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Tips On Selling Your Home
Getting
Your Home Noticed and Sold!
The
"For Sale By Owner" method of selling a home
still requires you to do some work but the benefits
will be very rewarding. Getting your home
sold can be obtainable with proper pricing, staging, curb
side appeal and marketing.
Below are a few steps and
pointers to help get your home sold quicker
and with less stress.
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Sell On Your Own or Use An
Agent - selling yourself allows you to
keep up to 7% real estate agent sales commission. On
a $250,000 home sale this translates into a savings of $17,500.
If you feel confident
selling your house on your
own, we strongly recommend
having a real estate lawyer
go over your paperwork. This
is a high-dollar deal, and
you don't want problems or
possible law suits later.
The advantages of working
with an agent are numerous.
Your agent will list your
property in the MLS
(Multiple Listing Service),
a national database of homes
for sale. This means your
home will be picked up by
thousands of Web sites. You
cannot list your own home in
the MLS because only
licensed Realtors can list
homes there. But you can
hire a "flat rate" broker
who will list your property
for a low fee, and then you
handle the rest of the deal.
A real estate agent knows
how to market, negotiate and
sell homes, and often your
agent coordinates your
entire "selling crew" ---
all the wild cards --- from
home inspectors to escrow
agents. The agent can be
your greatest ally.
-
Sell Faster -
Your home needs to get noticed! You are competing
against several other homes in the area that may be
priced less, have more amenities or be listed by a
real estate agent. Presentation and marketing of
your property should be at the top of your list.
(see step 3 below)
-
Negotiating Power - if you do decide to
work with a buyer's agent you have the ability to
negotiate a flat fee or reduced commission rate if
they provide you with a qualified buyer. In this
instance, you would still pocket the listing agents
portion of the commission since you are effectively
performing their role on your own behalf.
FYI
- There are two types of real estate agents. Buyer's
agents who broker deals on behalf of home buyer and
listing agents who list and market properties on
behalf of home seller's. The 7% sales commission is
split between these two parties when a successful
deal is brokered. Allowing a Buyer's agent to bring
a buyer to your property with the promise of a sales
commission could speed up the sale of your home and
introduce some professional experience during your
closing process.
Step
1: Home Staging - Preparing your Home to Sell
The condition
of your home is one of the most important aspects of the
home sales process that you have complete control over.
The old adage "presentation is everything" certainly
applies here and should not be overlooked.
Buyers in
general are attracted to homes that are clean, spacious
and well lit with an attractive decor. Before placing
your house up for sale brighten up your home, remove
counter clutter, make sure all the rooms of the house
are neat and tidy. Scrub and vacuum all of the interior
floor coverings and walls until they sparkle.
Making simple
aesthetic changes to your property such as trimming the
lawn and hedges, planting flowers, re-painting weather
worn exterior surfaces as well as fixing any tiles or
gutters that may be broken can be the difference maker
between closing a sale and watching a qualified buyer
walk away. Keep it tidy.
Step
2: Pricing Your Home - Understand Your Market
The single
biggest reason that many For Sale By Owner's fail to
sell their homes is because they over price
their home.
Over pricing
your home reduces buyer interest, makes other homes in
your neighborhood appear to be of better value than your
home and can have an adverse effect on mortgage
applications once an appraisal of the home has been
performed.
The real
estate market dictates what your home is worth, not you.
Home sellers need to understand this and price their
homes within the market properly or a sale simply won't
happen.
Home sellers
must find out what other homes in their area have
recently sold for in order to find the correct price for
their home. Talk to neighbors and other home sellers in
your area, read
online classifieds or newspaper real estate
classifieds.
Most
buyers will obtain a loan from a lender or bank before
they can purchase a property. The banks will send out an
appraiser to determine the loan value of the property in
question. The appraiser will look at several factors:
size of home, # of bedrooms, # of bathrooms, year,
overall condition, amenities, style (rambler;
2-story...), lot size and more. They will need an
average of 4 "like" properties to come up with a value
they will loan on.
Get an
appraisal! Hiring an appraiser will cost you around $500
depending on the size of your property and the type of
property your selling. The benefits of an appraisal are
correct pricing and avoiding the loss of profit or
equity because you under-priced your home. Keep in mind
that some lenders will only use their appraisers and
will not use yours. The purchaser typically pays for
their own appraisal.
Step
3: Marketing Your Home - Exposure
Want to sell
your home fast? Invest money in as many advertising
methods as you can comfortably afford. A combination of
a yard sign, local news paper ads, flyers and our
internet site are the most effective means at the
home seller's disposal.
Use Your Toll Free Extension:
Many
times too much information about a home can drive
buyers away. Not enough bedrooms, priced too high,
size of home... Getting a buyer into your home
should be your top priority so they can see all the
potentials it has to offer. By using your toll free
extension in all of your advertising greatly
increases the chances of buyer walking through the
front door. Your toll free extension also lets you
know how many buyers have inquired about your home
and even gives us their phone number so we can call
them to answer any questions they might have.
At the
end of each ad include the following: For Additional
Details About This Property Call Our 24 Hour Info
Line At 1-800-959-3878 ext______
Writing a Sales Ad:
Most
people will only scan a property profile so it is
important that your listing and sell ad stand out.
Writing a long winded, flowery description of your
property will not help you to sell it faster. People
like short, to the point descriptions that stick to
the main facts about the property. Mention facts
such as the number of bedrooms or bathrooms but keep
your description to the point.
