Overview: Selling A Home? What You Need to Know on How to Sell Your Own Home
Selling homes is not typically an easy or quick process for anyone. Depending on where a home is located, its current condition, its price, and numerous other factors, it can stay on the market for months or even years.
Realtor costs for selling a home can be an added burden to those already spending money selling a home, getting it ready for open houses, and waiting for it to sell.
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The sad reality is that today’s real estate market is tough. Owners are finding themselves selling homes for less than what they paid and, therefore, are looking to cut costs.
Thankfully, there is another option for selling your home—sell your own home without a realtor. If you have considered learning how to sell your home without using an agent, this article is for you.
This guide will compare what it is like to sell home with an agent versus without an agent, common mistakes to avoid when you sell your own home, how to sell own home quickly, and common “For Sale by Owner” services that might help you.
About 13% of homeowners now choose to sell without an agent. After reading this guide, you might choose to sell your own home, too.
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Selling Your Home with an Agent vs. without an Agent
Selling a home with a real estate agent seems to have been the norm for decades. Realtors undoubtedly offer numerous benefits to those looking to sell homes. Perhaps the most appealing reason for using an agent is to avoid the lengthy and confusing paperwork required when selling your home. Realtors take care of most of the legal end of selling your home, which can be a big stress-reliever during a stressful time.
Real estate agents also have incredible connections within the industry. This includes connections with other agents, home inspectors, and home stagers who can get your home open house–ready.
If you are wondering how to sell your home and get the most bang for your buck, real estate agents can help. They will connect you with the right people to sell homes as quickly as possible.
If you are not an expert negotiator or do not feel comfortable with negotiations, a real estate agent negotiates for you. Even if you choose to sell own home, a buyer might still use a buyer’s agent who you will have to communicate with.
This can be intimidating for those new to the process. You might consider using a real estate agent for selling your home if you feel more comfortable with someone else handling communications with the buyer.
Real estate agents are certainly helpful if you are learning how to sell your home. However, if you want to save money and think you are comfortable enough to sell your own home without an agent, there are several benefits to selling a home this way, too.
You are probably interested in learning how to sell your own home mainly for the cost benefit. Skipping the real estate agent when you sell your own home allows you to save realtor costs, giving you more financial flexibility for staging your home, buying another home before your home sells, or complete some repairs or upgrades.
Another benefit of selling your home without an agent is the way in which you can personalize your sale. You know how to sell your own home better than a real estate agent does. You lived in it, loved it, and made it a home. Your personal touch on your sale might be just what a buyer needs to fall in love with your home enough to purchase it.
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Selling Your Own Home: What Is Required?
Before you learn exactly how to sell your home, you should remember that your success lies on your shoulders. If you want to be successful, you should prepare yourself and your home well before putting it on the market.
Gather Your Paperwork
Learning how to sell your own home with all of the necessary paperwork can be daunting, but it is necessary. Check with your state’s regulations for real estate transactions first to ensure you are meeting all requirements to sell your own home. You will also want to contact your county’s government office for any localized requirements.
Another option to cover paperwork when selling a home is hiring a real estate attorney. A real estate attorney is not tasked with selling homes, but instead can act as a mediator between offers and take care of legal documentation for you.
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Staging Your Home
Staging your home is one of the most important things you can do in the process of selling your home. A real estate agent will typically help you with staging or consult a home stager before putting your house on the market. If you want to sell your own home, this step falls on you.
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Buyers do not want to see a cluttered home. They want to envision their family living there, not someone else’s family. You will most likely be able to sell your own home more easily if you provide a clean and spacious environment for your buyers to walk through.
Pinterest and HGTV.com have several home-staging tips that can help you sell own home, like highlighting the strengths of your home and minimizing its weaknesses.
Make Time for Selling Your Home
If you wonder how to sell your own home around other time commitments like work, hobbies, or appointments, you have a valid concern. But time is something you will want to focus on finding before attempting to sell your own home.
