Real estate brokers vigorously negate the fact that you can
sell your house yourself. Obviously, real estate brokering is their bread and
butter and they'd never want you to be independent of them when selling or buying
a house. They argue that, in fact, they are the ones who know true local home
values and real estate laws.
They claim that they will ‘screen' potential
buyers for you - saving your time, safety and money. In fact, if you understand
how to sell real estate on your own, you will laugh at their claims loudly and
feel that these people are actually creating a demand when in truth there is no
demand for them.
However, some owners think otherwise. Interestingly, only
about 7% of all home sellers decide to go solo according to a 2006 National
Association of Realtors study. The fact is that you can save up to 5% in broker
fees by selling on your own - potentially with a hassle. In fact, you can save
as high as 7% for hard-to-sell properties. So it is important to know how to
sell real estate on your own to save some money in broker fees.
So consider the following carefully. If you have decide to
take the plunge, here's what you need to know if you're going to act as your
own broker and understand how to sell real estate for that matter:
Finding a Buyer
The most important step is pricing your house or property accordingly. There is a risk of loosing money if you charge too little. Asking for too much and you'll ‘go stale,' as real-estate agents put it, making buyers suspicious that something's dreadfully wrong orthat
you're simply an unreasonable person trying to coax out as much money for your
property as possible. So the point is to properly price your property. That's
the first step in understanding how to sell real estate on your own.
How do you arrive at the right price? The short-cut is to hire an independent appraiser. Most of them charge $250 to $500 for the service. Most of the time they have information on any nearby home sales at their fingertips - they buy access to tax-record data bases and
multiple-listing information. They also personally inspect your house to take
into account all the repairs you have done.
When you're ready to advertise your home, cast a wide net. Because your
house won't be included in the multiple-listing service (or MLS, where members
of the National Association of Realtors pool their real-estate listings to
stimulate sales) you've got to generate traffic on your own. Buy classified ads
in all your local papers, including shoppers and weekly alternative
publications. Many areas have freebie real-estate newspapers that cater to
people selling their own homes. You may also want to list your home online.
Your ad should list the basics such as location, price, number of bedrooms and
any unique selling points such as a new kitchen or lake views, advises Larry
Lessin, owner of Save 6, a real-estate marketing firm based near Washington, D.C.
For $899, the company offers clients selling their own home a display ad in a
monthly giveaway, listings on 12 Web sites, including the National For Sale By Owner Network and a wooden sign. "The ads that get the most response have urgency about
them," says Lessin. Key words that jump off the page are "seller
motivated" or "priced below market." And buyers always seem to
circle ads that offer owner financing (when the seller holds the mortgage) or
help with closing costs, he says.
Splurge on a sign for the front of your house. The cheap metal jobs from Home
Depot look, well, cheap. Visit a local sign company for a large wooden model
(usually about $75). "At least half the calls on my house were from people
driving by," says Bruce Buchanan, a CPA in Bowie, Md.,
who sold his five-bedroom Colonial by himself. Try putting the asking price on
your sign to help cut down on the number of calls from buyers outside your
price range.
And don't forget the original form of advertising: word of mouth. Talk up
your home at work, in the gym and at the grocery. Nearly half the sellers we
talked with made their deal with an acquaintance. George and Susan Wyper of Darien, Conn.,
for example, sold their three-bedroom, two-bath home to a friend of a friend
who'd been looking in the neighborhood for some time. Meanwhile, another house
nearby went unsold for weeks and was finally taken off the market. "The
connection really helped because we found out pretty easily that he was a
serious buyer," says George Wyper. "Before people rush into a listing
agreement, they should definitely check with all their friends."
Independent sellers need to keep in mind that they
must comply with many fair-housing laws, which are designed to protect buyers
from being discriminated against on account of race, religion, sex or national
origin. For more information on these laws call: HUD Housing Discrimination Hot
Line at 800-669-9777 or visit HUD's Web
site .
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