For most sellers, knowing how to sell a house by owner makes the selling process more profitable, since the largest fee associated with a property sale is realtor commissions. But relying on a real estate agent is no longer essential for a quick or lucrative sale.
Even with that knowledge considerable hesitation around FSBO selling exists, even among homeowners eagerly searching “how to sell my own house” online. The reason? Homeowners are wary about an FSBO sale because agents have touted their experience as an indispensable part of the process. On the contrary, most of the fundamental tasks homeowners can complete without consulting a listing agent.
Prepare Your Property
The foundation of any lucrative property sale – FSBO or not – is to review your property and then determine the areas that need improvement. This preparation has two benefits: it makes your home more appealing on photographs while reducing the time spent on negotiations. Homeowners seriously considering the FSBO route, should divide their listing budget into two components: renovations and repairs.
Repairs ensure your home is up-to-standard come inspection and renovations make your home more attractive on the market.
They also don’t have to cost a fortune. Fixing leaks, faulty wiring, a squeaky step or mowing your lawn, painting, and deep cleaning all have a minimal upfront cost but a rather significant payoff.
Price Accordingly
In many instances, pricing is the Achilles heel of the FSBO process. Buyers are ill-informed and make estimations based on what they’ve seen happen in the market. But pricing requires more research, given that sellers aren’t relying on a realtor for their comps. The information you need, if you want to know how to sell your house without a realtor, is historical data detailing the last three months’ sales of comparable homes. Then using this data you can determine a competitive, market-related price for your home.
Connect to an MLS
Then after prepping and pricing your home, your next focus should be listing.
If you’re searching for where or how to list a home for sale by owner, the short answer is an MLS. An MLS is a comprehensive database of properties that agents use to find homes to present to their buyers. Previously the only way to list on MLS was through a traditional listing agent. Now, vendors – including flat-fee vendors like Homecoin, Houzeo, and Redfin – act as the listing agent to present your property on an MLS.
Your job as an FSBO seller is finding a feature-rich vendor that offers adequate exposure at a reasonable cost. Homecoin and Houzeo are excellent choices. Homecoin offers adequate exposure at a low rate, whereas Houzeo increases exposure, but their rates are also higher.
Consider Offering Buyer Agents Commission
The entire purpose of a private sale is to save on commissions, right. Not entirely. The primary objective is to make the sale as cost-effective as possible while being as beneficial as possible. That may mean adding a buyer agent’s commission to your listing.
For example, offering a buyer’s agent 2.5% still leaves you with a 3.5% saving. But that 2.5% can be the difference between selling at your asking price or waiting months to offload your property as buyer interest dwindles, then resorting to discounting your home by more than 2.5%.
Besides, by leveraging a buyer’s agent network, you save time and money on marketing.
The takeaway is that by following a few simple steps, you can achieve just as much as a listing agent but without the price tag.
