By Heeran Workman, MBA
Realtor With RE/MAX PLATINUM Realty, Omaha Nebraska
Phone: (402) 707-7878
Email: heeran@heeranshometeam.com
Phone: (402) 707-7878
Email: heeran@heeranshometeam.com
1. 1. Do
your homework and research about the local housing market
There are many legal and financial implications regarding
selling real estate mortgages, contracts, disclosure
forms, contingencies, inspections, chain
of title, title defects, title
insurance, escrow, deeds, and most
importantly negotiations.
When selling for sale by owner, you will not have a real estate
professional to lean on when you or your buyers have questions about the home
selling and closing process so be familiar with the process, paperwork, issues
that could cause hiccups, and lending guidelines so that you can accomplish the
sale. Read a book or two on the home
selling process. Research the
internet. Buyers are very nervous about
buying a home and if you and the buyers are sitting there wondering what the
next step of the process is, you may not have a successful transaction. Finally, consider how you want to structure
the deal. Will you want to offer such incentives as owner-financing and
determine if you will sell to only conventional buyers or also include the
FHA/VA market.
2. Prepare your home for sale
Curb appeal matters-First impressions make a difference.
Cut overgrown bushes, get a green plush lawn, get rid of chipping paint,
and paint the exterior of the home. If you can't get people in the door,
you're not going to sell the home. Repair all of the to do items that
you've been meaning to do for months. Stage the house. Staging
involves deeply cleaning, decluttering, depersonalizing and arranging
furnishings to make your house as appealing as possible. People buy logically
and emotionally. They will use all their senses to determine if the house
works for them.
3. Price The Home To Sell Instead Of To Sit Stale
The biggest mistake a for sale by owner will make is to
price the home too high for the market.
It will scare off potential buyers and make the house look stale. Trust me, the last thing you want buyers to
wonder is “What’s wrong with this home?”
Price it right and you won’t have this problem. To find a general value on your home and
neighborhood, you can start by entering your address
on Zillow and Trulia to find your estimated home value and nearby sales within the past six
months. If you want a true market analysis of your neighborhood and your style
of home, you can contact a Realtor to run the true and detailed analysis out of
the Multiple Listing Service. Take into account the upgrades and special
features of your home but don't be unrealistic about the value of them.
You should not expect to capture 100% of the upgrade cost. If you
factor in capturing about 70-75%, that is a better estimate. Your advantage as a FSBO seller is that you
can afford to offer a more competitive price than sellers using Realtors. Buyers know that you are saving on the
commission and it’s natural that they want “IN” on it by getting a better deal
on the home. They will expect a 2 to 3% discount off of competing homes.
4. Market the home
Putting up a for sale sign in the yard won’t do much good. The FSBO’s who are successful believe in the
power of marketing and allocate a certain budget and time to do it. Write great ads for the internet such as
Zillow and Craigslist. Hire a
professional photographer to take great photos.
First impressions make a difference.
If buyers don’t like what they see in photos, they won’t call you to
schedule a showing. A great photographer
in the Omaha Metro Area is Min Chu Yi.
His website is http://omaharep.com/. If you love talking with people over the
phone, feel great about them coming over to show the house, and don’t mind
doing open houses, you may have a lot of fun with the for sale by owner
process. Make sure the buyers tell you
they are preapproved for a loan before scheduling the showing. When a home is listed, each showing is a
privately scheduled showing with an agent and the buyers are already
preapproved. You won’t have this luxury
as a for sale by owner seller. Also,
spread the word on social networking sites, people at work, and anyone and
everyone who may need to know that you have a home for sale by owner. If you consider how long some houses stay on
the market even when they are listed, it generally takes much longer to
complete a for sale by owner transaction because you are dealing with many more
dreamers than buyers. You have to filter through a lot more people who do not have the
ability to purchase.
5. Negotiating
Sellers who are successful in for sale by owner
transactions often love the negotiations process and are prepared for the offer
and counteroffer process. Everything in
the world of real estate is negotiable.
But not everything in the world of real estate will pass the lender’s
underwriting. Make sure that the type of
loan the buyer can get matches up with the type of home you are selling. Otherwise, you might be paying thousands if
your house doesn’t pass VA/FHA insurable guidelines.
6. Closing the home sale transaction
Remember, as a for sale by owner, you do not have a
Realtor to be the facilitator and guide you through the home inspection, radon
inspection, termite inspection, appraisal process, underwriting process, and
dealing with the escrow company to close.
You have to act as your own general contractor in this case. Be prepared for obstacles and delays along
the way because most of the time, there will be problems resulting from inspections, appraisals, and
underwriting. These people are there to
do a job regardless of what you and the buyer really want.
Heeran’s Home Team offers a 1% For Sale By Owner
Facilitation Service to assist savvy Omaha Metro Area
home sellers who wish to embark on selling their home “For Sale By Owner"
for only 1% of the sales price. We're here to help with your FSBO home sale.
You'll receive:
1. Market Analysis – Correctly price your Omaha Metro Area Home
2. Contracts and Forms - Legal documents you need to complete your entire transaction and
contingency releases
3. Home Inspection Walkthrough- We will attend the buyer’s home inspection
walk-through. The inspector is paid
hundreds of dollars to find things that are wrong with the home. We will be there to calm the buyer’s nerves
and to explain how to move forward with the transaction.
4. Additional Resources & Management – To manage the entire home selling and closing process from
beginning to end. There are many legal and financial implications regarding
selling real estate. We can help with all the resources your transaction needs
including: mortgages, contracts, disclosure forms,contingencies, inspections, chain of title, title defects, title insurance, escrow, and deeds.
5. Option to list your home on the MLS with the ability
to still sell For Sale By Owner (FSBO). For
Sale By Owner Sellers only reach 10-15% of the buyer market. Together, we can reach 100% of the market at
the same time.
If you would like a
detailed explanation on how Heeran's Home Team can work with you to sell your
property For Sale By Owner, contact us today by calling (402) 707-7878! Visit our website at http://WWW.HeeransHomeTeam.com or email
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