If you’re planning on selling your house soon, you’re probably asking yourself “Do I really need a realtor?”. After all, you might be under time constraints or you may want to cut costs and sell your property as-is to an investor.
If you’re thinking about taking your home to the open market on your own, here are 4 tips to selling your house without a realtor.
Whether you’ve recently purchased your home or it has been in the family for decades, do not assume what its current value is, do your research. Many factors play into a home’s appraisal, not only the price you initially bought it for, but also the current market adjustment.
There are many resources available to you that can help assess the value of your property. Some online sites contain local real estate values to guide you. You can use their price estimates to get in the right range and see how similar homes in your area sold.
Even though you are ready to sell your house, you need to make sure it actually is sale-ready. Start tackling any repairs or minor upgrades that need to be done. Every little issue your property might have will be magnified during the sales process, so the more work you do beforehand, the less likely you are to have to drop the price.
Many of these repairs you can actually do yourself. Fixing a leaky faucet, painting a wall, changing an electric outlet that doesn't work. These issues might seem minor to you, but remember, we don’t want to give potential buyers any reasons to consider another house where everything works.
Once you’ve spent time and effort preparing your house for the sale process, the next step is to list your home online. However, that is not enough, you will have to take on marketing as well.
If you choose to sell your home without a realtor, you will be responsible for handling all the aspects of the sale process and ensure the property is marketed well. You need to invest in a yard sign, invest in brochures you can place inside of the house, and advertise your house online via popular real estate websites.
These are things that can cost time and money but are essential to getting your house sold.
Now that you got some offers and you’re ready to move on with the selling process, the most important step begins: negotiating. A realtor would normally be the intermediary for this process, but in this situation, it is up to you.
Negotiating might be uncomfortable for some of us, but when it comes to selling your property, it is necessary. The buyer or their agent will probably come to you at a lower price than what you are asking, so you need to always negotiate. The final price needs to be one that everyone is happy with. However, you also need to be firm enough to walk away if the buyer is not willing to meet you at the minimum price.
Whether your dreams of renovating a fixer-upper fell through, or you need to find another living situation for aging parents, we care about you and we are here to help. We promise the entire process is simple and transparent, and we will offer you the highest price possible. Find out what your property is worth today!