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Planning and Preparing Your Home for Sale – Without a Realtor!

Should you sell your home yourself?

Find out the pros and cons of selling for yourself and avoid commissions.

Are you thinking about selling your home? Would you like to sell it by yourself instead of hiring a real estate agent? If so it would be beneficial to review the pros and cons of selling your home by yourself before hanging out the sign.

Pros

Selling your home without an agent means More Money. If that's not an incentive, what is? By selling it yourself you save the fees or commissions (thousands of dollars) that you would have to pay an agent.

You are able to decide the times for open houses and showings as well as where you want to advertise. Because you are only selling one home - unlike an agent who is working with many buyers and sellers – you will always be focused on the selling of your home. You will have more interest in the sale than a real estate agent who may be looking for bigger commissions elsewhere.

Cons

Real estate agents are paid good money for a reason. Selling a home takes a lot of time and energy. Open houses, dealing with potential buyers, closing sales and dealing with the legal issues are familiar turf for these people and their experience can impact the sale.

Be realistic about what you are willing to do. Will you drop everything to make a showing? Are you able to 'close the deal' and ask for an offer? It is not everyone who can take on such a big project or can handle the tension of dealing with buyers.

However, if the challenge excites you and if you are ready for hard work and willing to learn then it is not impossible for you to manage alone. With a little know-how and a lot of energy, you can sell your home without the help of a real estate agent and reap the rewards!

Where Do You Begin?

Start with evaluating your home – how much can you ask? What work needs to be done? How do you decide how much your house is worth without asking too much and scaring buyers off or too little and not making what you should?

How Do You Evaluate Your Home?

Choosing the right price for your home is crucial to making a sale. You risk everything if your price is too far off the current market. You don't want to discourage buyers because you are pricing too high and you don't want to throw away equity because of a low asking price.

Although this part will take a little work you will be better prepared and have an easier time finding a buyer if you do your homework. Real estate agents are familiar with the current market – what houses are selling for as well as how your home compares to others on the market. You will need a few weekends to get a solid feel for the market in your area.

Where do you begin?

Stay Local

You need to see what similar homes are selling for in your area. Your area is crucial – a similar home in another area of town is not consequential to your pricing. Look in the paper and for sale signs on the streets in your immediate area.

Do not ask for a free estimate from a real estate agent. Not only is it unfair to ask them for that information when you don't plan to work with them, but you will not know if they are new and their pricing unrealistic or if they're giving you an inflated price to get your business. Not that all agents would do that, but it is safer to work this out yourself if you are not planning on working with an agent.

Be Honest

Your home is valuable to you for many reasons. Children may have grown up in the home, marriages and anniversaries have been celebrated. Your dog may be buried in the backyard. This is, unfortunately, not a selling point for buyers.

Attend open houses in your area. Visit the homes on the market that are similar in age, size and style to yours. Only take the information that is available when you are planning to sell since markets can change drastically from season to season. Honestly take note of how yours compares.

Things to take note of are yard size, fencing, updated kitchen, bedroom sizes, type and monthly cost of heating (especially in climates with cold whether), if it needs a paint job (inside or out), distance to schools or shopping and if the financing is being assisted.

If you are selling a condominium you can also consider how the view, amenities, strata fees and regulations compare to yours.

Ask how long the home has been on the market. A home that is not moving in a strong market may be asking too much. Do not use this home for your comparison.

Compare several homes to your own. Start with their pricing and add or subtract depending on if you are missing a feature or have a feature they don't. By working with several examples you should get a feel for right price.

You can also hire an independent appraiser to validate the pricing you've decided on. Whatever you do, do not aim too high or your home might sit too long on the market – buyers will know this and stay away.

Pick the Best Price

You are probably aware of how stores price items with a .99 ending to entice buyers. Even though you know this (as does most everyone else) it works.

Keep that in mind when deciding on a price. If you are thinking of selling for $180,000 you will find more buyers if you price it at $179,900. Simple but effective.

Buyers will have a price range in mind when shopping. It's better to be just below the $180,000 mark so you can take advantage of those looking in the $175,000 to $180,000 range rather than limiting it to those looking in the $180,000 to $190,000 range. You will still get the interest of buyers looking in the higher price range as people are always looking for a deal.

Now that you have decided on a price, you need to prepare your home for the market – that is, your prospective buyers. This area also requires some time and attention, but is well worth the effort of preparation.

Read The Next Part: Preparing Your Home for the Market