Have you ever considered selling your home yourself? Selling your own home could save you over $10,000, depending on the price of your home. Selling it yourself can be hard work, but there’s a significant financial reward for taking on this challenge.
Use the following checklist to help ensure your home sale goes smoothly:
Home Preparation:
- __ Perform the necessary repairs. A great tactic is to stand in various places inside and outside your home and ask yourself, “What looks the worst?” Keep asking and fixing until the house is in good condition. Remember to consider the quality and condition of the landscaping as well.
- __ Get a home inspection. Home inspections are relatively inexpensive. An inspection will point out the more serious items that should be addressed. Your buyer may require an inspection anyway, so you might as well get the major items addressed before you’re surprised by them.
- __ Price the home. With a little work, you can probably set a reasonable price on your own. There are also websites and appraisers that can help you. Most real estate agents will be happy to give you a decent appraisal for a few bucks. Obviously, pricing the home lower is likely to result in a quicker sale.
Marketing:
- __ Develop a marketing plan that considers your available time and budget. The common methods for marketing a home include your local MLS (real estate listing service), newspaper ads, signs, online classifieds, dedicated real estate websites, social media, and word of mouth.
- __ Answer the resulting inquiries promptly and honestly. Avoid waiting too long to respond to phone calls and emails. In your discussions, it’s important to pre-qualify your prospects as real prospects before inviting them into your home.
- __ Show the home to potential buyers. Be certain the home is clean and tidy. People are sensitive to foul odors and want to be able to imagine themselves living in the home.
Paperwork/Closing:
- __ Be certain that your potential buyers are pre-approved for a mortgage. Most purchase contracts release the buyers if they’re unable to get financing. Protect yourself. Note that ‘pre-qualified’ is not the same thing.
- __ Receive and review offers. Now’s the time you’ll discover whether your home was priced accurately. In real estate circles, the market value of a home is the price it can sell for in 6 weeks. Adjust your price as needed.
- __ Negotiate and accept an offer. Most buyers will initially offer less than their final offer. It can be worthwhile to ask for a little more. Let your gut be your guide.
- __ Allow the buyer’s inspector, appraiser, and other professionals access to your home. Be accommodating so the process moves along quickly and smoothly.
- __ Contact a title company and set a closing date that works for both parties. The title company can be your guide for the rest of the process. They’ll get all the necessary paperwork and handle the money-side of things.
- __ Close on the property. Congratulations! Now you can calculate how much money you saved.
Selling your own home is often doable, but it does require some time and energy. Use professionals when you’re confused or lack the time needed to do it yourself.
