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Educate Yourself On The Competition

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When you sell your house as a For Sale By Owner you need to know what your up against. You need to be better than the competition. It can be with price, condition, concessions or just by being the best. Know that the buyers seeing your home will be seeing others for sale in the neighborhood.

Strawberry market
Competition among strawberry sellers

Attend open houses in the area is one way to get to know the competition. Browsing the real estate internet portals like Zillow, Trulia Homes.com is another way. It’s a good idea to schedule viewings and go see the homes in real time.

Call the number on the sign or hire a buyers agent to show you around your neighborhood. Keep in mind that many Realtors will want to know if you’re pre-approved with a mortgage lender. If you’re buying another home after you sell yours than yes, you should have a re-approval letter. If not call around until you find one one that’s willing to show you listings without a pre-approval.  They don’t need to know your not in the market to buy.

Use The Information You Find From The Competition.

Once you are well aware of the competition make sure your home outshines all the others in your area. Whatever you have to do to make your home better do it.

Often buyers are looking in a particular neighborhood or part of town. That means they will schedule several showings in the same area and compare what they see. By knowing what the competition, the other homes for sale around you, are doing you have the opportunity to make your listing the best!

We here at DIY Real Estate write and talk a lot about the WOW factor and first impressions. When a potential buyer pulls up to your home you want it to be the best looking house in the area (first impression). That will get them inside where you have the chance to show them that they can own the best house in the neighborhood.

Seriously, take the time and effort to make it so and you will sell your home fast and for top dollar, maybe even more. And all on your own without paying a real estate agent thousands of dollars just to “list” your house.

Make Sure Your For Sale By Owner is Ready to Sell

Some common complaints I hear from buyers when showing houses;

  • Not clean
  • Clutter
  • Needs paint
  • Dirty or damaged flooring
  • Pet smells
  • Price

This is not an exhaustive list but some of the most common. It gives you an idea of how you can be better. Being better is what gets your house sold. Leaving an impression is what gets your house remembered. Make sure your house is ready to sell before you put it up for sale.

Other Ways to make Your Listing Stand Out

Offering concessions is a way to make your offer more attractive than the others in your area. “Giving away” extra appliances can garner attention. Many buyers need help with closing costs and will ask anyway. Consider offering to pay a portion up front.

Do you have a really nice outside space? If your backyard is set up for outdoor activities or relaxation with games, grill area, cool furniture, a pool or whatever else, think about leaving that stuff for the buyer.

The point is to make your house stand out. make people want to make their own. You’ll sell it faster and you’ll get more money.

You can easily sell your home yourself and keep thousands of dollars in your pocket.

Joel

DIY Real Estate

How To Make The Best First Impression

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large brick home with nice front yard for a great first impression.

First impressions are everything. As potential buyers are approaching your house they are already forming opinions. Opinions that matter.  That first impression can make or break the sale. So how to make the best first impression?

A bad first impression is sometimes all it takes for a buyer to avoid looking inside a house altogether. I’ve found that many buyers do drive by’s before they decide whether or not to schedule a showing. If you can’t get showings scheduled you won’t sell your house. 

It starts on line, on the internet, where your potential buyers search for homes and that’s the first opportunity you have to wow them. The chance to entice them to get into their vehicles and drive by your For Sale By Owner.  If they like what they see the next step is to call their agent, or better yet, call you directly and avoid those hefty commissions.

We’ve talked about pictures before and we’ve talked about getting your house ready for market a lot. 

Take pictures on a bright day with the sun overhead or slightly to your back to avoid glare. Get the angle that best represents your home and gives it the largest appearance which is generally not a full head on photo. A slight angle will give the impression of a larger home. 

Here we come in with the camera closer to ground level and at a slight angle to more fill the area and make the home appear larger. Without wasting valuable space we can still fit all the exterior features in, like catching the edge of the 3rd car garage and showing the yard is fenced. Think of pictures not only as pretty things but also information.  Certainly the more information you can fit in the frame the better.

Suburban with yard that makes a great first impression

Make sure the yard is clean, neat, trimmed, mowed and beautiful. That includes bushes, trees and the grass. Make sure all walk ways are clear. There should never be bushes, trees or any other plant life obscuring the view from the street. Sometimes this means taking some bold steps if you’ve lived in your house for awhile and there is overgrown greenery. 

You may love your pink flamingos and your yard sports paraphernalia but your buyers may not. In fact best if you take down all personal yard ornaments and take them to your new house. Depersonalize the yard the same way you do the rest of the house. You never want to risk offending someone so best if everything is left neutral and un-opinionated.

