How to for sale by owner: Tips For selling house quickly by
owners
Here are few tips for sellers that are planning to sell house
without the help of an agent. Before deciding to put your house in the market,
there are few things owners selling by themselves need to do to make the
process successful. There are many sellers that are successful in selling their
homes without an agent, but doing some due diligent upfront goes a long way to
make that happen.
- Price: Most houses will sell when priced right. The price
of a house is not determined by what a seller want to get for it, what a seller
think it is worth, or what a seller must net at closing, rather the price is
determined by what a buyer will pay for it. This is free market and buyer will
determine what they will pay for a house based on what the market can bear.
With this in mind “For Sale by Owner” (fsbo) sellers need to be very accurate
in how to price a house for sale. Pricing too high will scare the buyers away.
Pricing a house is not an exact science but a professional judgment
based on years of experience, many factors go into pricing a house. Online homevaluations are inaccurate with many up to 30-40% off. Using a local Realtor to
get appropriate pricing is one of the
best way to go. Realtors have access to
homes recently sold in the neighborhood, the starting price, price history, the
final sales price and the concession to buyer. All these factors and others that can determine how to
price a house.
- Condition: Next to price is the condition of the house.
Buyers are coming in looking for move in ready homes, buyers are looking for
model like homes and comparing fsbo homes with others they are viewing. A
recent survey of buyers stated that home buyers search for 10 weeks and view 10
homes before making a decision. It is very important that fsbo sellers make
their house attractive and welcoming to buyers. There are few things that will
add value to a house and make it sell quickly. Condition goes a long way to
attract the right buyers, some buyers make decision to consider a house from
the exterior view, some just from the pictures on line. Making glaring repairs
before putting a house in the market will pay off in the long run.
- Easy of Showing: Price is right, condition is good, but
buyers are unable to schedule appointment to view the house. Not making the
showing easy for buyers will make a house stay on the market for a long time. Fsbo
sellers need to understand that it is not about their schedule but about the
schedule of the buyers. Holding open houses on weekends will not guarantee
buyers will show up nor will it get the house sold. Do open house sellhouses? Open house is just one of the tools to get buyers into a house to view
it, however making it easy to show during the day, or late in the evening with
less restriction will make a house attractive to buyers that have different
schedules and needs. As Realtors we advise our sellers to make showing very
easy for buyers, install electronic lockbox so that other agents will have
access to the house, we also use a
showing service to schedule showing online and off line, agents can call a
designated phone number or go online to schedule appointment and what this does
is make it easy to follow up with agents that are showing the house. Getting feedbacks
is also very important during home selling, sometimes buyers have questions
that can be answered quickly which may result in a contract. Showing restrictions will impede a quick
sale, fsbo sellers should consider flexible showing schedule.
- Pre-qualify buyers: Price is good, condition is great,
buyers can view home easily, but what type of buyers are coming to view the
house? There are many different types of buyers,
but attracting the right and qualify buyers is key in getting house sold. Tip
for sellers selling homes by themselves; make sure only qualified buyers are
viewing your house. Fsbo attracts many kinds of 'buyers', some
want to do rent to own, some want to do lease with option to buy, some don't
have the means of buying and some are
investors looking for a good deal.
How do sellers by owner
determine who is qualify to buy a house? Before making appointment, before
negotiating or answering questions about the house- first ask the buyers if
they are pre-approved for a mortgage. Before scheduling appointment with
buyers, request a copy of the pre-approval letter, contact the lender to make
sure the buyer is actually qualify. When Realtors work with buyers in home
search, one of the first criteria before viewing homes is for the buyers to get
mortgage pre-approval from a lender. There are many types of ''pre-approval''.
Some lenders will provide pre-approval based on what the buyer filled out on
the application, some will provide pre-approval based on not only what they
filled out but also based on the documents provided to support the information.
As a rule the lenders that we use do not provide a pre- approval without first
getting the entire document and verify the information provided in the
application. So there are different
types of pre-approval and many loans will fall apart because the lender did not
have a true picture of the buyer. Asking the right question and knowing goes a
long way to make sure a pre-approval is worth the paper it is printed on.
Disclosures: For sale by owners should be ready to disclose
any known defects to buyers, this is the law in Maryland and it makes for smooth
transaction. Some required disclosures in State of Maryland are lead paint disclosures, general
property disclosure, home owners association disclosure, and there are others
that are specific to each county. Lenders also require home owners disclosure
to make sure a particular townhouse or condo is approved. My team provide blank
copies of disclosures and other necessary forms to owners . Download our forsale by owner home selling guide to get more information.
These are just few tips that can help homeowners selling
without an agent sell successfully.
Keji & Associates team of agents at Fairfax Realty
provide free no obligation services to homeowners. We also provide home
valuations, and free guide to get house ready for sale. Contact us for a
personalized home valuations @ 301
-613-2043 or via email.
Keji & Associates of Fairfax Realty is a team of
licensed agents working daily to get homes sold for our clients in Bowie, UpperMarlboro, Fort Washington
Median Home Value
