How to sell your own home without an agent.
Home is ecstasy and means a lot to the owner of the house. At the time of buying a house, it is one of the most profitable investments that one can do in his life. You can sell your house when you need the money or find a better investment option. But, when you think of selling your own home, it is not an easy decision to take. It demands proper planning, research, and organise things. Usually, people take an easy way to sell their home and hire a real estate agent, but it could be a little expensive to employ a real estate agent. There is no doubt that the real estate agent knows the technical terms and legalities of selling your home in a better way. But it is not as hard as you think and with little research, you can sell your home on your own.
Starter pack to sell your own home without an agent
“Real estate offers a huge financial advantage to those who will learn the system on their own.”
If you eliminate the role of a real estate agent in your agent, then you can save up to 16% of real estate agent commission. Suppose if you are selling a house worth 300,000$, then you will have to give 18000$ in the account of the agent’s commission. Isn’t it a whopping amount of money? According to the National Bureau of economic research centre report of 2007, people who listed their houses on “sale by owner websites” saw no difference in the selling price. Agents take a 6% commission of total selling price, and it does not affect much if the owner sells his home on his own.
When the owner of the house sells the home without real estate agent listing on Multiple listing service websites, then it is called FSBO. FSBO is becoming very famous these days, and in 2007 these stats are becoming better with every passing day. According to the Zillow report, 2017, 36% of homeowners listed their houses on “sale by owners’ websites,” and only 11% succeeded in selling their homes. In simple words, only 11% of people got success using FSBO, and other 2/3rd people failed. So, these stats show it is not an easy thing to sell your own home using FSBO. You need to take proper guidance before starting to sell your home.
How hard is it to sell your own home?
The above statistics show that it is not easy to sell your own home, but if you follow the right guidance and direction, then you can do it on your own. People avoid the headache of selling the house and long processes; instead of that, they prefer to pay the commission to real estate agents for selling houses. Sometimes it is challenging to sell your own house; you need time, hard work, and know-how of the selling process. If you are ready to give time, then you can go ahead to sell home without an agent. So, if you have decided to go with the FSBO, then you should learn some skills to replicate the real estate agent. There are the following skills where you should give attention. The common skills are as under;
- You will have to be a local market expert.
- You should know how you can create a pricing range to sell a home without an agent.
- Complete the basic research around the areas where do you live. Suppose if you are living in Mornington Australia, then you will have to search the nearby area to set the price of your property.
- You will have to hire a professional photographer and videographer to provide a virtual tour of your house.
- Search for the Multi listing services where you can list your property against fix amount of money.
- You should be aware of the anti-corruption laws and legalities of selling a home without an agent.
- It is essential to have secure communication and people skills.
- Always prepare to handle house showings and info requests any time in the day and night.
- Polish your negotiation skills and remove the emotional attachment to the house.
- You will have to enhance the skills, how you can handle multiple dealings, negotiations: low appraisals, and poor inspection problems.
- Understand the legal process of selling your own home and maintain essential documents of your house.
Documents need to sell a house;
There are the following that you need to maintain to sell a home without an agent. You need to understand if you are going with FSBO, then you will have to look after all the process on your own.
- Mortgage loan information
- Sale and purchase agreement
- Agreement deed
- Property tax information and tax statement
- Home insurance information
- Any other report or document that relates to the property.
How do I sell my home myself?
You are thinking about those steps which are essential to follow, for sale by owner. So, here is the proper guideline about how you can sell your own home without hiring an agent against the money.
Prepare your home for selling
It is one of the most important steps to do before selling your house. You should run a decluttering campaign to ready your home. When you decide to sell your home, then lots of people visit it daily. If there are any personal photographs or anything that is showing personal attachment with the home should remove. Clean your home properly; if you cannot do it on your own, then you can hire a cleaning company to do this. If your home is clean and tidy, then it will positively affect the visitors. If you are selling a furnished house, then you need to do the following things;
- Repaint the walls of the house
- Rearrange the furniture and set it appealingly.
- You can change little things like rugs, candle stands, or decoration pieces to give a new look to your house.
- You should give some attention and time to your lawn; greenery makes the house attractive.
Research the area for price set-up
Price is a critical factor in selling your property. So, you should set the price with care after doing thorough research on your space. If you are living in Mornington, then you should check the prices of similar properties to get an idea about the price range. You can check the prices of those houses which have the same area, rooms, and space. Many companies provide appraisals for home, but they are a bit expensive to hire. These companies charge 400-500$ as the appraisal fee, but “Mornington real estate” is the only company that can do a free appraisal for your home in Mornington, Australia. After going through with all these steps you are ready to take off, now you can set the price of your house.
