Selling your home is one of the biggest transactions of your entire life, and as demand grows for the housing market Real Estate agents have shown up in the hundreds in Kingston alone, but some people wonder if their skills are absolutely necessary to attain the successful sale of their home. Real Estate Professionals exist to ensure that the transaction that your lifestyle is based around is as effortless and fiscally beneficial as possible, however, the clear downside to working with professionals lies in the small percentage of profits gained from the sale that you will be required to pay for their services. Read on to find out what you need to do to prepare yourself for a successful FSBO:
i) Price To Sell
A home that is priced right will always sell, however, this is a task that is easier said than done. Everybody knows that by underpricing your home, you are sacrificing your total earned dollars in exchange for a faster sale, but what they don’t know is that overpricing can be just as damaging. By overpricing your home, your home faces the probable risk that it will stay on the market for a prolonged period of time. During its time on the market, it will develop a permanent stigma in potential buyers that will last far beyond the necessary pricing adjustments, leading to an even LOWER sale price than had you have lowered your asking price initially. Here are the variables you should consider during your extensive research to find that pricing “sweet-spot”:
- Categorize comparable sales from within 6 months, 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years
- Analyze current and past Market Statistics and trends
- Look for information on neighboring properties & their market value
- Distinguish your property’s main selling features and convert them into dollar amounts based on current buyer demands and true value
- Remove emotional attachment – If you overpaid for your home 1 year ago, its value will be lower than you may think until the market has time to catch up
- Don’t fall for the HBO effect – Dollars that have been put into home renovations don’t always pay off after the sale (more about the best & worst home renovations for the monetary value of your home in our 5 Day Crash Course!)
- Request a professional appraisal (keep in mind, however, that predictable market conditions and sales strategies may be overlooked and you might be stuck dealing with a low-appraisal)
ii) Market and Prepare
The foundation to every listing is its ability to give a strong, lasting first impression. 90% of home buyers claim to have found their home online, and 84% of those buyers considered the photographs to be the most useful information. Make sure that your home looks stunning and desirable both in person and online. Once you have a price that is suitable to compete in the current market conditions and a property that is dressed to sell, you will need to ensure that it gets recognition from as many potential buyers as possible.
- Declutter
- Consider professional staging – Staged homes spend an average of 73% less time on the market, and buyers are subconsciously willing to spend 1-5% extra on a staged home
- Have your home photographed professionally (VERY IMPORTANT!!)
- Maximize your home’s perceived value to influence buyers’ decision making
- Target prospects and maximize exposure with online advertising
- Develop professional and optimized-for-conversion flyers and leave-behinds for your property
iii) Lawyer Up and List
Once you’ve hit the pricing sweet-spot, have prepared your home meticulously, and have formulated an actionable marketing plan, it’s time to throw your home to the wolves by putting it up on the market! It’s imperative that you and a professional look over every single detail of your listing documents, paperwork, and contracts to avoid getting burned by minute details, especially while crafting counter offers within the limited timeframe that will be provided.
- Hire a lawyer
- List your home with an FSBO service (generally a flat fee of $5,000-$10,000 or a smaller % in commission + a lower flat fee of $900-$5000)
- Plan multiple showings and open houses
- Negotiate price, inspections, appraisals, title resolutions, multiple offers, inclusions, conditional sale contingencies, survey + due diligence resolutions
- Deal with low appraisals – If you’re dealing with a buyer who is getting a loan, they will likely need an appraisal done on the home. Unfortunately, low appraisals happen all the time. You should know how to be proactive to help guide the appraiser in the right direction and be able to challenge an appraisal that comes in too low
- Comply with rules & regulations – Study Ontario’s Real Estate guidelines and respect the laws and regulations of your community
Click Here To Learn How To Recieve Asking Price For Your Home Within 24 Hours!
It is easy to assume that you are making a fiscally responsible decision by saving 3-6% of the final sale price of your home, hence why people are beginning to consider FSBO. However, the line begins to get blurred as homeowners will often overlook the true value a professional will offer by the end of the sale. For example; a lower listing price will lead to a faster sale while listing at a higher price requires more patience and presents the very real risk of price reductions. Professionals will ensure that you land on the very narrow pricing ‘sweet-spot’, and know how to attain it to finalize the sale. In this blog we went over some of the steps you must take to move forward with selling your home without representation, but if you would like to know the pros-and-cons of selling FSBO or the dangers of hiring unfit representation, subscribe to our 5 Day Crash Course by clicking the link above.
Happy Selling!