How to Sell Your House WITHOUT a Realtor AND How to Get the Most Money Possible
Being a real estate investor, I have bought and sold many properties. The one that I am most proud of is my personal residence that I sold in 2017 and did it all myself WITHOUT a realtor.
By selling my house without a realtor, I saved $10,000!
Instead of paying a realtor to sell my home, I sold the home myself WITHOUT a realtor. You don’t have to be an investor, realtor, or professional to sell your house yourself.
Here are the keys to selling your property:
- Find your perfect asking price for your home (read below to learn how to get the most money for your home)
- Make the home look nice
- Price it competitively
- List it on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service)
- Allow access for other agents to show the house.
That is it.
Seems simple right?!
Money doesn’t grow on trees, but it seems as though Real Estate Agents do. It seems as though anyone with a pulse can become a real estate agent.
The Best Return For Your Investment Is How to Sell a House Without A Realtor
When you sell the home without a realtor, you pocket all the fees the buyer and seller realtor will charge.
Instead of paying them, you should sell it yourself without a realtor.
The reason why is simple: The house does all the work. It is either desirable or it isn’t.
Yes, it is very simple and for doing that, the sellers agent charges 3% of the selling price.
Imagine a home selling for $300,000 with $10,000 being thrown away to a realtor.
That’s $10,000 that can be in your pocket if you sell it yourself.
Now don’t get me wrong, realtors do a lot of good and I use realtors all the time. For the sale of a property though, you don’t need a realtor.
It is too easy how to sell a house by owner and do it yourself. The main key is to list the property on the MLS.
There are many companies that offer “Flat Fee MLS Listing Services”. I sold my personal residence for $321,000 and only paid $395 to a flat fee MLS listing agent. From there, I did everything else.
It was SUPER easy and basically saved myself almost $10,000 in the process.
HOW? www.craigslist.com, www.zillow.com, www.realtor.com or use a flat fee listing company.
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How to Get the MOST $ Money $ for How to Sell A House By Owner
I HATE MOVING!
Ok, I had to get that out of my system.
But, I really do. Also, selling my home has been a lot of work.
This brings me to fill you in on how to get the most money from the sale of your house. In order to get the most money for your house, you need to make it shine and attract as many buyers as possible!
To start off, here are pictures of the property with some before and after pictures.
The market value of the home is $325,000. It is a 4 bedroom 2.5 bath with 2400sqft and a pool. Even though the value is $325,000, I am going to strategically list the property for $297,000.
After 7 years of living in and remodeling my house I have the house just about ready for the listing.
When selling a house without a realtor, the key is to get as many people as possible to physically see your house. Once they have walked through it and realize that they love the house, they now have an emotional attachment to the house.
It is no longer another home in the list of homes they get from their realtor. It is now possibly their future home that they could see themselves living in for many years to come.
The best way to price the property to get as many people to walk through your property is to think like a buyer. Buyers set criteria for a home for their realtors to look for.
Here are some things they look for:
- Price
- Number of rooms
- Number of bathrooms
- Square footage
- Lot size
- Nearby schools
- Neighborhood
When a buyer usually looks for a home, they pick what they believe they desire in a home.
So, if a buyer is looking to buy a 4-bedroom home for under $300,000, they will have their realtor set the search and alert criteria at $300,000 and below with 4 bedrooms and 2 bath.
With the characteristics of the home fixed, i.e. 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms, the only thing I can change to get as many eyes on my property as possible is to price the property right.
Flat Fee MLS Listing Service and Is the KEY for selling a home without a realtor
Normally, Real Estate Agents charge 3% for the sale of a home. That is a LOT of money.
Instead, I paid a Flat Fee Agent $395 to list my home on the MLS for me. This service will list my property on the MLS which is an absolute MUST when you are selling your home.
Think of the MLS as a marketing service for a product you are selling. If you were selling a book, you would list it on Amazon.com.
My home should sell for over $300,000 which would cost me $10,000 in fees to a realtor.
By selling my home through a Flat Fee Agent, I saved myself $8,605!
PRO TIP: How to Get The Most Money From The Sale Of Your House WITHOUT a Realtor
The key here is Strategic Pricing.
Using strategic pricing, I had a bidding war and went from $297,000 asking price and sold the home for $321,000!
Having a strategic asking price is crucial to selling your home fast AND getting more than you are asking.
I sold a property for 10% over the asking price, had a bidding war, and sold it in 4 days. The key is to think like a buyer. Buyers search for homes that fit their criteria.
Your goal, when selling your home, is to get as many people as you can to view your home. The easiest criteria that you can adjust to help more buyers see your property is the asking price.
When I sold the property, I believed the value should be $310,000. I did know that I would miss out on a lot of buyers if I I priced the home above $300,000. Buyers of my type of home would search for 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 2000 sqft homes that are $300,000 and below.
If I priced it for $310,000, I would immediately alienate many potential buyers. The buyers criteria in their search would not notify them of my property because my property was outside of their criteria.
I decided to price the property very aggressively without a realtor.
Even though I wanted $310,000 for my home, the initial asking price was set at $297,500. This would allow more people to see my property AND believe the home was a steal at that price.
Just about every single person that viewed the home said something like: “You’ll sell this home fast!” “You’ll get way more than you are asking.” and “I’ll be putting in an offer because this is such a great home at a great price.”
Since I strategically made my asking price to entice people, I had 4 bidders on my home from the first day on the market! This was the start of a bidding war and after four days, I accepted the highest offer.
It was my belief that the home should sell for around $310,000, but with strategically pricing the home to the buyer, I accepted the highest offer of $321,000 after four days on the market!
Bottom line: Price your home strategically to appeal to as many buyers as possible by thinking like your potential buyers. The more potential buyers to view your property, the more likely you will get multiple offers, sell your home quickly, and get above the market value.
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How to Take Professional Real Estate Photos with Your Phone That Get People to Buy
The pictures I personally took with my phone turned out amazing and had a bidding war for the property. The winning bid came in 15% over my asking even without seeing the property!
Here are my secrets to great home pictures.
Inside the Home
- Declutter the entire house
- Remove all personal items
- Take down all personal pictures
- Make sure no people are in the pictures
- Make the home feel like a model home with nothing personal in the place
- Remove all but 2 or 3 items of furniture in each room
- Turn on every light in the entire house
- The brighter the lighting is the better
- Use your phone to take great pictures
- Turn the phone in portrait mode
- Very Important! Use the panoramic setting and rotate the phone to capture the entire room in one picture
- Try different corners of the room for the best lighting
- Emphasize the best item or focal point in the room
Outside the Home
- Take pictures at sunset or twilight
- Cut the grass and clean up the trees and shrubs
- Get a hose and spray down all the concrete, driveway, sidewalk, patios, etc.
- Turn on all lights inside and outside of the home
- Don’t use the panoramic mode unless you cannot fit the property in because of the distance you are from the property
Bottom line for selling a home without a realtor
Everyone is capable of taking amazing photos of their homes. All you need is a smart phone that can take panoramic photos and some attention to detail.
I also believe everyone should sell their home themselves. Use a Flat Fee MLS is the best way to sell a house without a realtor.
You can sell the property without a listing agent and pay a fraction of the costs. Be sure to make the home nice, price it competitively, and allow access for other agents to see the home.
Price your home strategically to appeal to as many buyers as possible by thinking like your potential buyers.
The more potential buyers to view your property, the more likely you will get multiple offers, sell your home quickly, and get above the market value
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