Which is the best way to sell my house?

Question

Which is the best way to sell my house?

Answer 1

Only you can decide which is best for you. If you have the time, have a little common business sense then you may attempt to sell the house yourself. You will need to make time to market the house with flyer's, have open houses, deal with escrow and title companies and other professional real estate people to close the sale.

Selling the house yourself saves you whatever the commission in your area for a real estate agent.

If you do not have the time to do all the above then you should contact a real estate agent. They will charge a commission predicated on what is normal for your area.

If you decide to sell your property yourself here are a few pointers.

You really don't need a real estate agent to sell your property. You need to have common sense and be willing to hold open houses and discuss prices and other things with people that want to purchase your house.

There are several For Sale By Owner (FSBO) web sites that you can look up in selling your home yourself.  

The main thing about selling your home is the maximum exposure through advertisement. This can be done several ways

#1 Advertise in your local newspaper (to include any open houses you schedule)

#2 Flyers on some part of the property or house that is easily accessible to the public and that they can see from the curb

This flyer should give the sale price, have a picture of the property # of bed and bathrooms, perhaps a few inside shots of the house and it should be in color.

#3 Open house to show the property to potential buyers.

#4 Advertise on the free websites on the internet.

Even though you plan to sell the property yourself you might consider interviewing three real estate agents, tell them the truth you are considering selling the home yourself but you wanted to interview a couple of agents to get their ideas. During the interview they should give you some idea as to the sale price of like properties in your neighborhood.

Now once they have given you what the property should sell for, they were nice enough to spend time with you and help you in getting compts and talking with you.

When you finally make up your mind, please call these 2-3 agents that you interviewed and tell them thanks, but you have decided to sell the property yourself. That is common courtesy and you should extend that courtesy to them.

Clean up the property so it will have good curb appeal. When you drive up to the house ask yourself "Would I purchase this house?" Take care of any possible problems that you know are there but you simply over looked them. Paint inside and outside, cost about $3K increase value about 10K. New carpet might also be in order if it is more than 5 years old.

Take away any clutter that might also be there, that lived in look you have might turn some buyers off. So clean up



Now you should also call a mortgage broker to see if he would be interested in assisting you with open houses. Tell him for his expertise you are willing to give him a list of those individuals that looked at your home, but were not pre-approved.

You would also want this individual to be there for your open houses so set up a schedule that he is able to attend.

This individual should also assist you in finding an escrow closing agent, an appraiser as well as a title company to assist you in your sale.  

This person will also be able to assist with any state rules and local laws required to know in selling a house in your area.

Now once you have found a person to purchase your property, draw up a sales contract with the assistance of the mortgage broker. He will get an appraiser to verify the value. He should assist you in opening an escrow closing agent.

If the buyer is not pre-approved your mortgage broker will get the buyer approved and handle the paper work. If he is pre-approved his mortgage person will take care of the rest of the paper work.

Either way the mortgage broker whom ever he might be will take care of the majority of the rest of the transaction.

Don't fall for the real estate agents that will come by and ask if they find a buyer would you give them a commission. Tell them if they find someone their client should pay them.

The reason for this exercise is for you to put the maximum amount of your equity in your pocket as you possible can and not into a real estate agent's pocket. Keep your eye on the mission.

Now about paying off your mortgage, the escrow closing agent will send a letter to your present mortgage company and request a demand of payment indicating how much you currently owe on your mortgage. Your mortgage company will send them a reply with the amount you owe. This will be done on any mortgage you owe if you owe more than one.

The escrow closing agent will pay off any demands they receive. Anything left after all payoffs a check will be written to you the seller.

I hope this has been of some use to you, good luck.

"FIGHT ON"

Answer 2

with a FOR SALE sign

Answer 3

Hi! I just had this same dilemma...sell by owner or use a realtor? I really didn't want to pay 5-6% of my selling price to the realtor/realtors involved. But selling it by owner turned out to be a little easier than I thought.

    We found a Flat Fee Multiple Listing service in our state that put our home on the Multiple Listing Service and Realtor.com for only $299. We offered realtors 2.5% commission to find us a buyer (which really beats 5-6%!!). But if people saw our house on realtor.com, saw our signs, or came to our open house without a realtor...it cost us NOTHING in commission!!

   I ended up paying about $50 for "For Sale" signs from a great website... victorystore.com. I advertised the house in the local newspapers, hung flyers in local stores and sent email flyers to basically everyone I knew asking them to pass it along. I also had 2 Open Houses which turned out great!!

   We are currently under contract with someone who came in without a realtor...and it only took about 25 days!! And the best part is that we don't have to pay any commission!

   I have to say...it was alot of work and it took a lot of time to make up flyers, prepare for an open house and market my own property...but in the end it was sooooo worth is because I saved so much money.

   But if you are in a rush to move or get greedy with the price...I think NOT having a professional realtor may backfire.

    If you do end up listing it with a realtor, I suggest having at least 3 realtors come to your house for a FREE market analysis and ask them what their marketing plan will be to get your home sold. Then decide who you will list your home...but make sure the person is familiar with your neighborhood and isn't focused on just getting you the highest amount for your home!!

   GOOD LUCK IN WHATEVER YOU CHOOSE TO DO!!!

Answer 4

With a licensed professional. For your protection. Do you know what forms you need/ Do you know anything about Title companies and the best with the lowest fees? Can you qualify a buyer? If the buyer brings litagation suit against you do you have insurance to cover what ever you missed in representing your property? Why would you ever want to sell your own property and take on all that liability. Let the professionals do it. Sign up with a Full service Realtor no discount houses. You get what you pay for. Contact me and I can refer you.

Answer 5

For sale sign w/realtor.