"Mother, Please!, I'd rather do it myself!", was the memorable rant of a daughter on a 1960's TV commercial.
"Mr. Phelps, Your Mission, Should you decide to take it..."
In the glory days of the Housing Bubble it seemed a home owner could sell their house by just sticking a sign out in their front yard.
If you're generally a DIY'er (Do It Yourself-er); doing your taxes, financials, and car repairs; then you're a potential candidate to sell your home yourself.
Here's a Top Ten List of why you should sell your home yourself:
1) I've sold other things before, I can SELL my home myself. Nationally, almost 13% of home owners try to sell their homes themselves. It can be done. But be prepared for a lot of surprises: unqualified buyers ("Buyers are liars"), just-lookers (nosey neighbors), random door knockers, low-ball investors, mandatory State forms and paperwork, and rookie-tele-market-cold-call-prospecting Real Estate Agents trying to list your home. You can be on the "Do-Not-Call" List and also sell your home yourself. Talk to people who've done it before. Get a good book on selling your home yourself. Get a good Real Estate Lawyer (hourly rate). A Lawyer who does at least 25% of his work in Real Estate.
2) I can PRICE my home myself. In surveys by the National Association of Realtors, pricing the house correctly is the most difficult problem for For Sale By Owners (FSBO's).
- Priced Too Low: You sell quickly and don't get the best value. Another NAR statistic: FSBO homes sell for over 16% less than comparable Agent listed homes. Although I doubt most Real Estate numbers, this stat gives you an idea of the importance of the right price.
- Priced Too High: Your home sits on the market and doesn't sell. There is a time value of money. The rule of thumb for a home's carrying costs is 1% of the value of the home per month. Can you bear the costs of carrying your home on the market, and the possibility of carrying 2 homes, if your old one doesn't sell?
3) I can STAGE my home myself. The second most common problem listed by FSBO's is staging their home to sell. Do you know the general rules: clean everything, de-clutter, neutral colors, cosmetic improvements, etc. Just watch an episode of "Flip This House" and you can see what value a properly staged home can bring. There are professional stagers, but that's another hit to your bottom line vs the percent commission.
4) I can ADVERTISE my home myself. Print advertising has been the biggest area of Real Estate advertising, but be prepared for a shock. Most Agents/Brokers get favorable ad rates from newspapers. You don't. Remember, advertising comes out of your bottom line, but it's included in the Agent's commission.
5) I can MARKET my home myself. Just putting a "For Sale" Sign on the front lawn is not all there is to marketing. We've all heard the story of Uncle Ralph's friend who put out a lawn sign and sold his house for his price the same day. Do you have a professional network of Agents with the most qualified leads? Do you have a way to efficiently contact all them and let them know your home is for sale? Do you have an MLS? If you can independently get on the MLS, that will cost you, too ($395-$995in Rochester, NY). Again, all out of your bottom line.
6) I can INTERNET MARKET my home myself. Over 75% of home buyers start their home search online. Almost 100% use the Internet at sometime during their home search. If you're not there, you're missing most of your market. Your house may never be seen by all your potential market. In my un-scientific observation of the past 6 months of FSBO leads (over 300), less than 1/3 offer an email address contact. In fact, many more sellers are on the "Do-Not-Call" List, than show an email address. Are you prepared to push your listing out to all the local and national Websites: Local MLS, Zillow.com, Google Base, etc?
7) I can NEGOTIATE my home price myself. Potential buyers know you're saving the 6% and expect you to share at least 3%, if not the whole 6%, with them. Unqualified buyers often target FSBO homes, draining you of time, effort and patience. If you don't like bargaining, haggling and negotiating; then selling your home yourself may not be the right decision for you. If you decide to give the Agent who brings the deal a 3% commission, that also comes out of your bottom line.
8) I can do all the PAPERWORK myself. If you love paperwork at work, at home or at tax time; you'll love selling your home yourself. If your State is anything like New York, your home sale transaction is protected by a wall of paper. Did I sign this? Did my spouse sign that? Did I fax this? Did I mail that? You better have a list of lists, with all the due dates, the do's, the to-do's, the to-don't-do's and the "Doo-Bee-Doo-Bee-Doo's".
9) I know a good Real Estate LAWYER. You better. If you decide to go it without a Real Estate Agent, you'll need a Real Estate Lawyer, who has experience with closings. As an Agent (in New York) I know the laws, the forms and all the other paperwork are constantly changing. It all falls under this year's "Lawyers, Politicians and Bureaucrats Full Employment Act, 1099BS". Don't worry. It's in there.
10) I know Real Estate Agents make too much MONEY. Some Real Estate Agents make a lot of money, but so do good agents and licensed professionals in most other areas of business and sales. If there were 8 million residential homes sold last year and 2 million Realtors, then the average Realtor sold only 4 homes. Not enough commission to make a living. Fees are negotiable, and the national average commission is only a little over 5%. In most States you can still buy marketing and advertising services separately and in some places even buy MLS access. But again, it's your bottom line. Real Estate Agents don't get paid until you get more. Real Estate Agents don't make more unless you make more.
11) Good Luck.
Adapt Or Die! Happy Searching.
