Selling Your Home By Yourself – For Sale By Owner

June 19, 2013 by Eric Lowry Leave a Comment

Selling Your Home By Yourself – For Sale By Owner?

Are you thinking of selling your home by yourself, what is commonly called selling for sale by owner? You are sure you can do it and you just need a few tips to get started. Well here you go!

Here are 10 Steps To Success You Must Follow To Sell Your Home For Sale By Owner:

1.) Create a strong first impression. Take a look at your home from across the street. Is it appealing? Is the lawn well cared for, edged and mulched. Is the front door freshly painted and is the door’s hardware clean and new looking?

2.) Properly stage your home. Remove all items of personal decor, declutter your home, remove excess furniture and have your home professionally cleaned including the carpets.

3.) Create a marketing plan. Some advertising options for you to consider are Google Adwords campaigns, social media (Facebook) ads, post a link to your home on your Facebook profile and on your twitter account. Buy a number of directional signs to point buyers to your home. Don’t forget to get some that say Open House on them for your Sunday Open Houses. Also be sure to create a nice full color brochure of your home to give to prospective homebuyers.

4.) Have your home professionally photographed. Not much more to say here. You should not do this yourself and you certainly should not use the camera on your phone.

5.) Get an appraisal. Don’t pick the list price of your home based on what you hope to get for it. Hire a licensed appraiser to help you determine the correct price. Be sure to tell the appraiser you want this appraisal done to determine the market value for a sale.

Wondering What Your Home Is Worth In Today’s Market? Click Here To Request A Market Value Analysis!

Coming Soon: Selling Your Home By Yourself – For Sale By Owner (Part 2)

Looking for more information on area real estate? Check out these pages of our website for more real estate information about our area:

West Chester Ohio Real Estate

Beckett Ridge Ohio Real Estate

Liberty Township Ohio Real Estate

Mason Ohio Real Estate

Fairfield Township Ohio Real Estate

Fairfield Ohio Real Estate

Monroe Ohio Real Estate

Other articles you may find of interest:

2013 Cincinnati Homearama Home Show In Liberty Township

West Chester & Mason Ohio: This Month In Real Estate – May 2013

Top Ten Reasons You Should List Your Home For Sale During The Holidays

November 20, 2012 by Eric Lowry Leave a Comment

Top Ten Reasons You Should List Your Home For Sale During The Holidays

There are many reasons you should list your home for sale during the holidays. The absolute best time of course is determined by your need to sell and the reasons and timing behind that decision. Here though are the Top Ten Reasons You Should List Your Home For Sale During The Holidays:

10.) By selling now, you may have an opportunity to be a non-contingent buyer during the spring, when many more homes are on the market.

9.) Even though your home will be on the market, you still have the option to restrict showings during the six or seven days around the holiday.

8.) January is traditionally the month for employees to begin new jobs. Since transferees cannot wait until spring to buy, you need to be on the market during the holidays to capture that market.

7.) Some people must buy a home before the end of the year for tax reasons.

6.) Buyers have more time to look for a home during the holidays than they do during a work week.

5.) Buyers are more emotional during the holidays, so they are more likely to pay your price.

4.) Homes show better when they are decorated for the holidays.

3.) Since the supply of homes for sale will dramatically increase in January, there will be less demand for your particular home. Less demand means less money for you.

2.) Serious buyers have fewer houses to choose from during the holidays and less competition means more money for you.

And the number one reason you should list your home for sale during the holidays…

1.) People who look for homes during the holidays are more serious buyers!

Home Prices In Mason Ohio For November 2012

Home Prices In West Chester Ohio For November 2012

West Chester Ohio Real Estate: The Dangers Of Overpricing Your Home

January 7, 2011 by Eric Lowry Leave a Comment

Why overpricing your home can be very costly.

You will lose the excitement that a new on the market listing generates: Real estate agents are working with buyers who have seen the homes currently on the market for sale and are waiting for new homes to be listed for sale. Meaning, the most activity(showings) will take place in the first thirty days that your home is on the market. Your home will receive it’s highest offer during this time. After the initial period of being on the market, the only people that will look at your home will be new buyers coming into the real estate market that are looking for homes.

You can lose the most qualified prospects: Prospective home buyers won’t just “make an offer” because they probably won’t ever see your home. They will view the homes for sale that are priced within their price range, knowing that they cannot afford anything that is priced in the higher price ranges.

Overpricing helps sell other, more properly priced homes first: Your home may be used to demonstrate the good value of other properties. Your objective should be to enter the real estate market in a position that will attract prospective buyers, not drive them away. A classic example of this is a buyer looking at a number of homes in a row and the feedback received from the showing of your home was that your home was too small compared to the other homes. This means that the other homes priced similar to yours were larger and a better value.

Your home will become stale on the market: Prospective buyers will wonder why your home has been on the market so long, or if something is wrong with your home, even after you lower the price. You may even have to settle for less than the market value. A home takes on a reputation surprisingly fast, so don’t wear out your welcome on the market.

You will lose a strong negotiating position when your home is on the market for a long time, both financially and mentally: Prospective buyers will not “feel a sense of urgency” to make an offer on an overpriced property, and you may feel compelled to accept less when you finally do get an offer. Getting an offer on your home in the first thirty days on the market allows you to negotiate from a position of strength, getting an offer on day one hundred and forty on the market… not so much.

