Archive for February, 2009

Preparing to Sell an FSBO Home

Friday, February 27th, 2009

Selling a home without an agent may be a tedious work. But an FSBO homes may be sold with just a simple guideline and some useful tips.

One of the first things to consider is the current housing market. How much are the homes in the area currently sold or listed? Doing research will give the sellers idea on how to deal in their homes for sale by owner.

Knowing the trend of the housing market helps a lot in listing FSBO. Sellers must ask the local county office or check the county website on how much homes were sold in the area. Checking the local paper and the internet for home listings would inform a seller on the current home values. With this knowledge the home owner can do FSBO listing.

Once an FSBO home is listed, the homeowner must then prepare the house for potential buyers keeping in mind that first impression lasts. A home buyer can be turned off easily with a scrappy looking and reeking home.

Properties for sale by owner, buyers drive thru their target homes. FSBO must then look presentable from the streets. Cleaning up the lawn, sweeping out dried leaves and tidying up the landscape may give a good impression. Windowpanes must be well maintained while glasses are kept clean.

The home seller must make sure that the buyer can see themselves living in the home. So the inside of the house for sale by owner must be clutter free. Rearranging furniture may help in making the house look spacious.

To help the potential buyer envision themselves inside the home minimize personal items like photos.

For currently vacant homes and pet owners, they must make sure that their home must be odor free. Putting some lemons on the trash, or boiling vanilla in some water or lighting light and airy scented candles can eliminate odors and make the house homier.

Retouching the FSBO home’s paint can do a lot too. Paint the house with neutral colors for more appeal or light colors for a sense of brightness and largeness for the room.

The goal of all these effort is to impress potential buyers. Presenting the FSBO property in the best possible way attracts more potential buyers and helps sellers get rid of their old home faster.

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FBSO Guides on How to Get a Real Estate Offer to Purchase

Thursday, February 26th, 2009

Property owners who want to have their homes for sale by owner must know that they need to have a legal document called a real estate contract or an Offer to Purchase. A real estate agent may tell you a lot of real estate bogus but you must know who to consult if it involves a legal real estate document? — a real estate attorney.

A FBSO seller must know these steps to have an FBSO offer to purchase:

  1. Search for a real property lawyer that does deed preparations for FBSOs.
  2. Ask how much this document may cost. A deed preparation may cost around $100 to $200.
  3. Know if the sales contract they provide is approved by the Bar association of your state.
  4. Ask your real estate attorney if they do contract reviews and consultations. You may need this before you do the final contract signing.
  5. You are now set to handle the contract details of your FBSO real estate offer to purchase.

*** Note: Number 3 and 4 may have additional fees so be sure to ask.

With this new knowledge you must always remember that the purchase to offer is a legal document. To get the best advice and the quickest process, consult the right people. Legal documents are handled by legal professionals like your real estate attorney. Do not believe those real estate agents that seem to take advantage of your FSBO status. They can trick you into shouldering 10 up to 200 times the actual fee.

So, if you are planning to sell your property by for sale by owner, know what you need, who to ask for help; know the real process; and save money. Even selling your own home by owner may be tricky and pricey if you do not know how it is done properly.

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How to Sell Your FSBO Fast at a Good Price

Friday, February 20th, 2009

American families see new doors open, some want to have a change of scenery. But before you leave your old life, you must put your home for sale by owner. But with the current status of the housing industry, how can you get your property off market fast on a reasonable price?

Here are some considerations on how to sell FSBOs:

  1. Know the sales price range of your property for sale by owner.
  2. Have a deadline.

    3. Consider the time when you will move and when you should have sold your home. Put your property for sale by owner on a lower price range based on the comparable market analysis or CMA. A real estate for sale by owner on a more affordable price (compared to the actual market), means more attracted buyers and a greater chance to sell your home.

  3. Assess your property condition.

    4. Compare the status of your property to the other homes on the market. If your property is still in great shape, you can get an excellent deal out of it. But if your home may need some touch ups, do some repairs or put your home for sale by owner as a fixer upper. Have a certified property inspector to know what to repair, list your home on a lower price as the buyer will handle the repairs themselves.

  4. Remember that sales price negotiation may still occur.

Of course buyers want the lowest possible bid that they may ask to take 1 to 6 percent off your FSBO listing. So, put your FSBO listing just a little higher and label it with $999 like $105,999 for an actual CMA value of $100,000.

