“How do I sell my home quickly for top dollar?” I often talk to people who aren’t sure whether they want to use a broker or not. They’re not sure if a broker can get them any higher of a value than if they sold it themselves. Personally, I think you can get a slightly higher price using a broker because of the exposure you gain from the MLS. Not to mention you make the process easier on yourself. But if you’re hell-bent on selling it yourself here’s a few tips that will help you get top dollar.
If you’re thinking of selling your home yourself, I figure the best thing to do would be to put a little list together of what will help a for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) to sell your home. This is the things you should be worrying about.
1. Price - This is the single most important factor in selling your home. Do your research and don’t overprice your home. Even when listed on the MLS, if you overprice, you’ll get significantly fewer showings. If you’re within 5% of the neighbor’s similar home, you’ll probably be alright. If you’re more than 10%, you’re never going to sell your house. If you can’t sell your home then you’re going to have to have a ‘plan B’. Your buyers will see your home and probably pull the flyers from the neighbors’ yard boxes. If you overprice it, why would they come to you? It’s easier just going to the broker whose listings are cheaper anyway. If you just bought your home in the last 12 months and are trying to resell it, aim at breaking even. Unless you made improvements, you probably don’t have equity.
2. Physical condition - Make sure that there are no glaring physical defects to the home. By this I mean that, broken drywall or plaster, torn linoleum, cracked bricks or stucco, broken windows, and things of this nature should be repaired. Make sure that any safety issue, especially with the electrical and heating systems, is taken care of before you put it on the market. If your not interested doing any work go back to Item #1
3. Showing condition. I often hear, “If they don’t like the color they can change it.” My response? Change it.
Ask yourself or better yet ask your friends, How does it look from the street? Does the home smell funny? Does it smell bad? Do you have a lot of small glass trinkets? Is your home in style? Do you have a bright red or blue or orange and green bathroom? Do you have some combination of striking paint colors all over the most important parts of the house that you just fell in love with 20 years ago? If you can’t answer these questions honestly and make adjustments to them, these things will affect your price. Store your doll collection; start packing and put the boxes in storage, not the third bedroom. Staging your home for sale is one of the those things that designers go to school for; I’m sure you could get a few ideas, though, from picking up some recent interior design magazines. Not willing to make any changes here? Don’t expect anything near top dollar for your area. Go back to #1 and re-evaluate
“You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken $#!^, no matter how much mayonnaise you use.”
4. Market exposure – What works? You need exposure. If you live in a hot neighborhood, you have exposure. Throw a sign out front with a flyer box with some nice pictures of your home. If you’re priced appropriately, you might even get an offer. If you don’t have any luck, pass out flyers to your neighborhood, run ads in the newspaper (big waste of money but possible), offer a co-op to a buyer’s agent and call local agents who have listings in the area to bring a buyer by. Put the home up on all the possible online FSBO listing services you can find. Some people think they can get a better deal working with you directly rather than through an agent.
Can I use a Realtor to sell my home and not pay most of my equity?
What really will put the most money in your pocket? Ask yourself, can increased exposure get me a slightly higher price? According to the National Association of Realtors “the median for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) selling price in 2004 was 15.4 percent less than the median agent-assisted transaction price”. Increased exposure will get you the highest price possible; in most cases, this is higher than what you’re going to get on your own. But I strongly recommend to sellers that if they’re thinking about selling, go ahead and try to FSBO for a month. You’ll get contacted by a lot of agents in the area, but you could also find a buyer.
The next question is, how much exposure do you need and how can you spend the least to get the most.
If you’re not ready to have a Realtor represent you, you might consider getting a listing service to list it on the MLS. I’ve seen listing only services for as low as $299, but that’s literally all they do is list it. You need to be willing to pay some sort of co-op to a buyer’s agent in order to list.
If you are already willing to pay a co-op and a listing fee, you might as well consider low cost discount broker options. Why use a broker? Peace of mind, less liability, more exposure, expert advice and there is something about having an expert in your pocket to guide you through every step of the processs. There are a wide range of brokers that offer real estate service for a reduced commission. Not all discount brokerages are equal and perhaps in a future post I’ll explain the differences.
Your next step up would be a full service brokerage (large commission) who can take care of everything from a prelisting home inspection and staging to closing and relocation services.
My guess though is when you can’t sell your home, you’ll realize that it’s about exposure and price. You don’t need all the bells and whistles, you just need what will sell a home. Talk to a broker in your area that will sell your home without stealing all your equity.
