Pittsburgh Homes Daily

Somewhere between 10 and 15 percent of home sales every year occur for sale by owner. It’s a tempting way to sell a property in a cooling market because fees for a Realtor average 6%. But I’ve heard that 75% of people who list their home FSBO eventually list with a Realtor. So how can you be one of the lucky group that sells their home themselves? Here’s how:

1. Fix up your home before you put it on the market.

It’s highly unlikely that your home buyers will have the same taste as you. You need to decorate your home for a wide range of people. So rather than just guess at what people like — go ask them! Get a few friends to come through your home to give you their honest assessment. Preferably ones that have recently purchased a home and any with an interior design or handyman background. If you can’t find anyone that’ll give your place constructive criticism, consider hiring a home staging professional. Just because you’re selling your home yourself doesn’t mean that your home shouldn’t look as good as it can. They’ll likely tell you to declutter, paint, and rearrange furniture. Anyone that has watched TLC’s Designed to Sell will tell you that their advice can make a big difference.

Also remember that curb appeal is king. Some people say real estate is all about location, location, location. But that’s only half the picture. In this age of increasing commutes, you get a home buyer to see your house because of its location. It’s the curb appeal and interior design that makes the sale.

A buyer is only going to give your home one shot. So you might as well get it off to a good start!

If you’ve got some do it yourself projects that you haven’t quite finished, consider hiring a contractor. The buyers will hire a home inspector that will make sure it’s done right. So you might as well do it right the first time!

2. Read up

A search of Amazon.com for “for sale by owner” books returns 4300 selections. With that amount of advice available, there’s no reason to feel like your lost when
selling your own home.

If you are looking for free advice (aren’t we all), I would suggest a FSBO blog run by For Sale by Owner Center or Families.com. You can also find great advice from other for sale by owner sellers, such as that found on pfblog.

3. Set your level of involvement.

There are lots of options for home sellers short of just calling your Realtor. Many online websites, like RealEstate.com or ZipRealty, offer discounted commission or a rebate from the commission, if your home sells. Other websites allow agents to bid for the right to your property, like HungryAgents.com or HomeGain. Other brokers also run flat fee or discount commission operations. For example, Coldwell Banker now has an affiliate (Blue Edge Realty) operating in Pennsylvania and Illinois that offers assistance in the marketing, pricing, and paperwork for your home sale, for a 2% commission. But it’s up to you to show your property.

4. Set a price.

There are more options than ever to determine how to price your home. A traditional option would be to have a Realtor perform a comparative market analysis. Many Realtors will perform this analysis for free in the hope that you will eventually list the home with them. Another traditional method of determining the pricing for a home would be to contact a real estate appraiser. Finally, Zillow, HouseValues, and HomeGain all provide an approximate value for your home. If you use one or more of these sources, you should have enough data to put together a range that approximates your home’s value.

5. Prepare for the finish.

By planning from the start, you’ll be in a better position to ensure you close the deal when the right buyer comes along. Contact a real estate attorney or title company to handle the closing for your house. You’ll need to get advice as to what contract form to use with a buyer and what disclosures you need to make as a seller.

6. Market it!

Marketing gets the buyers to the door, so it’s an important part of the process. Your best options to market the home are through your existing contacts (friends, family, and neighbors), the internet, newspaper advertisements, and signs. Don’t forget to use your digital camera to take pictures to post online!

Yard Signs — According to a National Association of Realtor survey, 15 % of people learn about the home that they purchase first through a yard sign. Make sure that it’s legible (even if you’ve got to order it pre-printed). Many for sale by owner websites will include 1 or more signs in the price of their listing package.

Online Classified Ads — There are a number of free and pay sites to post your home on the internet. One of the best places to put your home online is on your local Craigslist site. Postlets sends out your listing to a number of other free classified sites.

National pay FSBO sites include ForSaleByOwner.com, Owners.com, FSBO.com, and ByOwner.com. There are also a variety of local options available. While some sites allow you to post a 1 photo FSBO listing for free, the majority require that you pay for a listing package anywhere between $20 and $900. You can choose between a per month fee and a one time fee. You can also choose the level of service you want (would you like to add a virtual tour? Listing on Yahoo! Real Estate? Additional pictures?).

Several of them also allow you to pay between $299 and $499 to put your listing on the MLS. This requires that you are willing to pay a buyers agent between 2 and 3.5 percent, but gets your listing on Realtor.com and puts it in front of more buyers.

Newspaper ads — You’ve got to get your home in front of potential buyers, and one way to do this is with Newspaper ads. While I’m not sure how much value a newspaper ad is in selling a home, it could be worth it to get in the newspaper’s online database.

Best of luck selling your home yourself!