But always take note that the market dictates home prices. Just play along with the market to sell your FBSO quickly at a deal agreeable to you and our buyer.

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Dealing With Interested Buyers of FSBO

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009

For homeowners, here are some simple guidelines that can guarantee a successful FSBO sale.

  1. Invite interested buyers to visit your property again. Prepare the FSBO property for the next visit of interested buyers. Make sure every single corner of the house is clean and presentable. Set a comfortable atmosphere in your home. This next visit is make-or-break in a For Sale By Owner – it will determine whether the interested buyers will go on with the purchase or find another property.
  2. Greet the interested buyers cordially the moment they arrive in your FSBO home. Offer them drinks. Allow them to go around the house once again without getting in their way. However, escort them as they tour the house so you could answer any questions they might have. Be patient in answering particularly when they have numerous questions. Remember that asking many questions is a good sign as it means that they are interested in the buying the FSBO property. Be honest when you answer their questions.
  3. When the buyers show interest and ask you about the next step, be prepared with your answer. This is the time for the buyers to make their offer and formally put it in writing. It is important that you have copies of necessary contract forms which you will give interested buyers. Otherwise, simply knowing where to get the contract forms would be enough. Watch out for subtle signs. If the buyers say that they would want to discuss the sale, it might mean that they want to negotiate about certain terms. Only when there is formal writing that the transaction becomes official.
  4. When the buyers want to negotiate the price of your FSBO home, do it in formal writing. Avoid any verbal negotiations. If they ask you the lowest price you are willing to counter-offer, before you declare any amount, ask for their entire offer first and request proof that they are qualified for the mortgage.

Simple Tips on Dealing with FSBO Buyers:

  • Be friendly. Treat your potential buyers well.
  • Be professional. If your buyers have negative comments regarding the FSBO property, think of them as something that you have to improve and work on instead of taking the comments personally. They could turn out to be helpful later on.
  • When there are discussions with interested buyers, keep them calm. Avoid confrontations. An FSBO sale is supposed to work for both the seller and the buyer.

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Setting a Reasonable Price for Your FSBO Home

Friday, February 13th, 2009

In almost any property sale, price is everything. Whether it be a For Sale By Owner transaction or a sale with the help of an agent, coming up with a reasonable home price almost always determines the success of the sale. Unfortunately, setting a fair price for a property is not an effortless task. It is not easy even with the help of an agent, and it is even trickier in FSBO.

Price is one of the major, if not the top, considerations in a buyer’s checklist. A home price that is even just a little higher than market price can already be a big turn-off for them. An excessive price will not only drive offers away; even worse, no one will even bother checking out your property.

How do you determine a reasonable home price, then? You definitely have personal considerations in setting the price of your FSBO property. There are the occasional maintenance costs you have acquired over the years, mortgage balances, not to mention the profit that you have to make from the FSBO to be able to buy a new home. What factors should really be considered?

Sad fact is that nothing else can determine home price than the market. All your investments, let alone your desired profit, do not add worth to your home, unless otherwise dictated by the market. Regardless of how much has been spent to improve a property, no homebuyer is going to choose it over a similar one which has lower price.

Here is an even more painful truth – buyers tend to be reluctant with FSBO homes. For this reason, most sellers cut down selling price by about one percent lower than market price. Just consider it offset by the savings you get for not having to pay commission to agents. In any case, it will make your FSBO sale faster.

To be able to come up with a reasonable price for your FSBO home, seek the help of a real estate agent. Consult your agent for a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA). You may also choose to conduct your own CMA. Compare the price of your home to properties that have sold over the past six months, alongside the features of each property. There are also electronic appraisals accessible on the Internet.

When setting the price in a home FSBO, keep it close to the market price or if possible, even lower, in order to attract buyers. Make sure, however, that the price you set is not too small that you would not make any profit at all.

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Putting Up Your Home for Sale by Owner? The Internet Can Be Your Best Friend

Monday, February 9th, 2009

Did you know that almost 80 percent of those who purchased homes for the first time used the Internet as a very important part of the process? That is part of a report made by one of the biggest realty trade groups in the country, the California Association of Realtors.

CAR’s report highlights the value of utilizing the Internet to guarantee yourself a buyer for your home. It is also indicated that Internet buyers have done more house research when they first began their very own home buying process. Here’s some more fascinating statistics:

Home buyers on the Internet had a median age of 39 years old and approximately 90 percent of them were married. Internet buyers were also quicker compared to the slow and traditional buyer. The former just needed two weeks to look for a perfect home they would eventually purchase. Traditional buyers on the other hand, needed seven weeks.

