Forget about it.
Selling your own home that is.
Any professional Realtor will advise you not to do it.
In my opinion, they are wrong.
The average time a For Sale by Owner tries is about two to three weeks. They will usually succumb to the most aggressive Real Estate Agent who is convincing enough to write up the listing on the spot.
Been there, done that 25 years ago before I got licensed.
Today’s tools level the playing field.
The cost of marketing homes is perhaps one of the biggest reasons why most FZBO’s fail. The exposure for a yard sign is insignificant compared to the powerful reach available to Realtors and their networked connections. Once a home owner expands beyond that, the expense of newspaper advertising, open house ads and everything else discourages homeowners quite quickly.
If you would like to try saving some money, go for it. Use the best resources available and look like a pro.
- Set up your listing page with pertinent information
- Complete necessary disclosures
- Stage your home
- Take great photos, showing inside and out
- Map it
- Encourage participation by Realtors (save some but not all the expense of commissions)
- Shoot a video
- Post it on sites like Zillow, Trullia, Yahoo
- Throw a yard sign out there
- Run an Open House. Try finding a site like Open House wizardz where you can post it for a nominal fee
- If you are really in a hurry, enlist the aide of an agent to help you with some details and pay only for services rendered
Lots of owners are capable of selling their own home, but the real question remains:
“Is this the highest and best use of your time?”
If you are going to do it, at least be as professional as you can be.
Keep quiet and let the house do the talking.
Buyers will either like it or not and getting them to say “I do” is only the first step in a complicated transaction.
Get help when and where you need it.