Ok folks, here it, the down and dirty on how to sell your house yourself quickly and keep thousands in your pocket (by not paying real estate commissions!) I'm going to give you an outline to follow and if you follow it to the T, you should be alright!
Do Your Research About Your Homes Value You need to find out what your house is worth so you can put a price tag on it. How can you find this out?
Do not tell them what YOU think your house is worth, just let them do their thing and present you with their evidence of what they feel your house is worth.
-Check public records if you know how to do this is the real thing yourself (or if you have a real estate agent friend that will allow you to look over over their shoulder as they access their records records on the MLS. )
-Drive around your neighborhood and call for ALL of the for sale signs that you see. If they have have open houses too then GO TO THEM.
-Research your local papers classified section Call of numbers and homes for yourself in your house (remember, you & # 39; re comparing all of these houses to yours.) - Hop on Craigslist and reseach the real. A lot of times folks will have pictures and here videos in here, so you can actually have the houses. .
-Go to Realtor.com and research homes that are for sale in your area. Again, if there is not much info, then call the agent up and ask for some info about the house.
-Check out zillow and cyberhomes and see what they come up with as values of your house. (I would not put as much weight on these 2 sites, but there is definitely more information here for you.
Now, you should have a good idea of what you could sell your house for. By the way, when looking at public records, comps from agents and places like zillow and cyberhomes you only really want to look at sold houses within the past 6 months. Some folks will tell you to go back a year, but I think that & # 39; s even too far.
Do you the value indicating a house that is in pristine condition and your house is not that pristine? Does the value indicating a fixer-upper price and your house? Those are the things you have to think about when getting the comps from all of your resources above.
If your house smells like dog, well admit that to yourself and know HONESTLY compare it to your house. If your house is right next to an active railroad track, well do not ignore the obvious and know that it will lower the price of your house as well. If your house is totally trashed and needs a lot of work, please, please, please do not think that you are going to get maybe a couple thousand less less than what a pristine house sold for. That is UNREALISTIC!
Please recognize that and adjust your game plan (and more importantly) your thinking according to the writing of this posting, here in the writing of this magazine. If you do not adjust your game plan and thinking, believe me your house will sit there and it will not sell (until you come to your senses.)
Market Your House Like Crazy It's for sale, does it?
So here & # 39; s for sale.
- You out have front, back, side, yard, living room, dining room, kitchen, etc. you get the picture. Upload them to your computer and resize them because you are a walking through need them in your video camera. future steps.
- Make sure you get the 18 x 24 - # 39; s and make sure you pick up some metal (Sounds silly to say) by standing (get extra to use in the next step) so you can stick them into the next step. that does not it? But some folks have done it.
They should be buyers. You need to buy anywhere from 10 to 50 blank corrugated plastic signs. They should be be 18 x 12 in size and they can be any color you want When you get it home, you can have a thick, black, permanent marker. When you have a copy of your own handwriting with the marker on the signs the following:
3 bed / 2 bath House Must Sell! Pottstown Area, $ 150k 610-555-1212
If course, you & # 39; re going to change out the information above with your information information for your home. If you house is a fixer upper try something like this:
3 bed / 2 bath Needs Work! Must Sell Quickly. Area, Price, Phone Number
Put them at popular intersections, at popular stores (like Walmart, WaWa, etc.) and you are using any combination of words, but you need to sell. I want to replace it with replicate them with fresh ones. I promise you that you will get calls.
Post yourself a postlet. You are free. You posted about post house. Your pictures, list all of the features, write up a nice description. People want to know about square footage, school districts, beds and baths, taxes, etc. You can upgrade to Postlets Plus and this will allow you to post more pictures on But you can only help you to post a video, but honestly, I do not think it & # 39; s necessary.
This is free also. You 're going to want to post to the top of the page of Craigslist that & # 39; s for your area. Most There is a Craigslist section in your postlets. , so you can merely click that link and copy and paste the code they are your into your Craigslist post and a nice little ad will appear. That and the final step.
So here are some extra things you can do that will cost some money.
