How to Sell Your Home by Owner Fast in NJ
Is selling your home by owner a challenge you are considering? Without the network and contacts of a real estate agent, you must be worried about how you're going to make in-roads to get buyers and where the buyers will come from.
There are tips and tricks that you can use while selling the house that will get the attention of buyers and get the house off the market sooner.
Sell It To a Cash Buyer!
This is the simplest and the surest way to sell your house fast. If you can find a reliable cash buyer like We Buy Houses in NJ, you can quickly sell the house without hassle.
When you sell your house to a cash buyer, you don’t have to worry about the condition of the home or paying for renovations. You sell the house as-is. It saves you money while putting more money in your pocket because you don’t pay for commissions and fees.
Make the Price Competitive
The biggest mistake homeowners make when selling by owners is going with an optimistic list price to get the most for their prized possession.
You should know that the listing price is not the same as the sale price. The purpose of the listing price is to drive traffic to the property. It’s not necessarily the price you’re going to get for the home.
In some cases, even when you go for a slightly lower listing price, you can still sell the home for its full value, and if you're a little lucky, even more!
Get Professional Photos Taken
Photos play a critical role in how fast you sell your home. Not the ones you take around the house with your high-quality smartphone camera but those taken by a professional real estate photographer.
The photos should highlight the key features of the house like the dining, décor, lighting, and the outdoors. Most importantly, the photos hide the downsides of the home. Using these photos to market your home online will help you bring in more traffic to the listing and increase foot traffic to your property.
Before taking the photos, consider if staging is right for you. Staging is perfect for homes with unconventional spaces and upscale homes. With staging, you can give the home a sense of depth, utility, and scale. It’s a great way of helping the buyers imagine their life inside the property. If they can imagine themselves living there, the house is half-sold.
Use the Local MLS
The local Multiple Listing Service (MLS) gives you access to a network of buyers, just like an estate agent. It is the single most important tool for Sale By Owner. Here’s why:
- Many agents use the local MLS to set up email notifications when new homes are posted on the service for their buyers. Being on this list means you have access to the buyers on these agents’ lists.
- Some local MLS sites also push the ads to Trulia, Redfin, Zillow, and other brokerage portals giving your listing more exposure.
- The MLS can also allow you to give your buyer’s agent a commission. With the right motivation, the agents can work round the clock to find the right buyer for your home.
Add a Buyer’s Agent Commission
When most people are selling by owner, it is usually to avoid the agent commission fee. However, you might have to part with just a little to get your home off the market faster.
Most of the buyers are represented by an agent. There’s a good chance that most of the inquiries on the property will be represented by agents as well. Without a fair commission, your house could end up sitting on the market longer than is necessary. Not to mention, little or no showings and the house could also attract a lower price.
When setting the commission, set it a little higher than what is normal within your area. If the average is 2.5% for the buyer’s agent, you can set yours at 3%. Your listing will stand out and incentivize the buyer’s agents into showing your property.
A La Carte Service
Some homeowners are not totally against the idea of commissions. They just want to have full control over the process and possibly even choose the buyer they feel will best take care of their property. This is common with family homes and homes with sentimental value.
If you’re a homeowner in a similar situation, a la carte service can help you quickly move your home without giving up control of the process. Some real estate agents will provide you with limited service or a customized contract. You collaborate with them in marketing and listing the property, but you have complete control of the selling process.
Depending on your needs, you can hire these realtors for a specific purpose. For example, the agent can handle showings, or you can have them negotiate the offer price at the time of the closure.
You can also hire a la carte service to handle inquiries on your behalf. This will free up your time for work and reduce the stress of negotiating or talking with the buyers.
Because legalities are an intimidating process that’s not for everyone, you can also let the agent handle the legal procedures while closing the deal, or you could leave this part to a real estate lawyer, depending on how complicated it is.
The Bottom-line
You can sell your FSBO property quickly. But you need to have a clear action plan and make deliberate moves to execute that plan. Even though you are selling the home yourself, there are several rules of selling real estate that will still apply to you. You will need to market the house, you will need quality and professionally taken photos of the property to put on the local MLS sites, and you should be prepared to pay the buyer's agent commission.
Alternatively, there is the option of selling to companies that buy houses for cash. These don't charge a commission and don't require you to follow most of the rules of listing a house, like taking the photos, staging, or showing the house.
