Saturday, September 29, 2007

Selling a Home By Owner

Selling a home "By Owner" is just as much about how you present YOURSELF both in word and deed as it is about how your house is presented. Many homeowners believe to maximize their home sale profit they should sell it themselves. A recent survey revealed that approximately 30 percent of homeowners intend to sell their home without a real estate agent. The biggest barrier to selling a home by owner is often the fear of legal contract documents, real estate contracts can be a scary issue for most home buyers and sellers. One of the keys to selling is to have all the necessary information about the buying process including financing available to prospective buyers.

Nearly every residential real estate transaction now uses preprinted forms or you can retain a real estate attorney for a lot less than a realtor commission. Doesn't it just make sense that the better you understand the people who will be possibly interested in your house as to how they shop for a house, how they think about the home buying process, their fears and concerns about home buying in general as well as home buying from a "By Owner" seller that you will be better prepared to market your house to them. Another challenge of selling a home by owner is screening unqualified prospects who thing they can low ball you since your saving money on the real estate commission. One of the downsides to selling a home "by owner" is the potential to miss qualified buyers who are working directly with area real estate agents. Most real estate agents show their qualified buyers only properties listed on the MLS since the commission agreements are already negotiated up front and the agent is "guaranteed" a commission.

If you are going to try to sell by owner, you must devote a certain amount of time each day and it is not going to be according to your schedule all of the time. Many homes sit on the market much longer than necessary because the owner isn’t available to show the property. Most objections you receive will be, "we'll think about it", or "we never make up our mind without sleeping on it" and "well talk about it and call you back" I suppose the worst part about selling a home "by owner" is the same as Realtors are used to hearing all the time. One of the things you need to watch out for is that Buyers react very different to a For Sale By Owner Home than to a regular listing. Nothing is more disappointing to an owner than when these people never call back. When it comes to selling a property by owner the first time, many people tend to hesitate as well. In fact, thirty percent of homeowners tend to do so when it is time to move their property. In the case of selling a home by owner, overcoming this hesitation can save you a bundle of money. Using a real estate agent is still proven to be the most effective way to do so, and that's why the agent gets paid commission.

Selling a home by owner is getting easier all the time. At first glance homeowners feel selling a home is simple. Typically the ones who are out doing it By Owner thing think that THEY are going to be the ones who save the commission money. However, close to half of all FSBO’s were unhappy with the results they achieved by selling themselves. There are at any given point in time a certain number of buyers of residential real estate in the market and effectively marketing to these borrowers can be extremely difficult for the by owner seller.



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