Are you thinking about selling your home without the help of a realtor?
While a real estate agent can certainly make the home-selling process easier, selling your home on your own can help you save money. But, before you attempt to sell your home on your own, there are some things you need to know.
Check out this guide to discover how to sell your home without a realtor.
Understand the Drawbacks
Before you start hunting for home buyers, it's important that you understand the drawbacks of selling a home without a real estate agent. Here's what to keep in mind:
You'll Have a Limited Network
Even if you're extremely well-connected in your community, you're not going to have the extensive network that most real estate agents have. Most real estate agents have national and international connections through their brokerages.
They attend networking and community events on a regular basis, and they're extremely knowledgeable about what buyers want and how to find them.
It's a Full-Time Job
Many people think that selling a home requires just a few extra hours of work each week. But, this couldn't be further than the truth. Selling a home takes a lot of work.
From listing your home to marketing to buyers to managing open houses and showings, there's a lot to stay on top of during the home selling process.
FSBOs are Targeted By Bargain Shoppers
It's also important to keep in mind that FSBOs (for sale by owners) are targeted by bargain shoppers. This is because a lot of FSBOs tend to accidentally sell their home below market value because they don't do their proper research.
Additionally, bargain shoppers think they'll be able to negotiate a better price out of you without a real estate agent there to help you.
How to Sell Your Home Without a Realtor
Now that you know some of the drawbacks of selling your home without a realtor, let's look at how you can pull off a sale. While it's harder to sell your home on your own, it's certainly not impossible. Here's what you need to do:
1. Price Your Home Correctly
Pricing your home correctly is the biggest thing you need to worry about when selling your home on your own.
If your home is priced too high, it may end up sitting on the market for months. If it's priced too low, you may lose a bunch of money on the sale. Luckily, you can take advantage of real estate valuation sites to estimate the worth of your home.
However, these sites should only serve as a starting point. You should also do extensive research into homes for sale in your area. Look for homes that have closed in your area, and note their size and sale price.
If you find that a 3-bedroom recently sold for $400,000 in your area, then you should be fine listing your 3-bedroom at the same price.
2. Stage Your Home and Make Necessary Repairs
Once you've figured out how to price your home, it's time to stage it and do any necessary repairs.
First, you'll want to declutter your home and rid it of any personal items (aka, family photos, trophies, children's toys, etc). If your furniture is a bit worse for the wear, consider renting staging furniture. The more presentable your home looks, the more buyers you'll attract.
You'll also want to take care of minor repairs before you list your home. By taking care of these minor repairs, you'll be able to sell your home for a higher price. Here are some repairs you should consider doing:
• Apply a fresh coat of paint to the exterior of your home
• Fix any leaky sinks or faucets
• Install new hardware on your cabinets and drawers
• Repair torn window screens
• Fix any damaged flooring
• Update the grout in your bathroom
• Resuscitate your dying lawn
While making these repairs takes a lot of extra work, these small fixes can really pay off in the long run.
New siding is also always a smart idea for home selling success. If your house needs new siding installed in the Seattle area, click here now.
3. Market and List Your Home
Once you've taken care of all of the necessary repairs, it's time to market and list your home. This will require some creativity, as you won't have access to many of the same marketing materials that real estate agents do.
Here are some inexpensive ways you can market your home:
• Create a "listing" on all of your social media platforms, and ask people to spread the word
• Hang up flyers and street signs around your neighborhood
• Ask family members, friends, and co-workers to spread the word about the sale
• Host open houses
You should also list your home on the MLS. MLS stands for multiple listing service. The MLS is a giant database that lists information about properties for sale with the goal of connecting buyers and sellers.
4. Know How to Negotiate the Sale
When someone puts in an offer for your home, you need to be prepared to negotiate the sale.
Keep in mind that when negotiating the sale, you'll also need to negotiate the contingencies. Contingencies are the conditions that the buyer requests that the seller meet before the sale goes through. For example, the buyer may say that the sale is contingent upon the home passing an inspection.
As a home seller, you are also allowed to place contingencies on the buyer. For example, you may state that you need a document saying the buyer has been approved for a mortgage before you sell them your home.
Are You Ready to Sell Your Home?
Now that you know how to sell your home without a realtor, it is time to put these tips into action. Before you know it, your home will be off the market.
Be sure to check back in with our blog for more real estate-related news and tips. Visit the Real Estate section of the Bootstrap Business Blog to learn more tips to sell your home without a Realtor and profit off of your property.
