The 5 Most Important Things You Need to Do To Sell Your Home FSBO

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The 5 Most Important Things You Need to Do to Sell Your Home FSBO

My name is Joel Daniel. I am a broker and owner of Greenleaf Real Estate in Temecula, California. I have made many mistakes selling homes over the years, learning from each one. I now run a successful real estate brokerage and wanted to pass on some of my knowledge and experience. This blog post and video go over the 5 most important things you need to do to sell your home FSBO. Although money is important, keeping yourself free from liability before, during, and after the sale is just as important. Some of the things I will go over include pricing, documentation, target marketing on Facebook, and lifestyle videos.

Pricing

Pricing is probably the most important thing when selling a home. If you set it too high, you will lose money; if you set it too low, you will lose money. You need to look at the market and find a price that is low enough to attract buyers but not so low that you are giving away money.

My wife is a real estate appraiser and has been for over 20 years. I have learned a great deal from her. Things like effective lot size, views, bedrooms, bathrooms’ square footage, zoning, and HOA costs are just a few things that go into valuing a property. All of these need to be accounted for and compared to like properties.

First, please, please do not go to Zillow and price your home based on their suggestion of what it is worth. My advice is to hire a professional appraiser to get an accurate value of what your home is worth in the current market. If you price your house too high, I can pretty much guarantee you’re going to lose money. If I had a buyer looking at a FSBO and I was representing them, here is how I would handle an overpriced listing.

  1. I would come in with an offer below market value with an explanation of why and documentation for my reasoning. I know you don’t have any other offers and are probably getting desperate.
  2. I would ask the seller to pay for some closing costs; again, I know you don’t have any other options.
  3. Once we get to escrow, I am asking for every little thing on the home inspection report to be fixed or replaced, maybe even a few upgrades my buyers want. Again, what are you going to do? Should I cancel and go with the other buyer? No

The point I’m trying to make is simple: make sure you have a proper price tag on the home that you are trying to sell. The cost will be $300–$700.

Professional photos and drone footage

I really feel that this is overlooked throughout the country, not only with FSBO listings but with actual agent listings. It is very important to portray your home as the one buyers want and as one that stands above the rest. Professional photography and drone footage are absolutely going to put your home in this category. A few years ago, I actually tested a few listings, taking photographs with my cell phone; after the first week was up, I had professional photographs done. There was a noticeable difference in traffic between professional photography and my cell phone.

If you have a home with a large property and beautiful views, like those of a golf course or a nice backyard, drone footage can really up your game and bring that wow factor to buyers. The cost is going to range from $200 to $400, depending on the size of the home.

Marketing

Because 85% of buyers start their search online today, you need to saturate the internet as well as social media with as many videos and pictures as you possibly can. Zillow, homes.com, realtor.com, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram The more platforms you have for your home, the more likely it will be seen. The internet is a big world out there, but if you use it to your advantage, you will definitely get more traffic to your home.

Open House

Everyone talks about how open houses are only for agents to get more business. Yes, this is true, but I usually sell one home a year through open houses. We are working on percentages, and if doing an open house for 2 or 3 days increases your sales percentage by 5%, why don’t you do it? My advice?  Go to buildasign.com (the cheapest signs) and order 10 “open house” signs with a picture of your home and the address. During the first month, have as many open houses as you possibly can. Even during the week, after work, come home and put your signs out; you never know. This will give the surrounding community notice that you are selling your home and looking for buyers. Oftentimes, neighbors or others in the community have friends or family that want to move in with you.

Facebook target marketing

Facebook has been collecting data on you and me for many years. The personal information they have on us is a little scary, but in this instance, use it to your advantage. First, I would start a business page and name it something catchy. Then, target local homebuyers with a few targeted ads. Personally, I would spend $300 to $500. You can run a variety of ads, including video ads, traffic ads, and lead generation ads. Within a few weeks, you could have a handful of buyers that I’ve been looking for in your area who are pre-approved and want to look at your home.

Hire a transaction coordinator or agent to do the paperwork.

If you do receive an offer, I would say the next step, and one of the most important things you can do, is to hire a professional to help you navigate through all the paperwork during the escrow. I cannot stress enough the importance of covering yourself before, during, and after the sale. You need the buyer to sign off on all the proper paperwork, do the proper inspections, and stay within the proper time frames. I live in California, and the day I sold a home without the proper paperwork and documentation is the day I realized I was willing to lose everything. California is a sue-happy state, and the last thing I need is some seller trying to sue me because I didn’t tell him to get an inspection on the roof, which started leaking one week after it was sold.

Bonus Tip
Lifestyle Video 

If you can, I strongly suggest you do a lifestyle video of not only your home but the community that surrounds it. Many people are buying properties now for a certain lifestyle. If you can portray your home as having amenities that suit the buyer’s needs, like restaurants, community parks, sporting events, concerts, and grocery stores, they might look past the two bathrooms that are not upgraded. Show off your community with compelling reasons why your area is better than anywhere else in the vicinity. When the lifestyle video is completed, upload it to all the social media sites that I mentioned earlier in the blog post.

Thank you for reading our blog. We are a local husband-and-wife real estate brokerage (Greenleaf Real Estate) and appraisal company. If you have any questions regarding real estate in or around the Temecula area, please don’t hesitate to call us. We have some great VIP programs for both buyers and sellers. We will represent you with honesty and integrity while saving you money. Please fill out the form below, and we will contact you ASAP.

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