Pink Flamingos that should be reomved from the yard to create good first impression

Buyers spend time in the entryway, at the front door so be sure to impress them.

As home shoppers are walking up to your home they get the first close up impression. Make sure it’s a good one. The sidewalks should be swept clean. In the winter make sure no ice is present.

Any furniture on the front porch should be clean and in good repair. If you smoke on your front porch never ever ever leave ashtrays out. Potted plants are a nice touch in the spring and summer. Maybe some colorful mums in the fall. 

If the front door needs painting, paint it. The door knob should look nice and function properly. There’s nothing worse than having a bunch of clients standing behind me while I struggle getting a front door open. Definitely not a good first impression. Clean out all the cobwebs, dirt and dust from around the front porch and entry area. If you really want to go all out power wash.

Just remember that first impressions are no joke. Often my clients look online and make lists of homes they want to see. Then they drive by and narrow down the list by what they see from the street. Don’t let your house be one of those that gets crossed off the list.

This is the same sort of information I give to clients during “listing presentations”. I give people a list of improvements they can make and things that can be done to bring in a higher price. Then they do them (hopefully). Why not just cut out the middleman and save yourself thousands of dollars.

Joel

DIY Real Estate

Using Zillow.com To Price Your House Right

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Using Zillow.com to price your house will give you a really good idea of what you should price your FSBO at. As we all well know pricing your house right is what gets it sold fast without leaving money on the table.

I use the Multiple Listing Service, or MLS, to do this. The MLS is a service provided to realtors that show all of the homes for sale in an area, the homes that have sold and the homes that are pending. Zillow is basically an MLS for the public. I even sometimes find myself using Zillow to help me find a price when I can’t conveniently find what I need on the MLS.

Follow the steps in the video and you can easily get a pretty accurate market value price for your home.

Now You Have A Price, What’s Next

Now you have a price for your FSBO so what’s next. The next steps that you preform will insure you get that price and that buyers want your home above all the others for sale in the area. Fill out the form to the right and I’ll send you a pdf of the exact steps you need to take to get your home on the market and sold.

Joel

Happy selling,

DIY Real Estate

The Truth Behind the Success of FSBO’s

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Easily sell your home yourselfFor Sale By Owner, Try It

I am a licensed real estate agent in the state of Kansas. Personally I believe a homeowner can easily sell their home themselves, or sell their home FSBO (For Sale By Owner). What do you think? The real estate industry would have you believe it’s damn near impossible. The stats for successful for sale by owners according to the real industry are around 8%. That seems low. What is the truth behind the success of FSBO’s.

First, way back in 1981, before we had the internet in our homes, the percentage of successful FSBO’s was 21%. That’s very believable and I would expect that the number in 2018 would be even higher. But it’s lower? That doesn’t make any sense. It’s so much easier to sell a house these days. In fact, if priced right and properly prepared for market, homes are selling themselves. Literally!

What I mean by that is with all the real estate sites that are available for public use FSBO’s should be easier than ever to market, right? Well, they are, trust me on this one.

Consumers get online these days to look for homes themselves on sites like Zillow, Trulia, and homes.com just to name a few. Home sellers can go directly to these sites and market their homes themselves. In fact a lot of Realtors do just that trying to avoid paying commissions to other agents, go figure.

Home buyers are often shopping before they approach a real estate agent for assitance. Many of my clients prefer to look at homes themselves and then send them to me. Yes, I know it sounds backwards but it’s what’s happening. Consumers are shopping online for homes on their own. Real estate agents are useful for unlocking doors and filling out paperwork.

So where do these numbers about successful FSBO’s come from.

It’s actually a very slick play on semantics, and not dishonest. The industry grabs the numbers by only counting homes that have been sold by owners with absolutely no help or involvement from a real estate agent.

What I mean is…

  • Some FSBO’s end up using a buyers agent because the buyer had a contract or “agency agreement” with a brokerage. (More on that in a future post, and it’s not nice) Those sellers still sold the house themselves. They attracted a buyer, the buyer viewed the property, liked it and wrote an offer. Those sellers still saved thousands of dollars in commissions but in fact ended up having someone to do all the contract and closing work for half the price.
  • Sellers sometimes want to get their listing on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and there are services now that will do that for a few hundred dollars. Yes, the same thing you may pay another agent several thousand dollars for. The industry does not consider those FSBO’s. But who cares about semantics right? We care about saving money and putting it to better use.
  • What if you used a Realtor to help you price your house? You know, interview a Realtor, or two,  with the assumption that you might list with them so they give you a price analysis? Or what if you called up a Realtor and got some free advice? Would that be considered a true FSBO?  Again, who cares. It’s still a For Sale By Owner and you still saved thousands of dollars.

