Tips for your Open House: - Clean up the inside of your home. Try and remove the clutter and make your home open and welcoming, people coming through will want to pen every closed and look behind every door. Turn on all the lights and replace any low watt bulbs with higher watt bulbs. You may want to consider a fresh coat of paint.
- Bake some cookies or get a sweet smelling candle (they do have cookie scented candles). Have fresh flowers in your kitchen and/or dining room.
- See if you can get some free flyers, recently sold properties in your area and the price, loan comparison forms based on your property and asking price. A mortgage broker can help you with some of these forms. Have your own flyers ready with your home?s information (look online at another home?s listing and make sure you covered all the bases). Check and see what your state required disclosures are and have them available, Home owners disclosure, lead based paint disclosure, property condition reports, etc.
- Freshen up any landscaping; a fresh layer of mulch can make a huge improvement in appearance. Sweep up walk ways and your drive way, and remove any eye sores or clutter.
- Put on your best. It is time for your best outfit, even if it is football Sunday sweat pants and your favorite team?s jersey is not appropriate. Put on your best smile and be friendly, pretend every person you meet just offered you 25% over your asking price as a cash offer.
- Ask questions. Some people will want the grand tour and some people will just want to be left alone to poke around. Be accommodating and help those who want it.
When selling your home for sale by owner, have open houses often. When you have open houses, invite friends, family, and neighbors over to check out your house. By doing this, it will inform them all that you are selling and they can assist by word of mouth to all of their friends and family. Many times they know of someone looking to buy a home or they may want to get someone they know into the neighborhood to live close to them. Talk to your mortgage broker for more ideas and tips on selling your home for sale by owner.
Always answer any questions honestly. If there is an ugly patch of carpet where your dog chewed up an ink pen, let the prospective buyers know. If the roof leaks in the spring, but it's now summer and you've painted over the stain, tell the prospect. Anything you misrepresent can and probably will be used against you. And of course, you would want the same honesty when you purchase.
Remember to be willing to show your home a lot. In the end its well worth it.
Lots of Mortgage Brokers have a call capture number that comes along with an attention getting sign like 100 Percent Financing. Call for 24 hour Recorded Message that they can lend you to help manage and up the traffic on calls. They automatically capture the number of the caller like caller ID and can have it sent real time by email and text message to the seller and broker for quick prequalification.
Probably the most critical component to the success or failure of a For Sale By Owner is the asking price. It must be high enough so the seller doesn't do all the work for nothing, yet pricing too high will make it hard to generate interest in the property. Many Realtors will perform a Comparative Market Analysis even though they are not going to be listing the home for sale. They do this because they feel the seller may let the Realtor represent them on the purchase of the seller's next home. The CMA can prove very valuable in helping the seller determine a proper asking price.
One way to prevent potential litigation for a problem you were unaware of is to hire an inspector to go through your home before you list it. That way, there will be no nasty surprises years later when the new owners discover something that began while you owned it--but didn't disclose.
You don't necessarily need to fix the problems, but you do have to disclose their existence.
The National Association of REALTORS estimates that nationwide thirteen percent of real estate sales are done without any involvement from an agent or broker.
Be sure and take a look at local and national FSBO companies. Many can get your home listed on the MLS system for a very small fee and provide you with the documents and information you need to do the job yourself. Plus you get the added bonus of also being featured on their website. You may also want to have open house attendee's sign a guest book with there contact information so you can follow up with them at a later date.
Most important...make sure your house is CLEAN! Potential buyers don't want to see an inch of dust on the baseboards. If your house looks dirty, who's to say the upkeep and necessary maintenance have been done.
The kitchen is the single most important room that sells the house. Create a spacious feeling in the kitchen by putting away small appliances, such as microwave oven, toaster, and blender. Also be sure the kitchen counter is free of personal mails, magazines and newspapers.
There can be a great win-win situation created for a FSBO and Mortgage Broker working together where the Broker is taking the phone calls for you. The Broker can determine rather quickly rather a potential buyer would be waste of time for the owner of the property by pulling credit and assessing their potential for obtaining a mortgage.
