Top 5 mistakes for sale by owners make

For Sale By Owner (Source; theprovince.com)

Last month Marin County Register had conducted an survey with home owners who by 59% expressed an interest to sale their own home.   The obvious rational is the huge cost of commission that high-end home owner have to pay to market their home.  For a typical $1M home, the sellers would be subject to $60,000 of commission which is not chump change.

So, you have good reasons to sell your own home.  But what are the top 5 mistakes that home owners commit when marketing their own home.

1) Lowball offers:  Home sellers are often take the low ball offers personally and ignore them!   But that’s when negotiations start and since they are not apt in developing a negotiation strategy, they lose the opportunity to convert these offers to buyers.

2) Contact Knowledge  Most sellers don’t understand the legal terms contained in the listing documents and the disclosures.   This is a huge risk specially in States like California where the buyer could challenge the sale and file for damages up to 5 years after the sale. That’s a  lot of sleepless nights if you ask us and you can avoid is if you use a Realtor who assumes all the risk for you.

3) Wasting Time on Unqualified Buyer:  Most sellers are ill-equipped to distinguish between pre-approved buyers vs pre-qualified buyers.  That alone could crash your for sale by owner transaction.

4) Poor showing:  Most for sale by owners won’t pay for staging their home and don’t remove clutter from the house either.   This creates a very poor first impression which can hamper your ability to get highest offers.

5) OverPricing:   Most for sale by owners do not have the skills and resources to price their home properly based on recent sales that match their homes floor plan, characteristics, functional utility and other characteristics.  So, the result is an emotional decision on the pricing the home which results in an over-priced their home.

One of your best options is to obtain a competitive market analysis (CMA) that is adjusted by a professional real estate agent to match their homes size, age, style and amenities.