Welcome to
Ida Freimer's Seller's Guide!
People often wonder if they can sell their own house. The answer is simple: YES. You can build an addition to your house, you can make your own furniture, often you can represent yourself in the court of law, and of course you can sell your own house. You just need to make up your mind whether it makes sense for you to do it yourself and to find out how to go about it. The following paragraphs will guide you through both of those questions.
First of all you need to like selling. You need to like being polite to people, regardless of how they treat you; you need to want to be available whenever they want to see your property; you need to be able to answer the same questions over and over again, regardless how boring they seem to you.
Second of all, you need to have time to be available. Most people prefer to get a person on the phone, when they are calling about a property, than an answering machine. Today's customers give up easily, they don't want to hear a busy signal, many of them get offended if the house cannot be shown when they want to see it, they think that if you want to sell it, you should turn it into a 24-hour convenience store. You need to ask yourself if you can handle this kind of demand.
Third, you need to judge whether you fell safe to be available to everyone at all times.
Fourth, do you feel comfortable talking with the potential buyers about their finances; do you know how to make sure they can afford your property?
Finally, you need to ask yourself why you want to do it yourself. Often people do it to save the real estate fee. If this is your motivation, make sure you will save money. Think of building your own cabinet... is it cheaper than a factory made one? Usually not, the factory is set up to save money in different ways; they buy the lumber wholesale, etc. You need to pay retail for lumber; you usually will end up with leftovers that you can't use. If woodworking is your hobby, it's not a problem. In fact you will feel a big satisfaction of having constructed the piece, each time you look at it. But seldom will you save money.
Selling your own property is similar. You will not be able to get discount prices on your advertising. You need to buy the legal forms or to pay an attorney to draft them. Your attorney will most likely spend time on some extra negotiations and it will cost you extra money. And what is most important, the buyer who will come to look at your property will most likely decide that you do not owe any real estate fees, therefore he can offer you less for the property. Another buyer may come with a Buyer's Agent and may ask you to pay his agent's fee. If the offer is good, you most likely will accept it. Will you save anything though?
When estimating your savings you need to remember that you can only get limited exposure while selling your property on your own. According to a study of the National Association of Realtors, only 8% of the properties are sold because of an ad, only 15% because of the sign placed in front of them, a vast majority (64%) are sold thank to the Realtors' efforts. This is why many good brokers will list their houses with themselves, and split their earnings with the company, rather then do it completely on their own. I would too. The extra exposure is likely to bring more qualified buyers, and therefore one of them is likely to pay a higher price, which will easily cover the extra fee. And keep in mind: we love our jobs, and we do not have to spend time learning how to go about selling our own property.
If you want the easy approach, contact a real estate agent in your area. You can select one by talking to your friends; you can e-mail me asking for a reference, you can interview a few local agents. Be up front. Say that you want to sell your house on your own and you could use some advice. Ask for help with pricing, suggestions on how to show your house, where to advertise for best response. Offer something in exchange. If you like a defined relationship, offer a consulting fee. If you like a less defined relationship, offer referrals of your potential buyers - your property may not be suitable for them, and they may need a broker. Many agents will be delighted to help you.
You may wonder what is in there for them... after all you are going to sell your own house, so they will not get paid for helping you out. The truth is though, that 70% of people who attempt to sell their own properties will change their mind along the way. Either they will get bored doing it, or their priorities will change.
What is in it for you? Should you be one of the 70% of the owners who will change their mind about using a broker, you will have one lined up.
If you are determined not to contact a broker, yet you want some suggestions, just e-mail me, and I'd be happy to answer your questions.
Whether you want to hire a Realtor or just contact one to get some inside knowledge of your particular marketplace at a given time, you want to know how to locate a good one.
First of all, does it matter if the agent of your choice is a Realtor or not? It does. Anybody who has a real estate license and is affiliated with a real estate broker can sell real property. The Realtors are those agents who choose to subscribe to a certain code of ethics, and to follow strict rules telling them how to treat you. It is something like the Better Business Bureau, just specific to Real Estate. In some states they are also the only ones, who receive the Multiple Listing Books and the complete computer data. All the agents affiliated with reputable agencies are Realtors. But when you are dealing with an unknown agency, it never hurts to ask. Often they are Realtors as well, occasionally though, you may meet some who are not, and who are not able to offer you certain services or guarantee a certain level of professionalism.