A mortgage professional can often times help you sell your home faster, by providing free marketing, and even potential qualified buyers.
One creative way to draw attention to certain features of your home is to write a special feature(s) for each room down on an index card and post them in each area respectively. Make sure you post them where you are sure they are visible to each potential home buyer. This is a great way to focus on the positive characteristics of your home.
Disqualifying prospective buyers on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, family status, or national origin is illegal. Discrimination can get you into a heap of legal trouble and can cost you big bucks. If in doubt, check with the Equal Housing Opportunity agency in your area.
You are attempting to sell your home yourself to avoid paying several thousand dollars in commissions. Be willing to spend some of that on advertising. Remember your home is competing for attention with those listed by real estate agents and they are putting ads in homes magazines, mailing out flyers, etc. A small 4 or 5 line ad once a week will most likely not get the job done. Establish a budget that will realistically promote the sale of your home.
Some realtor groups estimate as much as 90% of all homes listed For Sale By Owner will eventually be listed for sale with a real estate agent. I don't want to discourage you from trying to sell your house yourself; I am simply trying to help you enter this endeavor realistically. Realize that buyers know you are saving a 6% realtor fee and expect you to at least split the difference. Spend some time learning how to "stage" your home. Let a mortgage professional provide financing information to potential buyers to relieve stress in this area. If you try yourself and decide it's not working, your mortgage professional can recommend a couple of real estate agents that are highly qualified to assist you.
Check with a title company for a FSBO kit. Many of them will provide them at no cost to encourage the seller to use them to close the loan. The kit will have a purchase agreement and other helpful information.
Be cautious with whom you let in your home! A savvy criminal may target For Sale By Owners for many heinous reasons. Be stern in demanding that all prospective buyers are pre-qualified for a loan prior to allowing them into your home.
One effective way to get a win-win is to help someone with no down payment money on a For Sale By Owner home. The seller is more likely to agree to seller concessions when they know they are saving the realtor commission.
If you find a 100% loan for the buyer and the seller will agree to 6% seller concessions, the broker can get a fair commission for playing real estate agent and directing the parties to a good title company or attorney to help with contracts and closing.
This is often considerably cheaper than FHA because FHA has the mandatory up front PMI of 1.5% although the interest rate may be a little higher than the FHA rate.
You might also ask your mortgage broker about companies that offer to have the PMI added to the interest rate where it is tax deductible, or have them do an 80/20 loan to avoid MI altogether.
One of the primary concerns of the for sale by home owner is how much money it will cost them to sell their home, or how much they will be able to net after all is said and done. Realtors can take as much as 6% of the sale proceeds, and where the home owner does not have that kind of expendable equity in the home to be left over they may feel pressured to try and do it on their own. There are other ways however. Statistically, home owners often end up selling their home on their home at a higher price and still net the same when using real estate agents. There are many real estate agents who are willing to take a reduced commission or even a flat fee for their services. Talk to your mortgage broker about help regarding references of a reliable real estate agent that will assist you sell your home quickly without breaking you.
Work with a qualified mortgage professional. It cost you nothing, yet they will help you tremendously. A mortgage professional working for the seller should prequalify anyone who shows an interest in your home - even those who say they are already pre-qualified.
This can save you countless hours of frustration dealing with people who are not qualified to purchase your home.
Finding a mortgage professional to work with in your for sale by owner listing can help you a lot. They can make flyers for your home giving different payments and scenarios for potential buyers.
Remember less is more and that also means the furniture in your home, areas that have to much furniture will appear smaller in size than reality.
Remove too many personal items so potential buyers can see their own belongings fitting right in.
Burn a candle to make your home smell fresh and inviting.
Find out what is your true and fair market value is. You are saving 6% already by not listing your house with a realtor. Do not try to make more profit than it is. The higher the price, the longer it will stay on the market, which will eventually cost your money, time, and effort.
