Six Ideas to Help With Selling Your Own Home
There’s no question that selling your own home can save you thousands of dollars. For that reason, it comes as no surprise that lots of folks are attempting selling their own house without an agent. That makes perfect sense…Home prices have decreased so much in last few years that people selling their home simply cannot reduce their price any further than they curently have and still manage to pay out their agent the typical 6% commission.
A easy option would appear to be to remove the middle man…the agent. In doing so you save yourself thousands of dollars that you would have to pay out in real estate commissions and can therefore lower the price of your house to ensure it actually sells.
However, if you are selling your own home then you must start acting like a real estate agent. There is a reason why realtors make their commission…because selling a house is work! Real estate agents, at least good ones, work their butt off to produce a sale. So, if you’re selling your own home then you must do the same thing.
Here are some recommendations on selling your own home:
1. Among the first things you must do is get educated on various home selling methods. Keep in mind, knowledge is power. If you have friends or colleagues that are successful realtors then talk with them. Ask them what strategies have proved helpful for them and what has not. Furthermore, get familiar with real estate advertising. Make it a daily practice of reading real estate advertisements. Get an idea of how the ads are worded. Search for the keywords and key phrases which captured your attention.
2. Be realistic. Don’t price your home too high. Do some research by looking at the other houses being sold in your community. What are those houses currently priced at? Just how do they compare to your own house? In today’s market, the house that sells will be the best home at the best price. Furthermore, you need to research what houses have already sold locally. What did those houses sell for and how do those houses compare to yours?
3. Be prepared to hold open houses every weekend. Real estate agents work weekends and you are now your own real estate agent so get used to working the weekends.
4. Keep your house clean! You may even want to hire a maid. Since you must show your house on a moments notice it must be clean all the time. The last thing you want to do in the current real estate market is turn someone away or put them off until another day. Have your house in ready-to-show condition everyday.
5. Make good use of the internet. These days many people search for homes using the internet so make sure you are using sites like Craigslist, Realtor.com, YouTube and many others to assist you in selling your own home.
6. Get placed in your local MLS (Multiple Listing Service). One of the biggest drawbacks of selling your own home is that licensed real estate agents are the only ones who are able to list your house on your local MLS. This remains the number one method houses are sold in the country. Around 90% of homes sold are a direct result from being listed in MLS. For that reason, if you are selling your own home you will need to use a flat fee MLS service where you pay out a single flat payment to have your house placed in your local MLS. These flat fee services fluctuate in price and in what they offer so be sure to do your research as not all flat fee MLS services are top quality. Some just list your house while some provide lockboxes, “for sale” signs, contract forms, and may even do virual tours and open houses.
As you can see selling your own home is not easy. It is work…that is why realtors earn a commission. Furthermore, while selling your own home will save you thousands of dollars, some of that savings will be necessary for advertising costs, cleaning and maintenance, and of course listing you house with a flat fee MLS service. In the end though, if you are ready to put in the time you can still save yourself thousands of dollars which will allow you to decrease your asking price which will get you more traffic and ultimately increase your likelihood of selling your own home.
Even if you are selling your own home you should get your home placed in your local MLS if you expect it to sell. If you want to list your Sarasota real estatein the Mid-Florida Regional MLS for a one-time flat rate then contact uKeepCommission Real Estate for the best flat rate service and pricing anywhere. For more info go to http://www.uKeepCommission.com or call 941-465-9207.
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