Sell It Yourself

Selling your home yourself requires an extensive commitment of time and effort to market your home, qualify buyers, negotiate well, and stay objective with potential buyers.

  • Set your price by researching on the Internet, looking at other home prices in your area, and visiting the county tax records office to see what the homes actually sold for.

  • Attend the LITTLE IMPROVEMENTS = BIG RETURN Seminar and make sure your home is in the best shape inside and out.

  • You might want to invest in a few books and/or videos to support your efforts.

  • Set your advertising budget. Most people who sell their homes themselves spend between $1,000 and $2,000.

  • Create a color fact sheet, including a photo and necessary information about your home. Color increases the visibility of the fact sheet and the perceived value of your home.

  • Put a prominent FOR SALE sign in the yard.

IF YOU CAN DO ALL THAT, READ ON…

… AND THE LIST GOES ON

  • Display your fact sheet at work, in local supermarkets, and at other high-visibility locations.

  • Run daily and Sunday ads in the real estate section of your local newspaper.

  • Send letters to every real estate office in a 20-mile radius.

  • Create a small website and list the web address on all materials about your home.

  • Return all calls to interested buyers promptly.

  • Make appointments to see them as quickly as possible. If they see your house, they're also looking at others.

  • Be available days, nights and weekends to show your house.

  • Constantly monitor the market and be ready to adjust to the trends.

  • For your safety and security, try to pre-qualify buyers before inviting them into your home. Ask questions over the phone, including:

  1. How will they pay for the home?

  2. Can they get a mortgage?

  3. Are they pre-qualified for a mortgage?

  4. Is their home sold or just on the market?

  5. Is the buyer of their home a qualified buyer?

It's easy to see why the idea of selling on your own is tempting. But saving that commission can ultimately cost you more than you saved. Why?

First, it's an interruption of your personal and business lives. What does that cost you?

Second, you have to spend a substantial amount on advertising. Successful Realtors allocate a minimum of 10% to advertising. You should be prepared to spend between a minimum of $1,000 and $2,000 on newspaper ads, color fact sheets and flyers, signs, postage, and your Internet presence.

Third, if you welcome brokers to show your home, you must sacrifice part of the "saved" commission to them. Add that to what you spend, and your savings are hardly worth the effort. Click on the link above to read more about what you’re saving when listing your home yourself.

To read some recent articles about selling it on your own, please attend the seminar "extra credit reading".