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For Sale By Owner Has Come Full Circle

In the beginning real estate was an exclusively For Sale By Owner “business”. This would be before brokers, agents, middlemen and everyone else inserted themselves between a buyer and a seller. Of course in the beginning there weren’t so many people and less properties. I imagine in those times if a person wanted to build a house they did it themselves or hired someone to do it for them. If a person wanted to sell their house they stuck a sign in the yard or simply let all their neighbors know. Again, there weren’t that many people.

Somewhere along the line, my guess would be the late 1800’s when banks started experimenting more with lending money for homes after the National Banking acts of 1863 and 1864, someone got the idea of bringing buyers and sellers together. As homeownership became possible for more Americans there would be a need for some sort of a middleman or system to market homes and find buyers. As the real estate market became more crowded For Sale By Owner wasn’t as effective.

Early entrepreneurs got the bright idea of looking for and keeping lists of homes that were for sale by owner and a list of people wanting to buy a home. That would be a way to bring buyers and sellers together and consequently charge for the service. Hence the real estate agent, of sorts, was born. I did some research trying to tie down a date, place, and person responsible and ran into many different theories. This was the closest I could surmise. As with any business others saw opportunity and jumped in. In 1908 these so called real estate agents got organized and The National Association Of Real Estate Exchanges was born. This all went down in Chicago. There were 120 original founding members and 19 boards.

The idea was “to unite the real estate men of America for the purpose of effectively exerting a combined influence upon matters affecting real estate interests”. The real estate industry in America was now a thing. There was a better way than For Sale By Owner.

In 1916 the name was changed to The National Association of real Estate Boards. The term Realtor was invented that same year. In 1972 the name was changed again to The National Association Of Realtors. And that is what we all recognize today, the Realtor.

The National Association Of Realtors or NAR is the largest professional association in America followed with a distance second by The American Bar Association, lawyers. NAR yields incredible power in the United States. They greatly influence real estate laws, rules and regulations. NAR has over a million members. That means in the United States and its territories there are over a million Realtors.

There was a time when the profession was very much needed and useful. It was no longer effective to stick a For Sale By Owner sign in the yard. There had to be a way to communicate the fact that a house was for sale to a wide audience. There also had to be a way for potential buyers to find the homes that were for sale. The real estate brokerage now controlled all of the information in a good way making buying and selling a home a process. If you want to sell your home people have to know it’s for sale and on the other hand if you want to buy a home you need a place to look. That was the function of the real estate broker. For many good years they helped millions upon millions of home sellers and buyers come together.

It's your money-Keep it

Today real estate professionals are still helping people every day buy and sell homes and are still very useful but just not necessary any more. The industry has changed from the need of a broker to help you to a choice. Yes, you can hire an agent to sell your home and pay them a lot of money or you can easily sell your home by yourself and keep your money. It comes down to do you want to do the work and save all that money or do you want to pay.

With the internet and websites like Zillow, Trulia and Google it makes selling your home on your own very possible. All the information you need is right at your fingertips. For Sale By Owner is becoming more popular around the country as people are figuring this out. No longer does the real estate industry hold close all the information. No longer do you need to hire a brokerage. The information now is easily accessible.

For Sale By Owner has come full circle.

You can easily sell your home yourself. It’s your money. Keep it.

For Sale By Owner

Realtors Sell Their Homes Without A Realtor

by Joel Weihe

When selling their personal homes many Realtors avoid the MLS therefore avoid other Realtors. By doing so they can sell their homes themselves. Without using another Realtor. If there’s not another Realtor they won’t have to pay one hence they keep their money. Same as I’m suggesting you do.

Realtor makes money

When you hire a Realtor he posts your house to the mls. The internet portals like Zillow, Trulia and Homes.com then pick up your listing. A prospective buyer searching on those portals finds your house and ask their agent to schedule a showing. The buyer views your home, likes it and as a result writes an offer, through their agent. You accept the offer, through your agent, and now you are in contract. Yay! But now you have to give up 6% of the contract price because you hired a realtor to do something you could have easily done yourself. If your buyer doesn’t have a realtor he calls yours to make an offer. Then your agent gets to keep the full 6% and he is very happy.

