1). Price your house:
- Although you may have a good idea of what your property is worth, you need to do your due diligence. The easiest thing you can do is get an appraisal. This may run you a few hundred dollars.
- Contact local real estate agents to give you their opinion of what they would list your home for. They will give you their price opinion for free in hopes of getting you to list with them.
- Use Zillow’s “recently sold” features to see what the comparable houses in your neighborhood are selling for. Just simply compare your house to the ones that have sold in your neighborhood and this will give you a good idea of what a probable selling price for your home would be. Also look at what houses comparable to your house are currently listed for. You want to scout the competition.
- Use free online valuation tools like:
2). Open an escrow account:
- Just call any escrow/title company in your town and tell them you are selling your house and want to “open an escrow account.” This is free. They will send you an “exhibit A” which is the legal description of your property, and they will give you a “seller net sheet” which is an estimate of what your proceeds will be if you were to sell at the price you want. Again, this all free and they will be more than willing to help you through this process because you will be paying them a fee once the property closes.
3). Declutter your house, clean it, make any minor repairs, and prepare it for your listing photos:
- Although staging helps sell houses, it’s not necessary. As far as photos go, professional photographers usually do a good job, but they are also not necessary. Buyers like to see clutter free houses that are clean and well kept. You want that buyer to see themselves living in your house. If your house is in bad shape and you’re doing an as-is sale and won’t make any repairs, then make sure you factor that into the price. Use free real estate sites like Zillow and Realtor.com to see examples of other listing photos.
4). Write a clear and concise property summary:
- Write up a sales pitch for you house. Talk about the features of the property and why you love it. Use sites like Zillow and Realtor.com to see examples of other property write-ups.
5). List on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service):
- This is probably the most crucial part of successfully selling your house. It is imperative that you list on the Multiple Listing Service (aka MLS) and not just rely on Zillow or sticking a sign in your yard. Listing on the MLS will expose your property to all real estate agents and every third party real estate site. Anyone who is looking for a house WILL see your house if it is listed on the MLS. Many for sale by owners don’t realize that you don’t have to hire a real estate agent to get your house on the MLS. There are many companies, including Certified Real Estate Solutions, that will list your house on the MLS for a very reasonably fee— usually around a few hundred bucks. Not listing on the ML S is the biggest reason for sale by owners fail.
6). Offer a commission to a real estate agent that brings you a buyer:
- It’s important to offer a “reasonable” commission to another agent. By offering a commission to an agent that brings you a buyer, that agent will be more than happy to show your house and help sell it to their client. You might as well pay them a commission since you’ll be saving thousands by not hiring your own listing agent. That other agent has a financial interest in you selling your house, so they’ll basically give you the same service as a listing agent would.
7). Be responsive and make your house available for showings:
- This is obvious. If you want to sell your house, then make it available and be helpful.
There are certainly other nuances involved in selling your house without a realtor (i.e. FSBO); so, when selling yourself, your best bet is using a real estate advisor like Jerin Harper, owner of Certified Real Estate Solutions. Jerin is a state certified real estate appraiser and licensed managing real estate broker. Jerin has done thousands of real estate deals over the past decade.