Five Tips On Selling Your Own Home

You’re looking into selling your own home. Most people do this to save on the real estate fees and commissions, and the process of FSBO has certainly taken off in the last few years. You want to arm yourself with some good knowledge and have some of the best tips to sell your own home under your belt.

Selling your own home can be complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. Doing the proper due diligence is very important – once the up-front research is complete, you should feel good about knowing you’ve done your homework in researching the market and finding the best price to list your home at.

These 5 steps can help you sell your own home quickly and efficiently:

1. Clean your home so it shows well. Dirty, mess homes never show well and it reflects negatively on the sellers. If you don’t like cleaning, spend a few dollars and hire a cleaning service to do it for you. This is extremely important.

2. Stage your home so it shows well. Don’t hire a staging company or rent furniture – simply use what you have an make it look nice. Kitchens and bathrooms are the most important rooms in the home. Be certain that they are tidy and organized. Remember to let as much possible light in these rooms as possible, and if the showing is at night be sure to keep the lights on – especially in bathrooms!

3. Spend some time and do research for your home’s value. Many times a seller asks too much and they sit on the market too long – this listing becomes “stale” after a few months. Avoid this at all costs.

4. Use a good FSBO service. These services are available online and will promote your property on the Multiple Listing Service, or MLS. It’s important to get in front of the realtors that are representing the buyers for your home. If you aren’t listed, chances are you’ll get fewer showings and absolutely no traffic at your open houses.

5. After receiving an offer, hire an attorney. For a couple hundred dollars you can find an attorney in your local area to “facilitate” the real estate contracts. If you’re not a professional chances are you might need some help and it makes a significant difference to have someone on your side who is “representing” you, and it will cost a lot less than a real estate agent!

There are plenty of other small things here and there that you can do to sell your own home – however, focus on these 5 areas and you might be surprised at how much luck you have. After all, saving thousands of dollars on real estate commissions is well worth it if all you have to do is put in a little time and effort in doing the proper due diligence.