WebHomeUSAblog; The Blog of Real Estate Search Marketing
It's certainly doable to sell you home yourself. Personally, I also see the value in picking and choosing the services you can tap into that will help sell your home QUICKLY. Time is money. Think about it -- every month your home is on the market is another mortgage payment, utilities, money spent on advertising & marketing etc. I chose to go the route of using a realtor. Homes were staying on the market in my area for 4 to 9 months. Using a realtor gave me more exposure via MLS. My home went on the market in November and sold in January -- with competing bids. I attribute the quick sale to a few things. First, I listed my home at the price I wanted to sell it for. I was advised against it, but I knew it'd get more traffic, because it comped better than other homes at the same price. It did -- my home sold for the asking price. Secondly, I made sure my home was homey for every viewing. It wasn't sterile. It was homey -- baked goods on the counter with a personal note for the visitors to help themselves. I accommodated every showing time and was ready to exit the home for a viewing at a moment's notice. It created a buzz amongst the brokers that I was very easy to work with and they knew their clients would have a positive experience every time. It worked! I also happen to be a residential color consultant and home stager -- so I was able to develop an excellent relationship with local brokers. The brokers took a shine to me and told their clients all about me. Potential buyers were then lured in by the "prestige" of buying a home owned and designed by a professional. Using a pro for the actuall selling part of the process worked for me.
Some other things I learned along the way. Everything in this world is negotiable. You can negotiate a lower commission rate with your broker. You can build into your contract requirements about how, when and where your home is marketed. And if potential buyers ask for credits after the inspection, you can ask your broker to contribute to the credit (asking them to take a deduction from their commission). A word of caution -- there's a fine line to walk with negotiating. Be fair and realistic in your requests.
The closing on my home is tomorrow!! Now I'm off to leave a "welcome" gift basket for the new homeowners. It always pays to be a class act.
Happy house selling! Shelly
Posted by: Shelly Galvin | March 11, 2007 at 10:11 AM
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Posted by: jeff paul portal | December 31, 2008 at 01:34 AM
I've been looking for topics and came across yours.Great post!Selling a home is really uneasy.You seem to have a lot of experience with that..Anyway,thanks for sharing this post!
Posted by: new houses for sale Philippines | March 29, 2010 at 04:28 AM
I agree; selling a home is to important to do by one's self, especially if you have no experience in doing such thing. Real estate is not a simple DIY project; it requires a lot of research and expert skills.
Posted by: properrty Hanoi | April 23, 2010 at 02:01 AM
Good thing you have done here, Thanks! This is a pretty up beat post about real estate that I am quoted in.
Mitch
Posted by: condo Philippines | September 13, 2010 at 10:20 PM
Hi,
i found your blog through googling. your gives to us very good knowledge about important tips for selling your home fast in USA. and This blog also gives very good information about Would you sell your house on Google? This is very nice blog . i really like this blog. This is very important for home sell and home buy.
Thank you,
Posted by: Jump Start Investments | December 21, 2010 at 11:09 PM
Very practical and effective tips. You can earn more if you can sell it by yourself. No more incentive for the Real Estate agent. And you can make a great deal that will benefit you and the prospect buyer.
Posted by: sell house fast | April 14, 2011 at 12:36 PM
An informative blog! I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Posted by: donne russe | May 27, 2011 at 09:38 AM
Traveling non-stop - now that would be a dream profession. Writing, photographing, eat, living... that's the type of traveling I want to pursue, not just facing corporate hotel rooms and eating room service. Wanderlust makes one feel ALIVE, or perhaps more detached because nothing feels like home. I can cure the sensation of a different life in my imagination, in those destinations where every sense of life is different. The sky would look different and the air would feel different on my skin. Encounters are adventures, not just brief shuffles on the street.
Posted by: Louis Vuitton Outlte | August 08, 2011 at 10:06 PM
In fact, more than two-thirds of grocery store shoppers buy on impulse. On the other hand, if you bring a list of things you need when you go shopping, you not only spend less time in the store, you also spend less money there. In his book The Millionaire Mind, Thomas J. Stanley notes that 84 percent of millionaires shop with a list.
Posted by: Louis Vuitton Outlet | August 12, 2011 at 10:08 PM
Leuk om te bezoeken van uw blog weer, is het maanden voor mij. Nou, dit artikel dat ik heb gewacht voor zo lang. Ik moet dit artikel om mijn opdracht uit te voeren in het college, en het is hetzelfde onderwerp met uw artikel. Bedankt, grote delen.
Posted by: Buy Generic Levitra | August 26, 2011 at 03:10 AM
Some time before, I really needed to buy a building for my business but I didn't have enough money and could not order something. Thank heaven my mate proposed to take the loans from trustworthy creditors. Thence, I did that and used to be satisfied with my small business loan.
Posted by: FrancescaSalazar29 | November 28, 2011 at 04:21 PM
The only problem that you might have. It is that you don't have the contacts to make it faster but at least there are sites that you can announce it and sell it faster.
Posted by: xlpharmacy | December 01, 2011 at 12:06 PM
Yes you can sell your home yourself if you have idea how to easily sell it either in online. But first it is advisable to have make over on your house before you sell it.
Posted by: home staging New York | December 13, 2011 at 02:07 AM