You may
want to include text such as "Priced Below Market"
or "Close to Subway" if the feature may trigger a
faster sale. Browse our website listings and
view a few property profiles. Find the one's that
you judge to be buyer friendly and copy their
approach when writing your own ad.
Photos:
Creating
a profile of your property without including
photographs is a sure-fire way to not sell your
house. No one is going to give you an offer without
seeing what the home looks like. Make sure you take
as many pictures as you can (digital cameras offer a
relatively inexpensive way to take as many pictures
of your home as you need without wasting film).
Include all 4 photos with your online listing on our
site. Make sure to
take both interior and exterior pictures along with
pictures of any special features on your property
such as a pool or hot tub.
Lawn Signs:
A lawn
sign is one of the most powerful marketing tools
available to the home seller. A lawn sign tells
passerby traffic that your home is on the market.
Yard signs attract attention and provide a potential
buyer with your contact details and the URL to view
more information about your property online. A
professionally designed yard sign improves your
credibility and drives buyers to your online listing
where they can get more information. This step
should not be overlooked.
Online Property Listing:
Listing
your property online allows you the flexibility of
having real estate buyer agents contact you with
potential buyers. If a successful deal is brokered
with a client that the real estate buyer agent
introduced to you then you will have to pay the
buyer agent a negotiated commission fee, typically
2.0% - 3.5%. You would still keep the listing
portion of the commission since you are essentially
performing this role for yourself but having an
online listing is essential to the sales process.
Your online listing will also provide leads through
searches at the for sale by owner portal website.
Let agents know if your willing to pay any fees or a
commission if they bring a buyer to your home. Take
the time to expose your home to potential buyers by
advertising in as many online sites that are
possible. Remember to use the following at the end
of each ad: For Additional Details About This
Property Call Our 24 Hour Info Line At
1-800-959-3878 ext______
Great no
fee sites are:
Zillow.com;
Craigslist.com;
Yahoo.com;
Google.com;
Zadzoo.com;
Hotpads.com
Flyers:
You
should make color copies of your online listing and
distribute them to as many busy places as you can
such as your office or gym. Additionally, you should make
them available in a box near your yard sign for
potential buyers and agents to grab. Don't forget
that you can print free flyers on your ad page in
this site. Simply locate your property and click
"Print Flyer".
See
Example Flyer
Flyers are Adobe PDF -
free download here
Step
4: Negotiating a Potential Deal
If you
receive an offer to buy your home, either directly or
through the buyers lawyer, you should immediately
consult your own lawyer. Many offers have a time limit
for you to reply or the deal may be dead.
At the end of
this period this offer becomes a legally binding
contract. It is important for the seller to be aware
that offers can be quite complicated and will often
include special clauses that favor the home buyer. For
this reason it is highly recommended that you consult
with a lawyer to make sure that your best interests are
attended to.
There are a
number of pitfalls that can be written in the terms and
conditions for an offer that can cause a deal to
collapse. Be careful to avoid contingencies that
especially favor the home buyer such as linking the
escrow closing date to the closing date for the buyers
current home sale.
It is also
important to find out as much as you can about your
potential buyer such as; are they pre-approved for a
loan and how much of a loan are they seeking (what is
their down payment amount). Money lenders tend to stay
away from deals where the purchase price of the home is
higher than the next comparable sale and the buyer is
putting down less than a 10% down payment. If you price
your home too high the buyer may not be able to get
financing!
On any offer
you accept make sure your money will not be in escrow
for longer than 30 days. Also, if you receive more than
one offer do not counter offer more than 1 offer at a
time. If two buyers accept your counter offers at the
same time you could end up in some legal trouble.
When
negotiating the final sales price of your home be sure
to remember that a buyer will rarely give you their top
offer.
Step
5: Home Inspections
All standard
real estate contracts allow the prospective home buyer
the right to inspect your home and property. A home
seller can also arrange to have a
home inspector look at
their home to identify anything that should be fixed
prior to attempting to sell. This can help provide
credibility and trust from potential buyers and show
that you are being pro-active in identifying and fixing
problems with your property.
If a
potential buyer schedules a home inspection and they
find a lot of problems with your property, they may kill
the deal so make sure you are fully aware of any
shortcomings your property may have prior to placing it
on the market and fix them.
Step
6: Buyer Appraisals and Mortgage Concerns
After a buyer
applies for a mortgage, the mortgage lender will:
-
order an appraisal of the home (to ensure the
buyer is not overpaying)
-
order a
title search to determine if the property has liens
on it
-
issue a
"commitment" - the buyer must complete all
conditions listed on the commitment
Before
closing the sale, make sure to contact your mortgage
lender and let them know you will be paying off the
remaining balance on your mortgage. Also contact your
local utility companies and let them know the date to
shut off your services on your behalf.
Step
7: Closing the Deal
On the
closing date the home buyer is allowed to perform a walk
through of the property to ensure that all agreed to
repairs have been performed and that the home is in the
same condition as when the buyer made their offer. If a
problem arises at this point, all monies are held in
escrow while the problems are resolved.
Typically,
closings will occur 30 - 45 days from the date the sales
contract was signed. Your lawyer or escrow closer will handle the details
of the closing on your behalf ensuring that; all money
is collected, loans or liens are paid, the deed is
transferred and issue insurance to make sure there are no
issues with title.
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