5 Tips to Selling Your Home Without a Realtor
Jul 16, 2020 | Hometown Development
If you don’t want to go through the process of working with a real estate agent, you can try selling your home without a realtor. The advantages of this option are that you won’t need to pay a Realtor’s fees or sell your home on their timeline. However, you may have to do more of the work by yourself, especially when it comes to marketing your sale, preparing your home for sale on the traditional real estate market, and finding a buyer without a Realtor’s connections. That being said, if you want to sell your home quickly without a Realtor, you have options. Here are 5 tips to help you sell your home without a Realtor.
Price Your Home Competitively
How motivated are you to sell? If you have time to spare you can sell your home close to its value, but a lower price might help sell your home more quickly. Pricing your home competitively will draw more buyers to your home. Once they’re in the door, you can sell them on all the advantages your property has to offer.
When it comes to choosing the best market price for your home, you should base the number on a few factors. First, consider your home’s condition. Is it in need of any repairs the buyer will have to take care of upon moving in? Buyers might shy away from a house that’s a project, unless the cost of the upkeep is reflected in the sale price.
You should also consider the value of homes similar to yours in your area. Have there been other sales in your neighborhood in the past few years? Take a look at the asking prices of those homes and compare them with what they actually received in the final offer. It could help you decide on a competitive price when you’re selling your home without a Realtor.
Lastly, you should factor in the current temperature of the housing market in your area. Are homes selling quickly, or are sellers waiting around for months for potential buyers to bite? If the market is cold, you might need to consider a competitive price to draw buyers to your home.
Stage and Market Your Home for Sale
Before listing your home by yourself, you might consider staging it for showings, promotional photos, and marketing materials. To stage your home, you’ll want to use neutral furnishings, take down any family portraits, and clean up and stow anything that could be considered clutter. The goal is to help potential buyers see themselves in the space, to help them imagine their life in your home, so you want to avoid furnishings or decorations that are too “you.”
With your home staged and photos taken, it’s time to list on popular home sale sites like Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, and even Craigslist. When selling your home without a Realtor, you won’t be able to rely on a real estate agency’s connections, so it’s up to you to put the word out about your home for sale.
Host an Open House
When selling your home without a Realtor, it’s up to you to show your home to potential buyers. A great way to get people in the doors is to host your own open house. Before an open house, you’ll want to make sure your home is clean and ready for visitors. This includes sprucing up the landscaping, making any necessary repairs, maybe even baking a tray of cookies to get the place looking and smelling great.
Schedule your open house in advance, and be sure to spread the word before the event takes place. If no one makes an offer right away, don’t be discouraged. Another goal of an open house is to show off your home to people who might tell others about your sale.
Be Prepared to Negotiate with Potential Buyers
Of the 5 tips to sell your home, being prepared to negotiate is crucial. Hopefully, after having your home listed for a short time, you’ll receive a good offer or two for your home. In a perfect world, a buyer would offer to pay the asking price for your home, but in most cases the offer will be low. It’s up to you whether you want to accept or counter, but you should be prepared to have a fair negotiation with any potential buyers. During negotiation, it’s important to be flexible to the buyer’s concerns and demands, especially if you are motivated to sell.
When accepting a buyer’s offer, you’ll need to be willing to work with their financing options, which could involve a waiting period while their lender approves a loan. Make sure the selling agreement is laid out in clear language. You might consider hiring an attorney to make sure everything is as agreed before the sale is closed.
Sell As-Is for Cash with a Quick, Hassle-Free Sale
If you want to avoid the hassle of preparing your home for sale, staging and hosting an open house, or negotiating with buyers, you might consider selling your home as-is for a quick cash sale. In an as-is sale, a real estate investor will walk through your home with you and offer you a fair price based on its value. The advantages of this are that you can sell your home fast for an immediate payment, without having to make any repairs, changes, or updates to your home or property. You can take care of selling your home without a realtor and have the process finished in as few as five days.
Whether you want to list your home for sale by owner, or sell quickly and simply in an as-is for cash sale, there’s no need to work with a real estate agent. It’s possible to have a stress-free experience when selling your home without a Realtor.
Do these 5 tips to sell your home have you ready to sell your home, but not interested in hiring a realtor? Hometown Development would be happy to help you sell quickly, and without the hassle. We offer fair cash offers based on the market value of your home. To learn more about our free cash offer, reach out to us.