Choosing a Realtor is similar to hiring a lawyer or a doctor. You can use somebody's recommendation; you can call different offices, and interview different Realtors, until you find one which you are happy with; you can tour the open houses until you meet a Realtor you may want to work with; you may browse through different web pages and select someone; you may want to choose someone with professional designations; and of course you are more than welcome to contact me: Ida@Freimer.com, either because you would want to consider working with me, or for a suggestion who would suit your needs better.
You probably want someone who knows the town your property is in; who will return your phone calls within a short time; who will keep close attention to what is coming to the market, so that you can stay ahead of your competition; who will listen to your priorities carefully, in order to be able to negotiate with your buyers what is best for you .
The common misunderstanding is that Realtors just market your property. While this is very important part of getting your property sold, there is another part, not less important - the part that starts after you receive an offer. They supervise everything from thereon to make sure that your deal will not fall apart, that you will be able to close on the transaction on time.
Therefore you probably want someone who is a good problem solver; who has experience with different crises that can arise: multiple offers, stubborn or dishonest buyers, buyers who change their mind about buying, issues that can come up at the inspections.
A good agent will talk to the lawyers and bankers to make sure that everything is done properly, that someone does not forget when your closing is scheduled or does not realize that it is important to you to have a place to sleep the night before the closing. This is not the work that you will see, and therefore, even more so, you want someone whom you can trust to do all that is necessary and more.
If you are a foreigner, you may want to choose someone who is trained to respect your culture, be open minded enough to understand the parts of your culture she or he is not familiar with, and someone who realizes what is the effect of the foreign exchange rates on your transaction. (Working with international clients is one of my specializations. Should I be unable to meet your needs, I would be happy to direct you to someone else who could.)
It may sound like a paradox, but the lower you price your property, the higher price you will usually get. The buyers will notice it is a bargain, they will sense that there are other buyers ready to make an offer, and they will bid, often above the asking price. You still want to stay within the market value range, so that people do not wonder what is wrong with your property. Yet you want to price it as close to what you expect to get, as possible.
Similarly, the lower the asking price, the less time you will need to see a buyer. After a while the buyers do not feel any pressure, they assume that your property will be there tomorrow, so they can procrastinate with making their decision. They may even wonder why no one else bought it.
Another very important aspect of a quick sale is availability. The easier it is to show your house, the faster it will sell. Ask your agent what is his or her system for the showings if he or she is not available to show your property. Is there always someone there who will show it? Is a lock box going to be installed on your door? Then try to adjust your lifestyle, so that you can leave the house even on a short notice, and allow for the showing. Usually the first weekend on the market will be very busy, so plan an outing with your family or friends. You can ask for an Open House. While they rarely sell properties, they help to condense the traffic to a smaller number of hours. They are also likely to bring some less motivated, yet serious buyers, who may not see it otherwise.
Another important factor for both a quick sale and getting the top dollar is the condition of the property. You may consider hiring an inspector to tell you what needs fixing, you can ask your agent what people notice first. Fix everything that is going to be noticed and that is cheap to fix. That may include painting the front door of a house, planting some flowers in the front yard, packing some clutter. Many buyers are too busy to imagine moving and then fixing the place up. Others simply have no idea how to do the improvements and vastly overestimate the cost. Consider ordering a floor plan. Some buyers are not capable of remembering the details of the houses.
Minimizing the inconvenience is trickier. The least inconvenient sale would be one when no one bothers you looking at your property first. Unfortunately that is contradictory with obtaining the highest price and minimizing the time. You need to make your judgment: maybe it is worth to put up with some inconvenience at first. If not, if you have to restrict the showings, try to minimize the restrictions, and make them easy to understand. Again, the lower the asking price, the fewer showings you will need to sell the property.
Most importantly, make sure that your agent understands your priorities. He or she will have all the three objectives in mind, but when the choice needs to be made, you want it to follow your goals. Choose a good Realtor, work closely together and your property will be sold quickly, for a high price, and with little inconvenience to you.