Real estate brokers will be the first to tell you that it is wise to use an agent to sell your home. They will make claims that it is not worth your time or energy to do it yourself and they will find the best prospects for you. However many people will disagree. More people seem to be taking matters into their own hands and acting as their own broker.
The first step to selling your own house is pricing it just right. If you price it too low, you may end up hurting yourself on the deal and if you price it too high, you may lose potential buyers. The best way to figure out a price for your house is to hire an appraiser. They will not only take a thorough examination of your house, but they will have prices of competitive houses in your area to determine exactly what your house is worth.
After you have your house appraised and determine a cost, make sure to get as much publicity to your listing as possible. Use signs, flyers, classified ads, Internet ads, and any other place you can think of to get the word out. Your house won’t be listed in the MLS which many realtors rely on to get sales, so you’ve got to find ways to get buyers yourself. Word of mouth is and always has been the best way to get interest. Make sure you tell co-workers, friends, neighbors, and other people that your house is on the market.
Make sure your ad offers all of the features of the house, but in addition, has any other benefits that the buyer might want like discounts, help with the closing costs, seller motivated to sell, or any other ‘action words’ that may catch the eye of a buyer looking for a good deal.
Even getting the right sign for the front of your house can determine whether you’ll get potential buyers or not. Don’t use the cheap, plastic signs that you can buy at any hardware store, spend the extra money and get something custom made or even use a wooden sign. Be sure to include the asking price on the sign to cut down on phone calls of people who just want to know price.
If you are selling the house yourself, you may even get a few calls from agents who will try to convince you that you need their help selling. An old trick is when the agent says that they have a potential buyer for your house. You may even agree to work with them, but just remember that you are responsible for their commission if they make the final sale even if you haven’t signed a listing agreement.
You could also hire a lawyer that can draw up contracts saying that the agent only gets paid a commission if they make the sale to their potential buyers. This is called an open-listing agreement and make sure it clearly says that the agent will only get paid a commission if the sale is on a buyer that was specifically referred to you by them.
After you determine a closing date, you will need a contract of sale that mentions the exact date of closing and how much time the buyer has to obtain a mortgage loan. Generally these contracts can be found generically at an office supply store, but the law states that they need to be re-written to apply to the particular sale. You may even find that you wish to hire a real estate attorney to draw up the proper contract.
It may be that last minute issues cause the sale to fall through, such as the buyer not able to get financing or any other reason. However you can make a stipulation that requires 10% of the purchase price in escrow until closing, and that will help you get the people who are serious about buying the house.
Overall it sounds like a complicated process, but if you’ve done your homework and know what you are getting into, it may be worth it in the long run to save a few thousand dollars.
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