For Sale By Owner
Tips - Tips for your Open House:
- Clean up the inside of your home. Try and remove the clutter
and make your home open and welcoming, people coming through will
want to pen every closed and look behind every door. Turn on all
the lights and replace any low watt bulbs with higher watt bulbs.
You may want to consider a fresh coat of paint.
- Bake some cookies or get a sweet smelling candle (they do have
cookie scented candles). Have fresh flowers in your kitchen and/or
dining room.
- See if you can get some free flyers, recently sold properties
in your area and the price, loan comparison forms based on your
property and asking price. A mortgage broker can help you with
some of these forms. Have your own flyers ready with your home’s
information (look online at another home’s listing and make sure
you covered all the bases). Check and see what your state required
disclosures are and have them available, Home owners disclosure,
lead based paint disclosure, property condition reports, etc.
- Freshen up any landscaping; a fresh layer of mulch can make
a huge improvement in appearance. Sweep up walk ways and your
drive way, and remove any eye sores or clutter.
- Put on your best. It is time for your best outfit, even if it
is football Sunday sweat pants and your favorite team’s jersey
is not appropriate. Put on your best smile and be friendly, pretend
every person you meet just offered you 25% over your asking price
as a cash offer.
- Ask questions. Some people will want the grand tour and some
people will just want to be left alone to poke around. Be accommodating
and help those who want it.
Always answer any questions honestly. If there is an ugly patch
of carpet where your dog chewed up an ink pen, let the prospective
buyers know. If the roof leaks in the spring, but it's now summer
and you've painted over the stain, tell the prospect. Anything you
misrepresent can and probably will be used against you. And of course,
you would want the same honesty when you purchase.
Remember to be willing to show your home a lot. In the end its
well worth it.
Lots of Mortgage Brokers have a call capture number that comes
along with an attention getting sign like 100 Percent Financing.
Call for 24 hour Recorded Message that they can lend you to help
manage and up the traffic on calls. They automatically capture the
number of the caller like caller ID and can have it sent real time
by email and text message to the seller and broker for quick prequalification.
Probably the most critical component to the success or failure
of a For Sale By Owner is the asking price. It must be high enough
so the seller doesn't do all the work for nothing, yet pricing too
high will make it hard to generate interest in the property. Many
Realtors will perform a Comparative Market Analysis even though
they are not going to be listing the home for sale. They do this
because they feel the seller may let the Realtor represent them
on the purchase of the seller's next home. The CMA can prove very
valuable in helping the seller determine a proper asking price.
One way to prevent potential litigation for a problem you were
unaware of is to hire an inspector to go through your home before
you list it. That way, there will be no nasty surprises years later
when the new owners discover something that began while you owned
it--but didn't disclose.
You don't have necessarily have to fix the problems, but you do
have to disclose their existence.
Teenagers' rooms can be a special challenge. They often leave piles
of dirty laundry on top of plates of half-eaten food. Make sure
these rooms get the top-to-bottom scrutiny they need--and for heaven's
sake, use some kind of air-freshener.
The same goes for the bathroom or baby's room. Bad odors can be
deal killers. How would the buyer know if its permanent or not?
Most important...make sure your house is CLEAN! Potential buyers
don't want to see an inch of dust on the baseboards. If your house
looks dirty, who's to say the upkeep and necessary maintenance have
been done.
The kitchen is the single most important room that sells the house.
Create a spacious feeling in the kitchen by putting away small appliances,
such as microwave oven, toaster, and blender. Also be sure the kitchen
counter is free of personal mails, magazines and newspapers.
There can be a great win win situation created for a FSBO and Mortage
Broker working together where the Broker is taking the phone calls
for you. The Broker can determine rather quickly rather a potential
buyer would be waste of time for the owner of the property by pulling
credit and assessing their potential for obtaining a mortgage.
A mortgage professional can often times help you sell your home
faster, by providing free marketing, and even potential qualified
buyers.
Work with a qualified mortgage professional. It cost you nothing,
yet they will help you tremendously. A mortgage professional working
for the seller should prequalify anyone who shows an interest in
your home - even those who say they are already pre-qualified.
This can save you countless hours of frustration dealing with people
who are not qualified to purchase your home.
Finding a mortgage professional to work with in your for sale by
owner listing can help you alot. They can make flyers for your home
giving different payments and scenarios for potential buyers.
Remember less is more and that also means the furniture in your
home, areas that have to much furniture will appear smaller in size
than reality.
Remove to many personal items so potential buyers can see there
own stuff fiting right in.
Burn a candle to make your home smell fresh and inviting.