How to Sell a House Without a Realtor

Some home sellers want to save money by selling their homes without using a Realtor. Nothing wrong with that as long as they learn how to sell a house without a Realtor.

We’ll show you the steps you need to take to sell your home without using a Realtor.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Homeowners selling on their own without using a Realtor are known as FSBOs.

FSBOs need to learn the Art of Selling as explained here.

Learn about setting a realistic initial sales price, prepping your home, marketing tips, how to verify if your buyer can afford your home, and understanding the closing (escrow) process.

Learn the Pros and Cons of selling your home without a Realtor.

Understand the Art of Selling for How to Sell a House Without a Realtor

When selling your home yourself, know that real estate industry professionals will call you “FSBO”. It may sound degrading, but rest assured it simply means a “For Sale by Owner”.

As a FSBO, you must learn what it takes to sell your home at the highest price. Unless you are already a top salesperson, you need to learn the “Art of Selling”. Whether it’s a house, cars, clothes, or any other product you must learn how to sell.

9 Principals of the Art of Selling Real Estate

Read “11 Ways to Master the Art of Selling” published by “Dummies” (no pun intended). Nine principles apply to selling real estate:

Developing your curiosity – Keep an open mind as you encounter ways to market your home;
Realistic expectations – The first 10 prospective buyers may not buy. You must learn patience along with your limitations while refining your sales skills;
Keeping an open mind – Learn how to change the way you think and behave. The art of selling requires a certain mindset;
Rehearsing your presentations – Like learning a script for a play or movie character you must practice the way you show your home to buyers in a way that encourages them to buy. Practice in front of friends who know how to sell and accept their critiques;
Blend your sales skills with your personality – The art of selling requires adaptation to your unique personality;
Become disciplined – Learn discipline to work during evenings and weekends. This will change your lifestyle as selling your home takes up your normal free time;
Evaluating results – After each showing, you need to evaluate your performance. If you never hear back from the buyer you need to know what to do differently for the next buyer;
Keeping a journal – After 10 or more showings, it’s easy to forget buyer numbers 3, 6, and 8. A success journal monitors your performance. Note what types of questions buyers asked? What was important for your buyers? Did most of them ask about lowering your price, or adding amenities to the home?; and
Putting your buyers first – You can’t act selfishly. The art of selling requires knowing each buyer’s needs and trying to accommodate them. Buyers will recognize your honesty and integrity to trust you and make the purchase.

The Pros and Cons of Selling Your House Without a Realtor

The Pros

You save on commission fees. That means more profits for you when you sell. Generally, 6% commission on the sale of a $500,000 home means saving $30,000.

Maintaining control. You don’t deal with a middle person (listing agent) only buyers (and their agents). You choose how to market your home and what offers to consider.

The Cons

You need time and patience. Selling your home by yourself takes lots of time which might overwhelm you. As you will see below, it takes time to:

Prep your house;
Analyze recent local sales of similar homes;
Marketing and advertising;
Answering phone calls;
Making preview appointments;
Fielding offers; and
Negotiating with buyers.

Netting less money when your home sells. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) survey, homes sold by FSBOs were $65,000 less than similar homes sold with the help of an agent.

Have questions?

Failing to Set a Realistic Initial Price

Most FSBOs set their initial sales price too high. Nowadays, buyers access local Multiple Listing Services (MLS) online data of recent sales prices for similar homes. They know what a house like yours should sell for. Asking too high a price leads to buyers shunning you.

Solution: Hire a professional appraiser and pay around $500 for the appraisal. Beware of recent sales of similar homes making the appraisal outdated.

Updating appraisals to keep up with recent sales means paying $500 a month or sooner depending on how hot the market becomes.

Getting Your House Market-Ready

FSBOs must learn how to get the home in tip-top shape for high-quality photos, videos, and showings. Follow these tips on how to prep your home for sale:

Adding curb appeal – The first impression when a buyer drives by your home makes the difference between driving on or stopping for a look. Your home’s exterior must appeal to buyers on the street. We published a blog post explaining how to give your home curb appeal titled: “How to Create Positive Home Buyers First Impressions”.

