3 Tips To Sell Your Home For Sale By Owner (FSBO) Successfully

Are you considering selling your home on your own so you can save money on the high agent commissions? Well, it’s definitely NOT rocket science, but only 8% of For Sale By Owner homes are successful. Lower than you thought right? It’s true, but today we’re going over a few tips that will increase those odds considerably.

Hi, I’m Eren Millam with Premiere Property Group … wait, what? A Realtor is giving me advice how to sell my home? Yes, that’s right. Now why would I do that? Well, I help people sell homes. If a certain segment of people are only successful 8% of the time, these are people that need help! Who better to help you than someone whose profession is selling homes?

For Sale By Owner Tip #1 – Pricing

Alright, now that we got that out of the way, the first thing you need to consider above all other things, is price. Now, I know this is super obvious, but if you don’t get the price right – your home will not sell. There are even some agents out there who get this wrong. Most people will look at assessed value or Zestimates to come up with a price. This is not an accurate way to do it. You have two good options. The first is an appraisal, which could cost you about $600-$1000 but is usually lower than market since its based solely on SOLD properties, or where the market was at a few months ago.

However, you’re doing a for sale by owner to save money right? The best option is also the least expensive and MOST accurate option. I hope you’re sitting down for this. The best option is to have a local realtor complete a comparative market analysis. Now, most agents will do this for free and no obligation. If you feel like the agent is not accurate, it might make sense to get a 2^nd or 3^rd opinion, which will give you a decent ballpark to play in. Now, I just want to say – there’s no need to lie to the agent to get them there. Be honest and upfront about what you’re doing so you can weed out the bad agents who only work when money’s involved.

FSBO Tip #2 – Staging

Moving on. Tip #2 is staging. Now, when I say staging I don’t mean paying thousands of dollars to have your home professionally staged, although that is ideal. Staging is about presenting your home in the best possible way. This includes cleaning, de-personalizing, re-arranging furniture. When you decide to sell, you have to consider your house to be a product rather than your home which is set up for your needs/wants. Do you have taste-specific colors or décor, consider swapping it out or repainting to a more neutral color. If you do have a realtor do a market analysis for you, ask them for tips and ideas for presenting your house & any recommending repairs or updates to maximize your value. Another option is to get a staging consultation from a professional stager.

FSBO Tip #3 – Marketing

Finally, tip #3. Most For Sale By Owner homes do a good job with staging, but they fail miserably with marketing. I’ve seen FSBO homes on Zillow or FSBO specific websites, some do a flat list option and their home shows up on the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NW MLS), and even fewer do flyers or a put sign in their yard. Part of saving money is putting your home on free sites and hoping a buyer sees it. Honestly, there’s some agents who do this as well but it’s not effective in exposing your home and maximizing sales price. Spend your money here in marketing on professional photography / videography, buy the highest listing package you can find, and put some ad spend behind it to expose it to likely buyers, rather than just your friends or your mom.

Increasing the For Sale By Owner Success Rate

To summarize, in order to increase your odds from 8% success rate, consider professional expertise when it comes to pricing and staging, then spend the money you’re saving on marketing. I hope this helps and if you have any questions, it doesn’t cost you anything to speak with an agent – we’re not doctors or lawyers! If you’d like a free comparative market analysis, visit CMA.LewisCountyHomes.com. Again, my name is Eren Millam with Premiere Property Group. Now, go out and make it an extraordinary day!