How to Sell Your Home Online

Your Guide to Closing a Deal Without a Real Estate Agent

Selling your home without the help of a real estate agent sounds can seem like a pretty daunting task. Considering real estate agents know the ins-and-outs of the market and best practices for appropriate pricing and sales tactics, their advice can be invaluable.

But, if you take the time to invest in the process, you can get top dollar for your home and save thousands of dollars in real-estate fees that could instead be used to bankroll upgrades to your new digs or another big purchase you’d like to make. Consider this: real-estate fees on a $300,000 home could cost you up to $18,000 (based on a 6% agent commission).

You don’t need to be a real estate expert to sell your home on your own; you just need to be prepared to embrace the work the process requires.

Know Your Competition

It’s a good idea to get a pulse on the real estate market in your area. Ask yourself: how much are houses in my neighborhood selling for? What do they have they mine might not, such as upgrades to the interior or a finished basement?

Get on your computer and research existing listings on your local MLS or classifieds site. Go for a walk around your neighborhood and take note of properties for sale. Doing this kind of research beforehand is invaluable when it comes to establishing a price for your home or identifying any upgrades you might need to make to make your property more attractive to potential buyers compared to other options close by.

Establish Your Price

Before you list your property, it’s wise to get your property appraised and hire a home inspection professional to flag all potential issues that might come up later. If your only basis for setting your price is knowing how much your next-door neighbour sold their house for last year, you’re going to be in trouble. Overpricing your property for even as little as $10,000 can cause it to sit on the market for much longer that you’d hoped.

Letting potential buyers know you’ve had the property appraised is a great way to build some credibility and helps them find confidence in the price you’ve set.

Pricing your home aggressively might even incite a bidding war that could force the price to go above asking, and putting even more money in your pocket. For example, once you’ve established the value of your home, set your price at 15% to 20% below its value. This is a good (albeit sometimes risky) tactic to encourage multiple buyers to make multiple bids, and bump the asking price without any extra effort on your end.

Clear Out Clutter

No one wants to come into a house that’s messy or disorganized. Most people viewing a property also find it hard to get past poorly-sized furniture that makes your home look smaller than it is. It might have worked for you, but that doesn’t mean it will for a buyer.

Take the time to clear our space so the flow of your home’s square footage is centre stage. This makes it easier for potential buyers to envision their belongings in your home. And remove any personal items, such as photos or other family items - buyers want to envision their own lives in the home, not yours.

It’s also a good idea to clear out your basement, the attic and to spend some time organizing closets and pantries. Donate anything you’ve decided you don’t need or post it on a classifieds site to try to bring in some extra cash. Anything you’d like to keep for your new home can be put into storage temporarily at an affordable cost.

Invest in Staging and Photography

While advances in camera technologies are pretty impressive, it’s not a good idea to take your listing pictures your smartphone. You need to showcase your home with amazing pictures. And if photography isn’t your strong suit, it’s an incredibly wise investment to hire a professional photography with an eye for making your home look as impressive as possible. According to Redfin, homes with professional photos sell for up to $11,200 more than homes without professional photos.

Investing in a professional staging company with expertise in the latest decorating and interior design trends can go a long way in elevating your home’s appeal to potential buyers even further.

And take the time to make sure things like broken tiles and leaky faucets are fixed. Nothing can turn a buyer off more than dreading moving into a property with a laundry list of small tasks to do.

Write the Best Online Ad Ever

Do some research to identify websites that allow you to post your home for sale online.

The ad is going to be your sales pitch and is going to be the driver to help buyers uncover what sets your property apart from your competition. Identify a list of everything that could be a selling point and incorporate it into your ad copy.

Use realtor-style vocabulary to minimize potentially bad qualities. Turn “small” into “cozy,” etc. Write several drafts and have a family member or trusted friend provide feedback and editing help, if necessary. This feedback can be invaluable. It helps you get into someone else’s head and how they’d react to your ad. Just because you think it’s awesome doesn’t mean someone else will.

Do everything you can to stand out in a good way. This is your chance to tell everyone how amazing your house is.

Don’t Forget to Promote, Promote, Promote

You’ve got your professional photos and a snappy ad to get people excited about your listing. Now what?

Promotion is everything. You’ve put the work in to make your home seem as appealing to potential buyers as possible, now you’ve got to make they know how amazing it is by promoting it as effectively as possible.

Some steps you might want to take:

Promote your ad on social media. Post a link to your ad on Twitter and Instagram, and leverage appropriate hashtags to expand the post’s scope. Location-based hashtags are always a good idea when trying to sell your home. Send it out to your friends on Facebook, or post to Pinterest or a local sub-Reddit.

Invest in classified value-added services. Online classifieds can be an invaluable source to helpyou sell your home. Many offer value-added services, such as boosted posts that pin your ad to the top of a page and expanded photo galleries. These are affordable and effective tools that could save you a lot of time and stress.

Promote your house in your neighborhood. Make some flyers to distribute around your neighbourhood, buy a sign for the front of your house that includes a shortened link or a QR code that directs people to your online ad, reach out to local real estate blogs to see if they can host your listing (they might charge a small fee).

All of these tactics help you get more eyeballs on your ads, especially within your local area, to maximize the interest in your home.

Always be Available

An issue with for sale by owner properties is often a lack of flexibility for viewings compared to people who employ real estate agents to sell their homes.

If you work during the day, it might not be easy to schedule a viewing during the week, which can turn some buyers off. If you can, have a trusted friend or family member manage viewings for you when you’re unable to be there. You don’t have time and can’t afford not to maximize your home’s exposure to the market, so any tactic that puts the flexibility into a potential buyer’s hands is the best tactic.

It’s also wise to make sure your house is clean at all times. Nothing can turn a buyer off more than a messy kitchen or clothes strewn all over one of your children’s bedrooms.

And be ready to answer any questions the buyers might have. Knowing your home top to bottom is a great way to instill confidence in the potential buyer and gives you the credibility you need to close a sale quickly.

Cover Your Legal Bases

There’s a lot of contracts, paperwork and fine-print to go deal with when trying to close the sale of a home. Since you’ve decided to sell your home on your own, you don’t have a real estate agent to handle this task for you. Hiring a real estate lawyer can help make the process a whole lot easier. Your lawyer will work up a purchase and sale agreement, help negotiate the terms of your contract and expertly review any related paperwork and loan agreements.

Close the Sale

This is another step in the process where you’ll need to lean on the expertise of your lawyer. It’s essential that you safeguard yourself against any costly consequences and have your lawyer review the purchase and sale agreement with a fine-tooth comb. Hire a title company to take care of the closing process. If there are any issues in the report, work with your title agent or lawyer to resolve them quickly and successfully close the sale.

Selling your home on your own can be an incredibly fulfilling and educational experience. You just need to be ready to put the work in to make it happen. Following the steps outlined above can ensure the process goes as smoothly and quickly as possible, and goes a long way in putting more money in your pocket and not in the hands of expensive real-estate agents who might not always have your best interests in mind.

Author Bio:

J. René holds a MBA from Nova University and several real estate designations allowing her to serve her clients with experience and expert advice. She sits on the board of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, is past President of the Austin Association of Real Estate Brokers and an instructor for the National Association of REALTORS® and Texas Association of REALTORS®.

Prior to her award-winning work as a Realtist®/ REALTOR®, J. René was a marketing executive for IBM, Toshiba America, Dell Computers and other high tech companies.