Furthermore, the role of the realtor is very crucial in the process of home buying, as the CAR report stresses. Most first-time buyers usually spent four weeks reflecting on purchasing a home and another four weeks inspecting homes for sale before eventually getting in touch with a realtor. Then, another three weeks is spent previewing eight chosen homes together with their realtor.

Now if you are putting up your home for sale by owner, also known as FSBO, the CAR report should give you some moral support. You could actually use the Internet as a tool in promoting your property, which is a superb source of looking for buyers.

The conventional way of locating buyers through flyers, front ads, etc. are still important, but registering your home into cyberspace is even more important. There are plenty of Internet website hosts like Owners.com which focus on offering you with a simple Internet space at an acceptable price.

If you use the Internet for your home FSBO, you present your buyers with:

  • The capacity to learn immediately all the vital specifics about your property like its size, how many bedrooms and bathrooms there are, and even what things are growing in both your front and backyard.
  • The chance to picture your home, both by looking through the pictures posted on your site or in virtual tours.
  • The prospect of checking out the sales of current similar homes so that buyers can confirm that you are posing a reasonable offer.
  • The opportunity of taking a glimpse into the local schools’ scholastic scores, crime demographics and data in the neighborhood, the nearness of your home to transportation, freeways, shopping and much more.

The great part about all of this is that buyers can do everything in their computers in their own homes. No more stressful house tours in the conventional way of looking for a home for sale by owner. With just a click the mouse, buyers can look for what is out there for them. Afterwards they can choose which FSBO home they would like to see by getting in touch with you directly.

There is a huge possibility then that when you receive a call from an interested Internet buyer, most probably that buyer already knows a lot about your house. Actually, nearly all of the house information part of the selling has been previously completed for you, thanks to the Internet. The next step would be the buyer wanting to visit your home to validate that it is a house that he or she would like to purchase.

Now if you are considering putting up your home FSBO, do not forget your best friend, the Internet.

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Are You A Home FSBO Seller? Take Advantage of Co-Broking Your Own Home

Thursday, February 5th, 2009

Putting your home for sale by owner (FSBO)? Here are some things that you may need to know:

“Co-broke” your own home

Co-broking means a listing is shared by agents. An office which has a listing would want to co-broke with another office who has a buyer. The agents will divide the commission in half if there is a sale.

Since you are placing your home for sale by owner, it is actually advantageous for you to co-broke your own home—even if you are not an agent. How? When you are putting your home FSBO, you are actually executing the tasks of a listing agent. So by putting a sign up front, advertising your home, taking phone calls, showing the property to buyers, and so on, you can get half of the commission.

There is always a standard 6 percent commission in your usual real estate sale. Half of the commission (3 percent) goes to the listing office and the other half (the other 3 percent) is obtained by the selling office, which produces the buyers. When you transact business with an agent when you placed your home FSBO, your half is equivalent to the listing office’s 3 percent commission. How? Read on below.

Ready to co-broke?

Most often than not, a FSBO seller will be contacted by an agent saying that a potential buyer for your home has been found. Are you interested to co-broke? Will you give to the agent’s selling office the other half of the commission? This means that if they set up a buyer, are you willing to pay them half of the commission, which is 3 percent? By the way, since you are already doing the job of the listing office, you will keep the remaining 3 percent.

If you are good to go, the selling office would typically let you affix your signature in a short term listing, for their protection, and then they will set you up with a buyer. If you successfully sell your home, you need to pay the selling office that promised 3 percent commission.

So should you go for it?

I know I definitely would. Most FSBO sellers are very traditional. They are firm with paying no commission whatsoever. They expect to look for a buyer on their own. If you have the same sentiments, I commend you. But remember, the odds are against you, as many FSBO sellers who are purists, fail.

Then again, why not take advantage of the situation? You would have a quick sale of your home if a broker has a buyer for your home. You will only be paying the broker half of the commission. Be wary however, of a broker having a “pretend” buyer for your home and plans to deceive you into endorsing a long-term listing.

By the way, do not expect that the selling office will do all the work for you for that half commission. They do not want to manage disclosures, escrows, or assist you in clearing the title, and all the other tasks that a listing office usually does. They would want a full 5 or 6 percent commission for that.

Nevertheless, do not do all this work yourself and still ending up paying the full commission!

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