Gather primary data about your house to draft listing
At this step, you need to list your home on different listing sites. Now you have set the price limit and know the worth of your property. So, you need to gather the following more things to list your house at “sale by owners” sites.
Photos: First of all, after setting the house, you need to take pictures of your home because you are going to need them in the future. If you can take professional photos on your own, then go ahead, but if you do not know the, you will have to hire a professional photographer. Clean your house correctly and take eye-catching photos in natural light.
Home data; In this step, collect the necessary data like house size in square feet, number of bedrooms, bathrooms, size of the garden, heating cooling details, parking arrangement, and anything that can enhance the value of your house. Make sure not to miss a tiny detail about your home because it will ultimately affect your selling price.
House description; It is essential to create an engaging story, a narrative that is good enough to attract people towards your post. Your report should be short, precise, and catchy with unique words that are representing the qualities of your house. If you are good at writing, then you can do it on your own. Otherwise, you can take the professional services for this. It is good to read the descriptions of other sellers to get good ideas.
List your home on listing sites (MLS)
There is a common opinion that multi-listing sites do not help to sell your own home without an agent. But it is not right; these sites help to give exposure to your house selling. These sites help you to put your property in front of the seller’s eyes, and you need the proper house information with a catchy description to list your property here.
Use other mediums for advertisement
MLS campaign is not enough to fulfill the need of your FSBO marketing. You should not rely on the MLS campaign; instead of that, you need to give attention to other marketing tactics. Here are the following additional options where you can market your house.
Real estate sites: There are plenty of credible real estate sites, where you can add your property for free advertisement. One of the most trustworthy sites is “Mornington real estate agents” in Australia. You will have to follow tiny and straightforward steps to complete your listing. They have significant traffic to market your property.
FSBO sites: There are many other FSBO sites, who are providing you the facility of market your property. You just need catchy photos and descriptions to attract buyers.
YouTube channel; You can run your house selling ad on YouTube channel, or you can give a virtual tour of your home using the YouTube platform. Do not use the shaky and unprofessional camera services to provide a virtual tour; it can affect your selling.
Social media platforms and classified websites; many social media platforms and websites are providing listing services with a good number of followers. A platform with the right amount of followers and traffic can give you the desired marketing.
Retain a real estate agent for legal help
Although real estate agent is expensive for selling your own home, you can take the professional services against some fee. If you take the assistance of a real estate agent, then you will not have to give him the commission from the selling price. You can pay him the regular fee and ask for any legal help that you are struggling to understand. It is one of the best ways to overcome the problematic legal matters related to selling your house. “Mornington, real estate agent,” is one of the most credible agent services in Australia who provide excellent legal assistance related to real estate matters.
There are following more things that you need to consider before selling your own home. These are the quick tips that you need to follow before getting into it.
- Always be prepared for negotiations and dealing with people, because anyone can contact you anytime. Home selling by owner is not an easy task. You will have to be available 24/7 if anyone needs to talk to you.
- If any buyer contacts you to see the home, then do not forget to check the personal identity and access whether he is a serious buyer or not. You will have to sharp your sensing skills to categorize people.
- You can add the background story of your house or any other thing or story that appeals to the buyers to visit your home. Always put the “Open House” to invite you to see your house.
- Once you have decided about the deal price and negotiate the terms, then at the next step, you need to make the legal documents to finalize your deal. If you are pro in legal matters, then you can do on your own, but if you are new in this, then you should hire a real estate attorney to take legal help. Give your full attention to this step because it is imperative.
- Always be clear about any disclosure that you need to make in the legal documents before the buyer.
- Always try to choose new techniques and methods for selling your own home over conventional and traditional methods.
How can I sell my home cheaply?
After reading the long-form article, you know that sale by owner is not an easy task; it needs proper time and knowledge to do this. Although it is an easy thing to save your money, here are the following pros and cons if you choose to sell your own home without an agent. After reading these positive and negative points, you can decide on your own.
Pros
You can save the commission amount of real estate agency
You have total control over the whole process
You do not need to deal with the agent to whom you do not like.
You can better represent your house based on your profound knowledge.
You can use different platforms for advertising your house.
Cons
You lack the professional and expert experience.
You know less about the market conditions and your surroundings.
You will have to give lots of time and energy in this whole process.
Your communication and negotiation skills should up-to the mark.
You can face resistance if your skills are not active.