Continue Reading What Are You Really Saving?
Continue Reading What About Discount Brokers?
Selling your home yourself requires an extensive commitment of time and effort to market your home, qualify buyers, negotiate, and stay objective with potential buyers. Here are some things you will need to do if you are considering selling your home yourself:
– Set your price by researching on the Internet, looking at other home prices in your area, and visiting the county tax records office to see what the homes actually sold for.
– Read the LITTLE IMPROVEMENTS = BIG RETURN section and make sure your home is in the best shape inside and out.
– You might want to invest in a few books and/or videos to support your efforts.
– Set your advertising budget. Most people who sell their homes themselves spend between $1,000 and $2,000.
– Create a color fact sheet, including a photo and necessary information about your home. Color increases visibility of the fact sheet and perceived value of your home.
– Put a prominent FOR SALE sign in the yard.
– Display your fact sheet at work, in local supermarkets, and at other high visibility locations.
– Run daily and Sunday ads in the real estate section of your local newspaper.
– Send letters to every real estate office in a 20 mile radius.
– Create a small website and list the web address on all materials about your home.
– Return all calls to interested buyers promptly.
– Make appointments to see them as quickly as possible. If they are seeing your house, they are also looking at others.
– Be available days, nights and weekends to show you house.
– Constantly monitor the market and be ready to adjust to the trends.
– For your own safety and security, try to pre-qualify buyers before you invite them into your home. Ask questions over the phone, including:
– How will they pay for the home?
– Can they get a mortgage?
– Are they pre-qualified for a mortgage?
– Is their home sold or just on the market?
– Is the buyer of their home a qualified buyer?
It’s easy to see why the idea of selling on your own is tempting. But saving that commission can ultimately cost you more than you saved. Why?
First, it’s an interruption of your personal and business lives. What does that cost you?
Second, you have to spend a substantial amount to advertise. A successful Realtor will allocate a minimum of 10% to advertising. You should be prepared to spend between a minimum of $1,000 and $2,000 on newspaper ads, color fact sheets and flyers, signs, postage and your Internet presence.
Third, if you welcome brokers to show your home, you’ll have to sacrifice part of the “saved” commission to them. Add that to what you spend and your savings are hardly worth the effort. Click on the link above to read more about what you are really saving when you list your home yourself.
Licensed Realtors are pros at what they do. Think of it this way:
Could someone merely watch a video or read a manual about YOUR job and accomplish what you succeed in doing every day? Absolutely not. Could you take the place of other professionals you trust in your life? Would you cut your own hair? Would you represent yourself in court? Most likely not.
| Good Realtors are home buying and selling professionals with a complex combination of skills and experience, including: – Marketing – Sales – Negotiating – Qualifying buyers – Staging the home – Handling objections – Developing strategies and plans – Managing your contract – Getting you to the closing table |
Plus, licensed Realtors have resources available to them that you can’t touch, including the essential Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Without the use of this mass marketing tool, your home WILL NOT be on the radar of the thousands of people looking to buy in your area.
But, if you are willing to invest your time and effort, list it yourself and see how it goes. Give yourself 30 days. Research shows if a home isn’t sold within 21 days, you won’t sell it on your own. |
Our research shows that most people are looking for a Realtor who:
– Understands their needs
– Is trustworthy and honest
– Brings buyers not shoppers to see the house
– Does not pressure them into making a decision
– Is a master at managing details
– Has valuable connections
– Is a trained expert in negotiating
Joe DeLorenzo, Broker/Owner of RE/MAX IN TOWN in Lawrence Twp., NJ, has the above qualifications and many more, including:
– Extensive knowledge about the current housing market
– Experience with the best way to stage and present your home
– A network of potential buyers
– The ability to list your home with the Multiple Listing Service
– Negotiating skills honed at a Fortune 500 company
– Over 30 years providing exceptional customer service
Contact Joe DeLorenzo Broker/Owner of RE/MAX IN TOWN at joe@joedhomes.com or call 609-895-0500 x107.
