Selling your house yourself means
you do all the marketing

Doing it Yourself House Selling

For Sale By Owner

When you start figuring how much you'll be paying for a real estate agency to handle your house sale, you may be tempted to try and put your house up For Sale By Owner (FSBO).

FSBO may be necessary just because you don't have enough equity in your house that will allow you to afford a real estate agency.

FSBO may be an option if you completely understand the selling process and the preparation necessary to sell a house successfully. Some people try the FSBO initially just to see if they can sell it themselves. Most of the time that decision will change.

It may seem like a natural thing to sell your house yourself, but if you've never done it before, you'll probably find that it's a lot harder than it looks.

Hiring a real estate lawyer

Even though it's an additional expense, it may be wise to hire a lawyer who will protect your interests throughout the entire transaction.

An experienced real estate lawyer can help evaluate complicated offers, act as an escrow agent to hold the down payment, evaluate complex mortgages and/or leases with options to buy, review contracts and handle your home's closing process.

A real estate lawyer can also tell you what things, by law, you must disclose to buyers prior to a sale and can also help avoid discriminating against potential buyers.

In some areas, title companies may be able to handle all aspects of a transaction. A title company usually has an in-house legal department that can assist you with legal issues that may arise.

Unless you're experienced in selling houses on your own, having a real estate lawyer at your side provides some much needed peace-of-mind. A real estate lawyer lets you know someone is looking out for your interests, not just the buyers.

Prepare your house for sale, before actually listing it for sale

Just as you would do if you were hiring a real estate agent, when you sell it yourself you still want to go through all the steps of preparing the house before actually putting it on the market. That means making all the necessary repairs, removing the clutter, and staging the property.

After all that is completed, then you can start to advertise or market your property. Set a specific date for this step and try to stick to it.

Marketing your house

When you hire a real estate agent, they normally take care of all the marketing for your property. That's where they earn their commission. When you try to sell it yourself, you have to step up and be the marketing director for your house.

There are a number of internet sites that can help with your marketing. Some even provide Multiple Listing Service (MLS) as part of their agreement.
NOTE: being listed on MLS means that if a real estate agent finds a buyer for your house, you will be responsible for paying 1/2 of the traditional real estate commission to that agent (typically a real estate fee is 5 - 7% of the final price, so 1/2 of that fee would be about 3%).

Whether you use one of these sites (they do charge fees) you'll need to be able to string some words together in a logical manner that creates a written description of your house. Selling takes more than just saying 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 story house.

Writing concise advertising wording is essential. Most house shoppers will scan through ads quickly looking for a house that seems to fit their needs. Avoid the cliches so often found in real estate ads. Make your ads be buyer friendly. Be careful when using terms that can be taken as discrimation.

Handling Phone Calls

Screening Appointment Calls

As soon as you put your sign up in the front yard or run an ad in the local paper, you'll most likely be receiving some phone calls. Most calls will be price shoppers that just want to know how much you're asking for the house. Probably a few will be from neighbors doing a little spy work just to see what's happening.

So how do you know when a call is a legitimate call from one that is not? Usually, just asking a few questions in a conversational manner with the caller will tell you which kind of caller they are.

• What price range are they looking for? Ask this before you give them any information about your price.

• Are they renting or do they currently own a home in the area?

• Have they talked to a lending institution and have they already been pre-approved for a mortgage?

Pre-approved buyers are definitely the best buyers to work with. Accepting an offer from a prospect that has not been pre-approved, takes the house off the market while the prospect goes through the time-consuming process of getting approved. If possible try to avoid these types of situations.