How to Sell Your House by Owner

For Sale by Owner

If you prefer to see a for sale by owner sign in your yard rather than the sign of your local brokerage, choosing to sell your home by owner may be a good option for you. It's going to take some research, some marketing skills, and possibly a lot of your time, but in many instances selling your home by owner is an option and can result in a successful sale.

Things You'll Need

• Appraisal(optional, but recommended)
• Quality Camera
• High Quality Printer
• Signage
• Answering Machine or Voice Mail

Instructions

1. It's a good idea to decide if your home is a good candidate to be sold by owner. Are you on a street where you get drive-by traffic? Will people be able to see your sign? Do you have the time and desire to do what it takes to market your home? Is your schedule flexible enough to allow you to manage your own showings and hold open houses? If so, selling by owner may be for you.

2. Once you've decided to take the plunge, you will need to price your home. If you were using an agent, they would probably give you something called a comparable market analysis, or CMA. Since you don't have an agent, you'll have to do this yourself. You can hire an appraiser to write an appraisal on the house - this would give you a good starting point. You can also look on your local MLS website (try going to google and typing in your area + MLS - I would type Hawaii County MLS). From here, you can look through all listings in your area. See what's comparable to yours so you can get an idea of current prices.

3. Once you've gathered data on comparable properties, you may have a good idea on how you'd like to price your home. Do remember that not all properties sell for the asking price, especially in a buyers market, so make sure that you aren't choosing the highest listing price for a comparable home as your reason for a listing price. Also, remember that all homes listed by agents have a commission, usually 6%, built into them. You may be able to price a little lower than comparable homes because you won't be paying a real estate agent.

4. Moving right along, it's now time to put together information about your home. Real Estate agent will either take pictures or hire a photographer to do it for them. You should do this as well. Before taking pictures, walk through your home with a critical eye. Get rid of all clutter, make sure that your home is well lit, make sure you've got some curb appeal, and start taking pictures. Use a high quality camera to do this - borrow one if you have to. Take lots of pictures - especially of the outside, living areas of the home, kitchen, and master bedroom. Using a digital camera is best. One way to get good ideas for pictures is to look at real estate listings online. See what pictures grab your attention - take similar pictures of your home!

5. Once you have pictures, it's time to make a flyer. See what local real estate agents usually hand out about their properties, this will give you an idea of how to create your own. Your flier should contain photos of the house, an overview of the house, the listing price, lot size, square footage of the house, room sizes, other items included (ex. washer/dryer, dishwasher, etc). Think about your homes best points, and write those. You can also include information about the area, such as schools, shopping, etc. This may be the first thing people see about your home, so take your time and make it right. Ask friends and family to give you feedback.

6. You are almost ready to sell your house by owner. Make sure you have a quality for sale sign. A waterproof literature holder is optional, but should be seriously considered as it will allow people to take information about your home as they drive by. If you are part of a homeowners association, make sure you follow their rules. Get that all set up in your yard and get ready to put your marketing cap on!

7. Once you've got your sign in the yard, you can't just wait for your phone to ring. You've got to get your property noticed. Since something like 73% of home searches start on the internet, you want to have your home listed there. There are many places you can list your home for free, and some you will pay for. www.forsalebyowner.com is one paid site that does a pretty good job. Look for sites that are specific to your location. You can also take your pictures, put them into a slideshow and put them on YouTube, Yahoo and Google's video services.

8. Print advertising may be a good idea as well. People don't use the newspaper to find a home like they used to, but if your local paper will also give you an online listing it may be a good idea. Look at local real estate publications in your area and see if they will accept ads from owners who are selling their own properties.

9. Decide if you are willing to pay a selling agent a fee if they bring you a buyer. You'd still save half of what you'd spend if you had a listing agent and if they bring you an offer, you may want to take it. If you are willing to do this, let local brokerages know about your listing. Email them flyers or drop them off in their office.

10. Decide on some dates to hold an open house. Watch for local real estate agents that are holding open houses in your area and be ready to open your home on the same day. Take an ad out in the paper and get an Open House sign for your yard. Talk to your neighbors about being able to put open house signs in their yard or put them on the corner.

11. When the phone rings, you have to answer it, or return calls on a timely basis. Make sure that other members of your household can give basic information about your house or will take a message and relay it to you in a timely manner. Make sure your voice mail message is professional and consider adding something like, "If you are calling for information about the house, please leave your name, number, and the best time to call and we'll get right back to you."

12. When potential buyers call that want to see your home, make sure that you can be flexible with them. Have the home sparkling clean and ready to show. You'll need to be home since you are your own agent, but that doesn't mean that your whole family has to be home. Get kids & pets out of the house. For safety reasons, it may be wise to have two people in the home during a showing. During showings, don't hover, but be available to answer questions if they have any.

13. You'll want to have a basic purchase agreement on hand which can be bought at any office supply store so that a buyer can make an offer. You'll have to decide what you'd like for earnest money should you get an offer - that is money that would eventually go towards the price of a home. It should not be paid directly to you, but should go into an escrow account.

Tips & Warnings

• Consider setting a timeline for trying to sell your house by owner. For example, try it on your own for 6 months and then consider listing your house with a brokerage.