Declutter – Put aside your emotional attachment to the things inside your home. Hide the clutter. Get rid of the junk. Make your home look organized and appealing inside.

Make your home sparkle – Use Pledge and Windex to add shine to your furniture and windows. Too much glass and tiled or wooden floors, doors, and frames require hiring a professional cleaning company to make them shine.

Hiring a professional photographer and video producer – Your online photos and videos require high-quality that professionals know how to do. The purpose of showing online photos and videos is to make buyers want to see your home in person. Bringing in more buyers is worth the extra $500.

Scheduling an open house – Private showings take time. Yet, a well-publicized open house during a weekend afternoon can attract more buyers in less time. Know that your neighbors are curious to see your home and they may invite their friends and relatives interested in moving too.

Advertising, Marketing, and Promoting

Realtors are used to placing ads, marketing homes, and promoting on social media channels. You must learn these traits when acting as an FSBO.

Upload your high-quality home photos and videos on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media channels.

Get yard signs and flyers printed and post them throughout your neighborhood because buyers looking at specific neighborhoods will drive around.

Verifying a Buyer can Afford Your Home

You will be surprised how many buyers make offers who can’t afford it. It’s up to you to ask for verification of a buyer’s ability to afford your home. Ask for a lender’s “Pre-Approval Letter” where a bank or mortgage company verifies how much the buyer can finance to buy a home. This will save you time.

Down Payment: You must ask buyers how much of a down payment they can offer. Buyers with more cash and a Pre-Approval letter should become your priority.

Find an Experienced Real Estate Lawyer

Since you will sign a contract to sell your home to a buyer you need to know the local and state real estate laws. Making a big mistake in your written sales contract can doom the sale. Hire a local real estate attorney to review your sales contract before you sign it.

Know what a “contingency” in a home purchase contract is? It’s an important contract clause that lets a buyer walk away from the sale if not met. Learn about contingency clauses by reading one of our Realtor’s: “What are Real Estate Contingencies in California?”.

Also, learn about a buyer’s Earnest Money Deposit and what to do with it by reading one of our Realtor’s: “What is the EMD (Earnest Money Deposit Check)?”.

Understand the Closing Process

After you sign a contract to sell your home to a buyer, the next step is to open escrow for the closing of the sale and transfer the title to your buyer.

Learn all about what the Closing (Escrow) Process entails by reading: “The Escrow Process in California”.

Also, learn about the Escrow Costs in California and San Diego County by reading:

Why a Realtor is Better than an FSBO

Investopedia summarized why it’s worth it for an FSBO to use a Realtor to sell a home:

Real estate agents may steer their buyers from seeing an FSBO home;
A Realtor is not emotionally involved with a home sale;
Realtors perform a full-time job;
Realtor’s access large networks to make sales;
A Realtor knows how to weed out unqualified buyers;
Realtors get trained in negotiation skills; and
FSBOs ignore flaws in their homes while Realtors don’t, and
FSBOs get exposed to legal risks while Realtors get trained about federal and state real estate laws.

Too Much to Learn along with the Time and Stress of Selling Your House Without a Realtor?

Consider hiring a Realtor who can do all the steps mentioned above and save you time and stress too.

Big Block Realty offers experienced Realtors in San Diego County to help you sell any type of house. Also, we use the unique RealScout program that uses local MLS data to match buyers looking for specific features of your home. Only a few brokerages in San Diego County participate in this valuable matching program.

Our blog contains these articles explaining our RealScout program for sellers and buyers:

Contact us to learn how our RealScout program makes it easier and faster to sell your home to buyers looking for features your home offers.

Steven Rich, MBA – Guest Blogger

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Steven Rich, MBA

Steven Rich, MBA has been involved in the real estate industry for over 30 years. As an investor, real estate agent, associate editor of a real estate magazine, a real estate marketing expert, a Wikipedia real estate article author, and as a writer.