If you do get an offer, the contract may “fall thru” because of appraisal issues: The contract sale price must be justified to the lender through the process of the home being appraised. The buyer’s lender hires a third party (the licensed appraiser) to determine the market value of the home at the time of sale. If the appraisal does not “come in” at or above the contract sale price, the sale cannot proceed without an adjustment being made. The list price and sale price of your home, when listed for sale, must be justified with market sales data.

Wondering what your home is worth in today’s real estate market? Request a market analysis here!

Check Out My Feature Homes For Sale In West Chester, Fairfield and Liberty Township, Ohio

West Chester & Liberty Twp OH Real Estate: Preparing Your Home To Sell

July 4, 2010 by Eric Lowry Leave a Comment

Are you getting your home ready to list it for sale? Preparing to sell a home in West Chester, Liberty Township or Beckett Ridge can be an overwhelming task if you are not prepared. The process of getting your home ready can be simplified by breaking the areas of your home up into groups.

In my previous post, >>Preparing Your Home To Sell, we covered Curb Appeal, Front Entry / Porch & Landscaping. Today we will cover your first impression (interior, foyer). When selling your home in today’s real estate market it is critical that the first impression that home buyers have of your home is a welcoming one. A welcoming space is one that invites the home buyer in and lures them into the rest of the house.

Many times homeowners don’t even come and go through their front door and thus don’t place a great enough emphasis on this area of the home. This is the area of the home that starts off the showing for the homebuyer and this is where they begin to anticipate the rest of the house.

The home buyer needs to be able to envision themselves in your home, so this is definitely an area of a home listed for sale that should have all personal effects, photos and clutter removed. Generally speaking, any furniture that is located in this area should be removed with the exception of a properly sized foyer table. Be sure that there are no pieces of furniture or baby gates blocking the path or view from the foyer in the rest of your home.

Be sure to de-clutter your foyer closet. A full and cluttered foyer closet simply tells home buyers that you are short on closet space. The foyer closet should not be more than half full. Store unused and seasonal coats in plastic tubs in a storage area away from the living spaces of your home.

All personal/family photos should be removed from the foyer area. If your foyer has a space that you feel needs decorating consider a mirror instead of photos.

The foyer paint color should be neutral and an earth tone. Under no circumstances should your foyer have wallpaper on the walls.

As buyers enter your home, the scent that they smell must be clean and very subtle. The use of candles or spray air freshener is not recommended. Many home buyers can have adverse reactions to these strong smells and in some cases may actually wonder what it is you are trying to cover up.

We have now created a great first impression for home buyers as you continue preparing your home for sale in today’s real estate market. In the next post in this series of articles we’ll cover Living Room, Dining Room, Family Room & Study.

Read the first article in this series here >> Preparing Your Home For Sale In Today’s Market Part I

Wondering what your home is worth in today’s real estate market? Request a market analysis here!

Check Out My Feature Homes For Sale In West Chester, Fairfield and Liberty Township, Ohio

West Chester & Liberty Twp OH Real Estate: Preparing Your Home To Sell

June 27, 2010 by Eric Lowry Leave a Comment

1. Curb Appeal, Front Entry/Porch & Landscaping

2. First Impression (interior), Foyer

3. Living Room, Dining Room, Family Room & Study

4. Kitchen

5. Bedrooms

6. Finished Lower Level

7. Rear Yard, Decks & Patio Areas

Why is any of this necessary you ask? Because if at all possible you want to avoid that unpleasant feeling of rejection when home buyer after home buyer comes through your home for sale and doesn’t make an offer.

If you can properly stage your home for sale, you’ve greatly increased your chances not just of selling it in today’s challenging real estate market, but of selling it quickly and for significantly more money than you otherwise would have.

Today we’ll address Curb Appeal, Front Entry / Porch & Landscaping. Always remember, this is the first impression home buyers will have of your home. First suggestion: Stop cutting your grass (yourself). Get a service to maintain your lawn while your home is on the market for sale. There are many good lawn services in the West Chester, Liberty Township & Beckett Ridge Ohio areas. A good lawn service can keep your lawn trimmed and edged neatly, will keep your lawn mowed regularly and can also trim your bushes & shrubs and provide fresh mulch (please use black mulch) to complete the great look.

Keep this in mind: If your yard is beautiful and well maintained, home buyers will assume the whole house has been kept the same.

If your home has a front porch make sure that it is freshly scrubbed and clean. If there is enough room, place a couple of chairs and a small table on the porch to stage the area. Caution: Be sure the size of the table & chairs do not overwhelm the space. Also keep in mind, I am not talking about the “$10 plastic chairs & table” here. They need to be something nice!

If your home does not have a front porch just be sure the outside area around the front door is clean, no cob webs and also be sure the front door itself is clean. More than likely the front door needs a fresh coat of paint and probably new hardware. If you have outside lighting/coach lights they probably need replacing also.

This is a great start on preparing your home for sale in today’s market. In the next post in this series of articles we’ll cover First Impressions (interior), Foyer.

Wondering what your home is worth in today’s real estate market? Request a market analysis here!

Check Out My Feature Homes For Sale In West Chester, Fairfield and Liberty Township, Ohio