A Realtor works for his money just like you do so he wants to save as much as possible. By posting his house directly to the real estate portals like Zillow and Trulia he is hoping for a direct call from a consumer so he can avoid paying transaction fees. I have Called on For sale By Owners at the request of my clients only to find out the person selling is indeed a real estate agent. I can’t find the house listed in the mls. It’s smart because a Realtor knows where people are looking. As long as the house is priced correctly at market value and in good condition it will sell. Most likely directly to a buyer found on one of the popular real estate portals.

As I say we work for our money. It’s not always easy and that’s why we get paid so much. I believe it’s still something you could easily do yourself. A lot of real estate deals slide though smooth as silk, some not so much and some never close at all. If you follow our instructions chances are you will have a successful transaction.

It will take some work. A couple hours a day once you’re up and running for marketing, showing and eventually negotiating. But again, by following our tips and subscribing to our Easily Sell Your Home Yourself you’ll see how you too can sell your house For Sale By owner and keep your money.

Easily Sell Your House Yourself

Why Do I want To help You For Sale By Owner

by Joel Weihe

Why Would I Want to Help For Sale By Owner When I Make a Living Selling Real Estate.

Because sometimes it just makes more sense.

I work with a lot of military families helping them to find and purchase real estate. The first thing I want to know is does this make sense for you at this time. How long are you planning to be here? If you’re not going to be here long, and you have to sell your house, you should consider a For sale By Owner.

Cartoon man leaning on for sale by owner sign — For sale by owner

Military families move a lot. I know because I grew up in a military family and we were always moving, or so it seemed. We never spent more than a few years in any one place.

If someone is only going to be in a place for two years it doesn’t make sense to buy a house. They will likely have to pay to sell their home when the time comes to move. Yes, pay…to sell their home. Literally have to bring money to closing instead of leaving the closing table with a check.

Let me explain;

When you buy a house there is very little cost involved in the real estate transaction itself. If one is financing there will be some closing costs associated with that but it’s separate from the real estate transaction costs. For instance in the state I live in if you were to pay cash for a house there would be half the closing fee, around $250, and half the title insurance, which depends on the price of the house but isn’t expensive. Generally under $1000 total. When you go to sell your home that’s where the transaction fees (real estate commissions) get paid by the seller, you, along with half the closing fee and title insurance.

It’s not legal to fix those transaction fees where I live but they are generally 6% of the contract price. That can get expensive. If one doesn’t have enough equity built up they will have to bring money to closing to sell their house.

So my client tells me the Air Force says they are keeping him here for 7 years. Great, that’s plenty of time to buy a house, make it a home and if the economy stays intact probably come out a little ahead when it’s time to sell. A year and a half later the same client calls me and says the Air Force changed its mind and they have orders to ship out. Can I please help them sell the house. One and half years is not enough time to build equity to pay those outrageous transaction fees. Especially with government backed loans like FHA or VA that require little or no down payment. Little or down payment equals little or no equity.

Please notice I call them transaction fees rather than what they are. Real estate commissions. Transaction fees comes off a lot softer.

And yes, I get paid those outrageous fees when someone doesn’t know how or is scared to sell there house for sale by owner.

It’s really not that tough if you know how;

To get your house market ready.
To properly price your house.
Where and how to market your house.
How to vet a prospective buyer.
And all the other things a real estate agent does.

And it’s not just Military either. Sometimes bad things happen to good people and they get jammed up. People lose jobs, get sick, get job transfers or just are forced for whatever reason to give up their home through no fault of their own. If this family owns a $300,000 house the fees are going to be in excess of $18,000. That’s a lot of money. It is to me anyway.

As I’ve talked about in previous posts you’ll have to put in a little work. Things might come up. Problems may arise. Every transaction isn’t always super smooth but…$18,000? Understand you’re going to have some costs and you may end up paying a realtor some money that brings you a buyer if you choose to. You can negotiate that. Whatever happens you are going to save (make?) a lot of money.