Those low numbers are thrown out there without an explanation for a reason. To scare you. To make you think twice. To stop you.

Don’t be fooled. It’s really not that difficult to sell a house once you know how.

Joel

p.s. If you have questions about the process you can join the discussion at  fb DIY Real Estate group

p.p.s.  For an in depth complete guide to learning how to sell your home yourself and get the most possible money click here!

For sale by owner? The right photos may help you sell! — John Unwin Photography

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When a real estate broker markets a home, they have lots of ways to bring in buyers. But, what gets buyers into your house when you are selling it by yourself? Your property needs to stand out from the crowd on real estate search sites like Zillow®. And, unless the first impression is good, people […]

via For sale by owner? The right photos may help you sell! — John Unwin Photography

Fixer-Upper Life_ 3 Tips For Buying and 3 Tips For Renovating

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Photo credit: Pixabay

Since we are a DIY site designed to save and make you money I thought this guest post from Brett Engle of DIYguys.net would be cool.

Fixer-Upper Life: 3 Tips For Buying and 3 Tips For Renovating

If you’re in the market for your first house, you should consider a fixer-upper. Fixer-uppers tend to be less expensive, and if you’re a project junkie, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to get your hands dirty. Outlined below are tips for people new to the housing market and how to prepare for make that first real dive. If you’ve already gotten a fixer-upper, the last three steps are just for you.

  1. Budget beyond the mortgage

Just because you can afford the monthly mortgage payments doesn’t mean you can afford the move. Estimate your home affordability based on your annual income, down payment, monthly spending, loan type, and current average Annual Percentage Rate (APR) for your home loan. An article on Bankrate recommends that home expenses should not exceed 30 percent of your gross monthly income.

Consider using an online calculator to determine how much you can afford to spend toward a down payment based on your annual income.

  1. Consider your options before committing

Think about what kinds of home projects you’re comfortable with. Some fixer-uppers go beyond ugly shag ‘70s carpet and five extra layers of wallpaper and can have serious structural issues. Look at different options of fixer-uppers and carefully consider your decision. If you decide to take on the challenge of rehabilitating an older home, you’ll need to arm yourself with proper tools such as jigsaws, drills and hammers. The initial price tag may be tempting, but in the long run, it might cost you more.

  1. Enlist a small army of professionals

If the idea of paperwork makes you sleepy, it might be worth your time investing in a real estate agent. A real estate agent will be able to contact inspectors, know how to negotiate, and maintain positive relationships with the sellers. If you start encountering legal issues (such as evictions and rentals), you might need to hire an attorney.

If you’ve already gotten your fixer-upper and are aching to dive into repairs, here are the first steps you should take into making your house a home.

  1. Do your research

Look at the projects you plan on doing and research how to fix them. Some projects can be taught through an online video, but other repairs require professionals. You can hire an architect or a contractor, who can help you take care of bigger projects. You can do some projects on your own, but for the big ones, U.S. News recommends letting a contractor or an architect to determine your most immediate needs as well.

  1. Take care of the most important aspects first

If you’re living in another house while fixing up this one, it’ll be easier to decide on your projects. If you’re living in your fixer-upper, however, you’ll need to prioritize which areas will get the treatment first before moving onto the rest of the house. If there are any kinds of leaks or holes that get in the way of actual living, repair those first.

  1. Stay or sell

Once you’ve renovated, the question is: Should you stay or should you go now? The Clash references aside, if you’re looking into selling it, make sure you approach it more as a business. Be patient and understand that sometimes you won’t always turn the kind of profit you’re hoping for.

House flipping is a tricky area. It’s still likely that you can lose money on flipping a house. If you’re approaching buying a fixer-upper strictly for getting into the flipping business, make sure you’re smart about it.

However, if you’re looking to make this your permanent home, then what you can do is move in and enjoy the fruits of your labor. It’s your home, and you’ll always feel a little more connected to it after having worked on it. As long as you set a smart budget, stay patient in the buying process and research the market, you can find an excellent property that you can make your own.

Bret Engle | DiyGuys.net

bret.engle@diyguys.net

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