Selling Your House For Sale By Owner

featuRe fRiDayS

Well I'm not exactly selling my house for sale by owner.  I have enlisted the help of a flat fee MLS service.  In this market who has room to pay full commission.  I am however taking the weekend off of showings.  I must admit there are a couple of rooms that needed to be neutralized, especially due to the conservative nature of the area.  So here is what is going down, I'm  painting, packing, scaling down, restaging, (ie. I put my dining room table in the formal dining room instead of in the kitchen). , and getting rid of pieces that I do not plan to take with me.  The kids and I will be moving in with family for a while until this house sells.  Kind of takes the pressure off of  keeping the house clean all day long with two 3 year olds in tow.

We all love Sherry, John, and Clara at Young House Love, and I thought I'd share this great post on her take of selling a house for sale by owner.  As and old real estate broker,  (I haven't practiced real estate since we moved out of the state I was licensed in) I can definitely appreciate her suggestions.  So I've decided to implement a bunch of them and have my house rephotographed for the MLS.  The good news is that our home is the lowest priced house in our subdivision and has more upgrades than most, so even if there is no value in the upgrades at least that still makes my house more appealing.  I'm hoping that after everyone gets back from summer vacations things will start selling again.  I will be sharing pictures as I complete rooms, and I expect everyone's honest opinions.

Tip #1 Price it to Sell

Price your house slightly lower than other houses in the area.  If you are going to do a price drop it's better to do one huge one than a bunch of little ones.

Tip #2: Clean and declutter 

Buyers have no imagination and cannot look beyond the clutter and dust bunnies are gross.

Tip #3: Market, Market, Market

Put it in the paper, relist it on Craigslist every couple of days, and if need be list it with a MLS service.

Tip #4: Be Smart About Showing It

Basically don't have the whole fam hang out in the house while you are showing the house, pick someone who can play fake agent to show the house (in our case my husband does that job), get the kids out of the house.  Point out some good features and then let the potential buyer have some freedom.

Tip #5: Make It Sound Like Its Worth the Money

Point out the strong features of your house on the flyer and make sure you add anything you are tossing in with the sale.

Tip #6: Have a Plan for Getting An Offer

Be smart, hire someone to do your paperwork (ie. a closing attorney or a transaction broker)

Make sure all the proper disclosures for selling a property in your state are filled out as well.

Tip #7: Don't Be Afraid that Realtors Won't Show It

For commission, realtors will still be happy to show your house.  It gives their buyers more inventory.

Visit the full article at Young House Love.

xo,

mONICa