Between open houses, phone calls, and walk-through appointments, your calendar is sure to be booked through the process of selling your home. However, it is imperative that you are as open with your schedule as possible to accommodate the majority of buyers interested in your home.
Sell Your Own Home Quickly
Just because you are choosing to sell your own home instead of using an agent doesn’t mean you will automatically have to wait longer for your home to sell. You are essentially taking the place of a real estate agent, so as long as you are savvy with making the right moves to sell your own home quickly, it can be done.
If you are curious how to sell your own home as fast as a real estate agent could, look no further than your home itself. Making smart upgrades and giving important areas a face-lift could be the ticket to selling your home quickly and at a higher price point.
- Paint the walls. Crazy colors that show off your personality are not typically the best way to showcase your home. Your buyers want to see neutral palettes that allow them to envision the colors they potentially want on the walls. You will have better luck selling your home by keeping things simple.
- Give your home some curb appeal. Look up “how to sell your own home” on Google and Pinterest, and this will be a popular tip. Do some landscaping, power wash your exterior and sidewalks, and spruce up the backyard.
- Give important selling features a face-lift. Anyone who knows anything about selling a home knows kitchens and bathrooms sell. If you have some extra money saved for upgrades, spend them in these rooms. A new toilet or refrigerator can equal extra appeal to a buyer.
- Save and show important papers. Keep all documentation handy for anything you recently bought for the home or repaired. If a buyer has any questions, you will have the proof of what you have done before selling your home.
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How to Sell Your Own Home Using “For Sale by Owner” (FSBO) Services
FSBO.com offers a Multiple Listing Service (MLS) that lists your home in a database including some of the top real estate listing websites like Zillow, Realtor.com, and Trulia. If you are selling a home, you want the most exposure possible without a huge out-of-pocket expense. This is where a MLS is helpful.
A Multiple Listing Service through FSBO.com requires a flat fee to include your listing in its database. Once you provide your information for selling your home, the information will be included on several national real estate websites, depending on your location.
Image source: FSBO.com
FSBO.com and other For Sale by Owner websites offer tools for selling your home, like yard signs and lockboxes. You might even consider creating a brochure to further advertise your home in your neighborhood, workplace, or popular places in your city.
If you are looking into how to sell your own home but do not want to do everything yourself, check out the list of professional services for FSBO sellers. Here, you can connect with “sell home” services ranging from professional photographers to home inspectors to closing services within your state.
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Mistakes to Avoid When Selling Your Home
Now that you know the basics of how to sell your home, you should also become familiar with commonly made mistakes to avoid when you sell your own home. These mistakes are important to remember because they can be a deal-breaker for a buyer.
Not Understanding Your Buyer
If you are selling homes, you should always be sure to know and understand your buyer. What are his reasons for buying? What can he afford? What, exactly, is he looking for? This does not mean to study one person in particular. You should know what buyers, as a whole, are looking for.
When selling a home, a great point of reference to start with is the National Association of Realtors Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. This guide compiles research about typical desires and habits of buyers, like the amount of homes they visit before buying and how they learn about homes for sale. This information is gold to those selling a home.
Trying to Sell Your Own Home Completely Alone
Selling homes is time consuming. If you have a full-time job and try to sell your own home without any help, you are probably going to find that you are in over your head. Make good use of FSBO services and professional services. Find the ones that fit best within your budget but can still free up some time and take some pressure off you.
The stress of selling your home can show to your buyer. If you appear stressed and frazzled, you might come across as disorganized or untrustworthy. Consider a home stager or real estate attorney to take care of a huge, important chunk of the selling process.
Giving Up
Chances are, if you think selling your home is the right choice for you, it probably is. No one said it would be easy, but it can be well worth it in the end for the cost savings and satisfaction that you had control over the selling of your own home. Giving up when it does not seem to be going to plan will only leave you with regrets and “what-ifs.” Stick with it and reap the benefits when your home sells.
We hope this article, “Selling A Home? Here’s the Full Guide on How to Sell Your Own Home,” was insightful and helpful in your journey toward selling your own home. Please feel free to contact us with any thoughts or questions!
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