Are you looking to put your home on the market for sale by owner, but you want to avoid mistakes that will end up costing you money during home selling? My name is Tanja Odzak with Our East Bay Home, brokered by eXp Realty and I am going to share with you some common mistakes that For Sale By Owners Make, and how to avoid them.
- Pricing. Almost any realtor you call will come out to your home for free, without any obligation to list with them, and bring you data to help you decide on the right price. This would be the best way to price your home. Another route you could take would be to look up your value on a third party site like Zillow in order to give you a starting point, but be careful because Zillow does not take into consideration your homes upgrades, etc. that can alter the value of your home. Once you have determined pricing, make a client avatar or a description of who is most likely to buy your home and where they will they come from… like what websites will they go on to find your home or neighborhood? Go onto those sites or some other property search site and put on your “Buyer’s hat.” Look for homes in your area the way your potential Buyer would. The homes that you find online, that are similar to your home, will be your competition. Now you want to price your home aggressively compared to your competition so that your home comes across as a great value and Buyers want to come see it. Remember, Buyers are filtering online which homes they will go see long before they ever get in their car to go see your home. Your job is to simply get them there! Pricing your home aggressively does not mean you will be stuck with a low sales price, and just because someone offers you the listed price does not mean you are obligated to accept it. When you do this right, your final price should be higher than your listed price!
- Property description. Instead of just throwing a random description together, take your time in listing your home’s best qualities by making a list of home improvements that you have made, and the list of reasons why you bought it in the first place! Look at similar homes in your area that have sold or are currently for sale to get some ideas for phrases that you can add to your description. Be sure to have someone review the description for spelling/grammatical errors before publishing to keep the listing looking professional. If you can close your eyes and listen to your homes descriptions and somewhat make up what the property looks like, you did something right!
- Leaving money on the table. Why just sell your home when you can get top dollar? The National Association of Realtors (or NAR) conducts research and puts out market reports each year, and according to them, only 8% of homes are sold for sale by owner, and of that 8% a third of those were sold to people they already knew. The data also showed that for sale by owners sold for significantly less than homes listed by realtors. This difference can be anywhere from 15% – 30% less. Now I don’t know about you, but I would trade paying a commission fee, in order to receive 15- 30% back all day long!
However, if you are set on doing all of the work to sell it yourself, I am assuming that you want to get the most money you can from the sale of your home. I have just shared with you 3 common mistakes to avoid so that you can put more money in your pocket. Now full transparency here. There is much, much, more that I do as a realtor to get top dollar for a home which is why you should always consider selling with a real estate professional like me for a smooth transaction process. Feel free to reach out anytime. This is Tanja Odzak with Our East Bay Home, brokered by eXp Realty. Putting people before profit.
I’m a Top Producing Realtor® in the OAKLAND / BERKELEY / EAST BAY AREA. I’ve been in the San Francisco East Bay Area since I came up to do my undergrad at UC Berkeley (a long time ago!), with a short stint at UC Davis while getting my Master’s. I take my duties as a Realtor® and Fiduciary very seriously, I enjoy educating my sellers and buyers along the way. Putting People, Before Profit.
Why not check out one of my no-obligation, online, On-Demand, virtual Real Estate Seminars?
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Check out other videos in this Video Series on How to Sell Your Home on Your Own —> For Sale By Owner Guide For Sellers.