale in "as is" condition, and presumable they are priced accordingly. Rest assured, a higher priced house in tip-top condition will sell faster and at closer to the asking price than a property that is run down and priced at a discount. Repairing any leaks, re-painting walls, trimming trees and other functional repairs will also make your home attractive to prospective buyers. Not to mention that many functional items will come up during due diligence, and if they have been fixed in advance you will be able to move from contract to closing much faster.
2. Price your home appropriately. There are many factors that affect the price of a home, and we cannot possible cover them all here. Location is the biggest factor, and since we can't know where you are reading this from it is impossible to advise you on how much homes in your neighborhood sell for. You will need to compare your home to recent sales to determine an appropriate price. But one of the biggest mistakes people make here is attaching their own belief of what their home is worth to the price tag. If you want to sell quickly it is vital that you are objective about what your home is worth based on the market, not on your own desired sales price. It takes some time to familiarize yourself with all the factors involved, and if you are not confident in this step it may be worth contacting a realtor in your neighborhood. If you are planning on selling yourself there are "for sale by owner" courses in most cities that will be able to give you a custom look at how to price houses in your area. Often these courses come with options that allow limited MLS access or fixed fee brokers. These resources can be very valuable in determining an appropriate price for your home.
3. Advertise your home. There are many different options available to you when it comes to advertising your home. You will almost certainly be wanting to take advantage of all of them:
a. Advertise your home in the newspaper classifieds. This does require an investment, and in larger cities that investment can add up, but is crucial. When you last looked to rent or buy a home where did you look for information? The classifieds are the obvious starting point for most people, it pays to give yourself the opportunity to have these people call you.
b. For sale sign. Driving around the neighborhood where you are looking to buy is another practice used by house hunters. Again, didn't you do this last time you were looking to rent or buy? Have a sign. Some people would say try to get a sign that stands out. We would suggest using a standard for sale sign, everyone who drives by will recognize your house as being for sale regardless of whether they actually read the sign. They will simply recognize that sign as a for sale sign. Having said that, refer again to step one. If the sign is in front of the nicest house on the street, anyone who is looking to buy will pay attention. And make sure you have a flier available by the sign. I have personally been frustrated when I stop to find out about a house for sale and the flier box is empty. If you live in the house how hard can it be to walk out there twice a day and make sure there are fliers available.
c. Distribute brochures or leaflets (on local notice boards). People won't read a long winded brochure at first, stick with something short and simple.
d. Tell your colleagues, friends and family. It sounds silly, but make sure your friends and family know you are looking to sell your home. I also recommend making sure your work colleagues know. Many companies regularly have new people coming on board, and if your house is located in a convenient location for commuting to work, these new hires may be interested if they are moving to the area in order to take their new position.
4. FSBO promotion services. Make sure your house is listed on FSBO (for sale by owner) websites and in any FSBO magazines in your area. Again, this will cost you money, but these magazines have distribution and visibility that you won't find on your own. The funds you will spend will be far less than any realtor commission you avoid.
Let us stress again, the steps above are not a detailed plan for selling YOUR HOUSE. They are simply some points to get you thinking about how you should proceed. Selling a house can be stressful, and most people who try and fail do so because they did not have a detailed plan in place and did not know what to expect. As a first step, take each of the steps outlined here and jot down your thoughts on each step: what could you do to fix up your house and make it attractive, which houses have sold recently that can be used as comparables, where would you go for this information, what FSBO publications have you seen, which newspapers would be appropriate. This will get you thinking even more about what you will need to do.
From there we recommend getting out and about. Drive the neigborhood to see what other houses are selling for, pick up copies of FSBO publications, do some internet research for FSBO services. Once you have all that information together you will be in a position to start drafting a detailed plan to sell your house.
Good luck in selling your home!