To many sellers it’s worth the money not to have to deal with it. Not to go through all the necessary steps to sell your home for the most money. That’s well and good if you can afford it. For sale by owner isn’t for everyone. This is just to let you know there is another way. You can easily sell your house For Sale By Owner.

Let Your Neighbors Choose Their Neighbors

by Joel Weihe

So you’re moving and leaving the neighborhood you have grown to love. Why not give your neighbors a chance to choose their new neighbor. Let them have a say in replacing you. Your neighbors can help sell your For sale By owner.

When selling your home DIY you want to do exactly what a real estate agent does, which is getting the word out that your home is for sale. Marketing your for sale by owner.

Marketing your for sale by owner these days is posting your house online on sites like Zillow and Trulia. That’s where almost all home buyers are looking. So that’s where agents put their listings routed through the multiple listing service (mls). You can simply list it with the online real estate portals directly. Or you can let your neighbors sell your house for you.

Creative agents get more money for their clients and sell the homes faster. And you can be creative too!

Give your neighbors a chance to help you sell your home. One of your neighbors may have the perfect buyer for your for sale by owner house. Often people are keeping an eye on the homes coming up for sale in the area so they can get their friends or family members to move in and be close.

Maybe you belong to a neighborhood online message board or email list. Send a link to of your listing to the neighborhood.

Send out personal invitations to a private open house. Make it fun with snacks, wine, cheese and whatever else-turn into a block party. Get people talking. Give your neighbors a chance to invite house hunters they know that would like to live in the area. I would sometimes do a private open house for my clients. By sending out postcard invitations to the area residents for my clients private open house. I would let the neighbors do my work for me. I sold a few houses like this before ever having to list.

Give your neighbors a chance to sell the neighborhood to prospective buyers.

Selling your home DIY or for sale by owner does not have to be that difficult. It can even be fun. It’s not nearly as hard as the real estate industry would have you believe. Always keep in mind that the more the word gets out, the more buyers that know your home is for sale, the more offers you are likely to get. That’s what can drive up the price of your home. Create bidding wars.

As always if you don’t think it’s worth your time to save thousands of dollars by selling your home yourself DIY then contact us. We have a vast network of real honest real estate agents all across the country that would be happy to have you pay them.

Pricing Your House Right

by Joel Weihe

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Find out what your home is really worth before you put it on the market. If the house isn’t priced correctly all the pictures, descriptions and other marketing efforts will be useless.

Resist the temptation to overprice your home with the intent of lowering the price if it doesn’t sell right away. A house that sits on the market gets a certain stigma attached to it. Buyers wonder what’s wrong, why it hasn’t sold. It prompts buyers to make lower offers and ask for more concessions. Then you as the seller gets annoyed and turns the offer down causing your home to sit on the market some more. It’s a vicious cycle that will cost you money!

Data shows that overpriced homes end up selling for less than if they were priced properly to begin with. Often you’ll find real estate agents agreeing to list an overpriced home just to get their sign in a yard, free advertising. Don’t be like that.

There are places online that offer free home evaluation systems like Zillow or Trulia. Realtors often run “what’s my home worth” ads in an attempt to get in front of home owners and convince them to list. They do these home evaluations for free. Those evaluations are the best indications of what your home is worth. Try searching “what’s my home worth”. You don’t have to hire them, after all, they offer it for free.

Automated Valuation Model is another way to find the value of your home. Although it’s not as accurate as having an honest real estate agent perform a comparative market anaylsis for you. Different companies have different algorithms for finding home values. Some properties have a rather large spread between opinions. Still, the very best way to find an accurate value for your home is finding what similar homes to yours in the area have been selling for recently or getting an agent to do it for you.

If your time is worth more than the thousands of dollars you’ll save by selling your home yourself than by all means let us know. We have a vast network of agents across the country that can help.

Learn how to easily sell your home yourself.

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