- Place a classified ad in your local work. You can place a ad in a daily paper, weekly paper, monthly paper, throw away papers like the Penny Pincher, etc. You can even try I suggest running it at least least. The smaller papers will be more cost effective. Typically, your ad will look something like if you have a big budget constraints then you can work out a game plan that works with your pocket book. this:
Downingtown, 3 bd / 2 ba twin for sale by owner. New roof, central air. Must sell. 610-555-1212
Remember that with classified ads you are pretty much paying per word. One word of caution: Of course, you can even use the same type of advertising you handwrte on your blank corrugated plastic signs. a lot of folks may not know what a abbreviations for your ad so you can not have what your abbreviation means so it may be confusing themselves again from the them. Do not get fancy with abbreviations, trust me. Do not get fancy with abbreviations, words of make things fit, just be careful that it is a standard abbreviation that most folks know what it means like for bedrooms or ba for bathrooms.
- Post an ad on ForSaleByOwner.com They have all different pricing levels starting at $ 89.95 (which I do not like because it & # 39; sa monthly fee) all the way up to an $ 899 one time fee. The basic plan is pretty decent, it gets you an unlimited listing on their site to it & # 39; s sold and an awesome thing about their ads is that you get a private voicemail system (so you do not have to give out your home phone number!) Just so It's the best package for a $ 699 one time fee is definitely worth checking out. It 's the cheapest of the packages that gets you listed on the MLS (multiple listing service, which is what all real estate agents use to list properties and find properties for their buyers) and on realtor.com Please keep in mind though, if you got with an MLS option, you are going to have to pay a commission to the agent that brings you a buyer (typically between 2 to 3%, but responsibilities are negotiable and you state when you pick your package the commission you are I will make to pay.) Keep in mind, if you make the commission for the agent with a potential buyer they may not even show your house. So, personally, I 'd stay within the 2 to 3% mark.
I just want to make a wish that you are a MLS for sale, the answer is no. That's # 39; sa HUGE market that you & # 39; d be missing. But it's # 39; s ok, the basic package will at least get you in front of folks who are searching for a house to buy for themselves.
- This marketing method may be a little more than most of you want to get in to, but you can send out postcards to either individuals in your area or to renters in your area.
You & # 39; re going to most likely want to purchase a list of renters and homeowners in your area like InfoUsa.com For homeowners in your area you can get get their names and addresses from public records and that is free, especially if You go to the courthouse. Just get a simple House For Sale postcard or Why Rent When You Can Own Postcard? And send them out.
- A free alternative to the same kind of House for Sale or Why Rent When You Can Own ad for the postcard above but print it out and make flyers at home. (By the way, if you are savvy with your computer you can Folk love that and you never know who they are hand in the same block as a house I have for sale is "Pick Your Own Neighbor" flyer. could have a friend or family member that is looking to move into the neighborhood. grocery stores, around rental apartments, etc. etc.
- One last free marketing tip that I forgot to mouth. You never know who knows someone that is looking to buy.
When You Get The Calls Coming In If they are not gonna want to know the price first if you do not have it desperately need then you can not was set up an appointment to check the house out. A LOT of time. Here & # 39; s what I do:
- First I tell interested people to do a drive - by of the house. I tell them to call me back to set up an appointment.
- If they call me back to them up they are they appreciate for appreciation for a mortgage. If they say yes, I inform them that they must have their pre-approval letter before I will set up an appointment to I generally will refer refer them to a mortgage person or a (You should have the same. Hook yourself up with a small, local bank in your small house, you get people pre-approved to buy your house.
Always have more than one adult home when having show and it & # 39; sa good idea to s for your own protection & # 39; s for your own protection & # 39; s license or some form of id I know that you may feel uneasy asking this stuff, but it & # 39; s for your own protection .
Word of Caution: If you ever, ever feel uneasy about someone that you are talking to on the phone, do not, under any circumstances let them into your home, especially when you are alone. (This is probably the scariest part about selling your house yourself, in my opinion.)
- If people are interested in your house then write up an agreement with them! (We & # 39; ll get into that in a few.)
- Tell them to be honest as you will not be upset or take anything personally (and hold true to that! )
When You Find A Qualified Buyer With that in mind, my advice is to then NOT DO IT.
- You should have a competent real estate attorney that aging of sale and that help you with all of the rules and laws associated with selling your house (like fair housing laws, seller disclosure forms, etc. etc.) The real estate attorney can even do the closing for you and your buyer (they will take care of EVERYTHING associated with getting your transaction done and getting you your check in your hand.)
- They can help you with a business person to get your transaction to the closing table and get your check in your hand. May have, but they may not be allowed to give you legal advice in regards to yourself, you ask, because of a lot of them have real estate attorneys within their company that will be happy to help.
"I can save tons of money on commissions because I can save my big myself!"