How to sell your home quickly for top dollar.
“How do I sell my home quickly for top dollar?” I often talk to people who aren’t sure whether they want to use a broker or not. They’re not sure if a broker can get them any higher of a value than if they sold it themselves. Personally, I think you can get a slightly higher price using a broker because of the exposure you gain from the MLS. Not to mention you make the process easier on yourself. But if you’re hell-bent on selling it yourself here’s a few tips that will help you get top dollar.
If you’re thinking of selling your home yourself, I figure the best thing to do would be to put a little list together of what will help a for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) to sell your home. This is the things you should be worrying about.
1. Price - This is the single most important factor in selling your home. Do your research and don’t overprice your home. Even when listed on the MLS, if you overprice, you’ll get significantly fewer showings. If you’re within 5% of the neighbor’s similar home, you’ll probably be alright. If you’re more than 10%, you’re never going to sell your house. If you can’t sell your home then you’re going to have to have a ‘plan B’. Your buyers will see your home and probably pull the flyers from the neighbors’ yard boxes. If you overprice it, why would they come to you? It’s easier just going to the broker whose listings are cheaper anyway. If you just bought your home in the last 12 months and are trying to resell it, aim at breaking even. Unless you made improvements, you probably don’t have equity.
2. Physical condition - Make sure that there are no glaring physical defects to the home. By this I mean that, broken drywall or plaster, torn linoleum, cracked bricks or stucco, broken windows, and things of this nature should be repaired. Make sure that any safety issue, especially with the electrical and heating systems, is taken care of before you put it on the market. If your not interested doing any work go back to Item #1
3. Showing condition. I often hear, “If they don’t like the color they can change it.” My response? Change it.
Ask yourself or better yet ask your friends, How does it look from the street? Does the home smell funny? Does it smell bad? Do you have a lot of small glass trinkets? Is your home in style? Do you have a bright red or blue or orange and green bathroom? Do you have some combination of striking paint colors all over the most important parts of the house that you just fell in love with 20 years ago? If you can’t answer these questions honestly and make adjustments to them, these things will affect your price. Store your doll collection; start packing and put the boxes in storage, not the third bedroom. Staging your home for sale is one of the those things that designers go to school for; I’m sure you could get a few ideas, though, from picking up some recent interior design magazines. Not willing to make any changes here? Don’t expect anything near top dollar for your area. Go back to #1 and re-evaluate
“You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken $#!^, no matter how much mayonnaise you use.”
4. Market exposure – What works? You need exposure. If you live in a hot neighborhood, you have exposure. Throw a sign out front with a flyer box with some nice pictures of your home. If you’re priced appropriately, you might even get an offer. If you don’t have any luck, pass out flyers to your neighborhood, run ads in the newspaper (big waste of money but possible), offer a co-op to a buyer’s agent and call local agents who have listings in the area to bring a buyer by. Put the home up on all the possible online FSBO listing services you can find. Some people think they can get a better deal working with you directly rather than through an agent.
Can I use a Realtor to sell my home and not pay most of my equity?
What really will put the most money in your pocket? Ask yourself, can increased exposure get me a slightly higher price? According to the National Association of Realtors “the median for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) selling price in 2004 was 15.4 percent less than the median agent-assisted transaction price”. Increased exposure will get you the highest price possible; in most cases, this is higher than what you’re going to get on your own. But I strongly recommend to sellers that if they’re thinking about selling, go ahead and try to FSBO for a month. You’ll get contacted by a lot of agents in the area, but you could also find a buyer.
The next question is, how much exposure do you need and how can you spend the least to get the most.
If you’re not ready to have a Realtor represent you, you might consider getting a listing service to list it on the MLS. I’ve seen listing only services for as low as $299, but that’s literally all they do is list it. You need to be willing to pay some sort of co-op to a buyer’s agent in order to list.
If you are already willing to pay a co-op and a listing fee, you might as well consider low cost discount broker options. Why use a broker? Peace of mind, less liability, more exposure, expert advice and there is something about having an expert in your pocket to guide you through every step of the processs. There are a wide range of brokers that offer real estate service for a reduced commission. Not all discount brokerages are equal and perhaps in a future post I’ll explain the differences.
Your next step up would be a full service brokerage (large commission) who can take care of everything from a prelisting home inspection and staging to closing and relocation services.
My guess though is when you can’t sell your home, you’ll realize that it’s about exposure and price. You don’t need all the bells and whistles, you just need what will sell a home. Talk to a broker in your area that will sell your home without stealing all your equity.