Homeowners are savvier and more empowered than ever to sell their home on their own and avoid the costs of hiring a Realtor. Where enlisting the help of a licensed real estate agent was once the status quo, more and more people are in search of a more efficient, and cost-effective way to sell their house while maintaining control of their property in the process. However, when you decide to stand-in as your own real estate agent, you accept the responsibility to do their job. Here’s what you should expect as a For Sale By Owner (FSBO) seller.
Prepare The House For Market
You can’t just expect to stick a for sale sign in your yard and get your house sold. These days, nearly 98% of all real estate transactions begin with an online search, meaning you need to get your property ready for a digital marketing campaign.
If you really want to maximize your results and get the best sale price in the least amount of time, you need to do the following:
Deep-clean the house and make obvious repairs (holes in walls, broken windows)
Clean up the landscaping because first impressions count
Hire a professional photographer and videographer
Have the house staged or get digital staging
Hire a professional real estate copywriter to write the listing description for the MLS
Pay a service to have your property appear on the MLS
As you can see, getting your house ready to be sold will take some legitimate effort and will cost you along the way.
Hit The Market Right
The first three to seven days that your house in on the market are the most critical because that is when it is most visible to the bulk or active buyers. After that first week, your home’s value depreciates and it becomes less desirable, giving leverage to buyers in a negotiation. One of the most critical elements of getting your house sold in those first couple days is pricing it correctly. Normally, your real estate agent would pull tax records and comps through their MLS to land on a strategic list price. Since you’re a FSBO, you will need to manually pull those tax records yourself to see what properties in your neighborhood have been selling for, then compare those prices with the average price per square foot of the active listings in your neighborhood to find a competitive price. If a bidding war is your goal, err on the lower side to drive interest and elicit multiple offers.
In addition to pricing it right, you’ll also need to:
Plan and market open houses
Fins a system for following up with leads of potential buyers
Get a lockbox to protect your home during showings
Order signs to put in the yard and neighborhood
Leverage The Internet
Since the internet is crucial to your success, you will also need to design a website for your property that is SEO-friendly to help it get found by local homebuyers. Then, you’ll want to turn to social media to get the word out that you have a property for sale. Make sure you use strategic hashtags to further your reach on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc..
Most people think that selling their house themselves will require little to no effort on their part until they see how long their to-do list is. At that point, most people cave and hire a Realtor to sell their house for them.
However, you can sell your house on your own, and it doesn’t have to be nearly as hard as it seems! With cutting-edge resources like Listing Spark you can get your house sold without so many hassles and headaches.
Listing Spark empowers FSBO’s by giving them access to:
The same technology real estate agents use (the MLS, and sales comps and property tax records for market analysis that helps you accurately price your home)
A professional photographer
A high-quality yard sign
A lockbox you can place your home key when you grant permission for an agent to show your home when you aren’t there
Marketing brochures
Agent support should you have a question
Closing coordinator (for an additional low fee) for expert contractual guidance
A personal online dashboard to track sale activity
The best part?
You can reach your goal of selling your house for just dollars a day instead of thousands in real estate agent commissions.
