Sell Your House Yourself

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How To Not Lose Money Selling Your House

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Man sitting on lawn with hands on face very sad and frustrated. For sale by owner having problem with selling their house
For sale by owner having problem with selling their house

How do you not lose money when selling your house? It’s all about the price. Seriously, more people selling their homes themselves lose money because of price. They overprice it and the house doesn’t sell.

It’s a well known fact among real estate agents that overpricing a house and letting it sit to long on the market loses money. Many For Sale By Owners don’t get this. They put the house up for sale at what they need to get or what they think it’s worth.

What they need to get means they need the money for something. Either a downpayment on the next house or sometimes just to break even. Whatever the reason it’s not the right way to price a house.

What they think it’s worth has nothing to do with what the house is actually worth. Even if you finished the basement yourself and did a $15000 remodel job on the kitchen the market is still what determines price. Not the homeowner.

When a home doesn’t sell potential buyers start to wonder why. As a result they automatically think something is wrong with the property. The only reason it isn’t selling is because of price. The only reason any house doesn’t sell is because of price and everything is relative to price. For instance location, condition, features and updating are all relative to price.

You may have a really nice and updated house in a neighborhood that does not support your price.

How To Tell When Your House Is Overpriced

I’ve seen many times homeowners selling their house themselves let it sit for months and months at the price they think it should be. Only the market knows what the price should be. The way to not lose money selling your house is to do the research, be objective and price it right.

Most of the time buyers won’t even bother with an offer. They see a house that is way overpriced and they bypass it. Sometimes they’ll call their real estate agent about it but the agent will convince them not to even bother. For instance a client may call me about an overpriced house and say maybe we can talk them down. My response is if they are willing to take less money they would have priced it right to begin with.

The way to tell your house is overpriced is simple. It’s not getting showings and it’s not selling. When I’m working with a homeowner and they insist on overpricing the house I have a prepared speech. It goes something like this:

“It’s ultimately your decision what we price your house at. I am here to advice you. I’ll put it on the market at this price but we need to agree that after 7 days if it hasn’t had at least _____ showings or has had _____ showings with no offers than we lower the price to what will sell it. The price I recommended.”

I put spaces where the numbers go because different situations such as location, market conditions, condition of property ect. determine how many days we wait or how many showings before an offer is not made..

We almost always end up lowering price. (or taking a lower offer if it one is made) The trick is to not let it sit to long. Even worse if it happens to be a strong sellers market. People will expect it to sell fast.

If Your Just Not Sure

If your just not sure and you don’t want to risk leaving money on the table it’s OK to go a little high but only for a very limited amount of time. Make a plan and stick to the plan. You’ll know if your overpriced. Make sure you don’t sit on the market to long. If no one is coming to look at your For Sale By Owner you’re probably priced to high.

That’s how to not lose money when selling your house. Even better the way to make the most money selling your house is to do it right the first time. Price your house right!

Joel

Why You Can’t Afford to Sell Your House

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Can't afford to sell their house. Homes for sale on percentage basis. There is a banner across the picture of townhomes that reads %% Sale%%.

Photo by Benedikt Geyer on Unsplash

Well, it’s happened again. A past client can’t afford to sell their house and they can’t afford to keep it. At least they don’t think they can but I will show them how to sell it on their own and save money.

To many times I run into or hear of people whom for whatever reason have to sell a house shortly after they bought it. By shortly I mean anytime within a year or two maybe three.

Theoretically the longer you live in a house the better the investment it is. Time gives the real estate time to appreciate and you to build equity by paying down, or paying off, the mortgage.

When someone has to move after only owning it a short time they really can’t afford to sell their house. Sometimes they can’t afford to keep it either. It can put families in a bad place.

Can’t Afford to Keep Their House

In this situation a young family wanted to live in a neighborhood for the schools. The area also held a certain prestige. They found a house they loved, went through the loan process, closed on the property and moved in.

A little over a year later they contacted me and indicated that they had bitten off a little more than they could chew. The house was eating up to much of their money. Once the mortgage and bills were paid they were left with very little disposable income.

They came to me for help selling the place. We went over the numbers and what it would cost to list the house with me. Even with charging the very minimum and having to pay a buyers agent they would have had to bring money to closing. They would have been in the red which means that the real estate commissions would have to be paid out of pocket. Thousands of dollars they didn’t have.

I asked them what I ask everyone that asks me about listing their house. “Have you ever thought about selling your house yourself?” And I got the same answer I usually get, no. Even if a home seller isn’t “in the red” it still makes since to save thousands of dollars selling themselves. Sell the house without hiring a real estate agent.

They didn’t make a decision at that meeting. I offered to help by giving them our free home selling guide. They took it and said they would think it over.

This particular story is to be continued…

You Can Do This

It’s really not that difficult to sell your house yourself. Real estate agents don’t have to put forth much effort once they have the business. If a house is in good condition, properly made ready for market and priced right it will sell. I can tell you how to sell a house. You can find that information easily.

What excites me is teaching people how to squeeze every last dime out of their For Sale By Owner. How to create multiple offers and get thousands more dollars. How to get buyers really excited about buying your house. Literally fighting over it. Making more money for you. That’s what excites me. Because I know it’s possible.