Can you sell your house without tapping the services of a realtor? Yes, you can! However, it goes without saying that it poses some disadvantages, but nothing really unworkable.
Some of the things that you should doubly work on are the ways to properly market your asset and putting a reasonable price tag to it. You’ll definitely need as many resources as possible to make up for the absence of an expert.
So, what are the things that you should take care of when considering selling your house online, without the aid of a realtor?
Prepare Your Home
If you’re selling your house as-is and you’re a bit in a hurry, you can get the services of a home buying company, such as Fair Cash Deal. However, if you’re looking to sell it yourself, make sure that your home is show-ready and that it’s in its best possible look. Making your house available is very crucial in its saleability.
No matter how homey you think your house feels, your foremost goal should be for the buyer to create their own imagination of how they want to live in it. Some may not appreciate you having an influence over their taste and preference.
With this, put away personal belongings, like photographs, and any items that represent the motif and theme of the house that a buyer might not be in favor of. Repainting the house with some neutral colors and fixing some outdated fixtures can sometimes do the trick.
Know the Right Pricing
Perhaps the most significant thing you need to be careful about is the pricing. The tendency of individual sellers is to overprice because they want to cover the expenses involved with selling rather than sticking with the real market value.
By learning how to price your property correctly, you not only improve its saleability, but you also avoid having to look for ways to sell it if it becomes stagnant. This will potentially add to the expenses you were trying to recover initially, leading to lesser net proceeds. Worse, you might end up needing a realtor to sell it for you after all, at a much lower price.
Prepare the Information and Paraphernalia
As a seller of your own home, you’re in charge of gathering all the pertinent information about your property. Buyers are understandably interested in the lot and floor size of the house, the ratio of the size of the rooms as compared to the rest of the property, the built and the finish, the heating and ventilation, security features in place, among others.
For your online listing, you should be able to provide photos of the house from all angles. Remember, this is where buyers derive their first impression, so make sure to show the best shots possible.
You should also be able to provide data about the house’s history, like when it was originally built, some information about the previous owners, if any, and other things that the buyers should know about.
Listing Portals
There are a lot of websites where you can list your property for sale. Multiple listing services (MLS) offer services such as assistance with the things needed that should be presented to potential buyers and directly dealing with clients on your behalf.
You can also opt to use social media like Facebook Marketplace or YouTube. Even free classified ads websites, such as Nextdoor and Craiglist, can come in handy.
Open House
Another thing you need to consider when selling your property online is being ready for potential buyers wanting to inspect your house personally. You can also go the extra mile by printing sales flyers that feature the best images of your abode, which you can hand out to these people while they tour around. Adding a few pertinent details about the house also wouldn’t hurt.
As an additional tip, The schedule of the open house should be set on weekends. The time should be around late morning up to early afternoon when people are usually not busy.
Negotiate
If a really interested buyer calls and shows the intention to buy your property, be ready to negotiate. Any buyer would do their best to haggle the price unless money is out of the question.
However, not all inquiries should be entertained. Be wise to filter serious buyers to avoid wasting your time so you can move on to the next potential buyer.
Conclusion
The bottom line when selling the property all by yourself is to save the realtor’s commission, which stands at around 5% as of 2018. On top of that, agents would charge for advertising fees, for “for sale” signs, professional photos of the property, etc. which can set you back for another $2,000 to $3,000.
At the end of the day, selling your house all by yourself means having complete control over the property. Whether it turns out to be a success or a failure, you only have yourself to blame, and that in itself is reassuring enough.