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FSBO Selling Tips

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Real Estate Agent

If you are ready to sell your property and want to try it on your own before committing to list with a local Realtor, below are a few tips that will help better your chances of successfully selling your property.  And also, a few tips you need to do BEFORE you try to sell.

Before Tip #1: Get a Home Inspection

Hire a good local home inspector to review your property and then fix everything that they find that needs attention.  This will help.  And don't worry, I can assure you that when the buyer's home inspector comes through, they will find more stuff.  This will just make it much easier to deal with later.

Before Tip #2: Know Why You're Selling

Sounds dumb, I'm sure, but why you're selling is very important to the success of selling.  Your marketing will depend on it.  Marketing to get top-dollar is different from marketing for a quick sale.  Also, if you're putting your house for sale because you're facing a possible foreclosure, STOP THINKING FSBO, and call a Realtor that specializes in your situation.  Read this ARTICLE for more information.

Selling Tips

1. Buy a few books on Home Selling and Home Marketing.

2. Set your price by researching it on the Internet, and by reviewing other homes in your neighborhood or area that are listed for sale.  You may also be able to research your county's tax office to see what other homes have sold for in the past.

3. Setup your marketing budget and your marketing plan.  Marketing will usually cost a minimum of $1000 to effective showcase your home, and frequently more.  This includes such things as daily and Sunday edition newspaper ads, signs, flyers, a property website, Internet listings, local magazine listing, etc. This does not include the cost of using a flat-fee MLS service, which usually runs between $400-1000.

4. Be prepared to take phone calls.  Buyers want to talk with someone when they call.  Most will not leave messages.  If you will not be available to answer the phone, make plans for SOMEONE to answer.  You may have to hire an answering service for this.  The first contact with a prospective buyer is usually the most important.

5. Pre-Qualify potential buyers.  Before you let someone in your home, you need to make sure that they can actually buy it and that they are actually interested in buying.  Some basic questions to ask are, "have they been pre-qualified for a mortgage?" "if so, for what amount?" "Do they have a home for sale?" "Is it under contract or still listed?" "If under contract, is their buyer pre-qualified and do they have a home to sale?"

The next two points fall into marketing, but are too important to simply lump them in.

6. Buy a professionally made yard sign.  Stand out from the usual red and white "By Owner" sign.  Not only will it get your property noticed faster, a large typed phone number is much better than a small, rain-smeared hand-written one.

7. Take good quality digital pictures of your home.  These will be the main source material for all your advertising, so make the shots count.  You may even consider hiring a professional photographer to do your photos as in many cases, what the buyer sees in the pictures determine whether or not they even call on your home.

 

You can find more information on home selling at www.RogerAJohnson.com

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__________________________________________

Hickory Home SearchForeclosure Hunter

 

Roger Johnson is a Realtor with CENTURY 21 American Homes in Hickory, NC.

 

I service the Catawba and surrounding counties, and the Hickory, Newton, Conover, Taylorsville, Claremont, Statesville and Charlotte, NC real estate markets.

Visit us on the web at: www.HickoryNCHomes.com

You can contact me via Email or give me a call at 828-381-9245 or 828-568-2121 ext 310

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Comments (3)

Andrew Mayon
Triad Real Estate Photography - Greensboro, NC

Some great points, and I'll add a suggestion on how to trim/redistribute the marketing budget.  Since 85% of homebuyers look on the internet first before ever viewing a home, concentrate your efforts there, not newspapers/magazines which are ineffective on a cost basis.  With tough economic conditions looming, discretionary spending like on newspapers will subside, thus curtailing their effectiveness.

Focus on "Main Street," the internet.  Use free services like Zillow.com to post important information about the home.  VERY IMPORTANT - PICTURES, PICTURES, PICTURES.  The more photographs, and the better the images, the more response you should get.  People want to see what the home has to offer before they will devote any time to a viewing.  By having great photographs, you can create an appealing home that people will want to see. Professional photographs are definitely a great investment in the home (biased opinion, of course).  By the way, you may want to avoid slideshows with constantly moving images, it detracts from the photographs and becomes annoying as your eyes "chase" the pictures.  Still images (ones that fade in and out) are easier to concentrate on.

You may also want to consult a Home Staging company to help you organize, de-clutter and de-personalize the home, making it more appealing to a broader spectrum of buyers.

"The price of investing in preparing your home to sell, and photographing it well is less expensive than the cost of your first price reduction."

Jan 21, 2009 11:43 AM
Roger Johnson
Hickory, NC

Well said, Andrew

Jan 21, 2009 11:58 AM
D H
Beaverton, ON

Great post for those that are considering selling on their own.

Jan 22, 2009 11:29 AM