For Sale By Owner (Source; theprovince.com)
Are you tempted to sell your own home and save on commissions? Why not? In fact, a recent Marin County Register survey with home owners showed that 59% expressed an interest to sell their own home.
With a median home prices at $1M and above, some of our sellers in Los Gatos, Saratoga, San Jose and Campbell can save as much as $60,000 on commission which is not chump change.
So, you have good reasons to sell your own home. But what are the top 6 mistakes that home owners commit when marketing their own home.
1) Over Priced: Most for sale by owners are not well-prepared to price their own home. One reason this is a challenge is that they are emotionally attached to the property and assign un-reasonable value to their upgrades. Granted there are more data available on recent sales from Zillow, Trulia and others but they have to be adjusted for size, age, amenities, functional utitily….etc. So, the resulting list price is an emotional decision which is the huge turn off to buyers.
2) Lowball offers: Any offer is a good starting point. Some sellers are often consider the low ball offers personally and feel insulted. But an offer is just a starting point for negotiations. And keep in mind that such an offer is just a negotiation strategy on the part of the buyer.
3) Contracts: Most sellers don’t understand the legal terms contained in their agreements and specially the disclosure document. This contains huge risks in California where the buyer could challenge the sale and file for damages or defects that were not disclosed. And they can come after the sellers for up to 5 years in court.
4) Spotting Fake buyers: Most sellers are unable to spot wholesaler or fake cash buyers. Some buyers who offer cash are only in it to flip the contract to another buyer and they are very shrewd to hide their intent. Also, when you are selling your own home; you should be able to distinguish between pre-approved buyers vs pre-qualified buyers. That alone could crash your for sale by owner transaction.
5) Poor Staging: Most for sale by owners won’t consider staging and use their own furniture and decorations. They don’t remove clutter from their house either. This creates a very poor first impression which can damage your chance of creating a very strong 1st impression.
6) Repairs: Some for sale by owners avoid making minor repairs which add up to creating a difficult impression for the buyer who get nervous about other repair needs which might not be visible to the naked eye. From cracks in the sheet rock, to dripping faucets, to door that don’t close properly; they all add up to make buyers uneasy. One way to avoid these poor 1st impression is to conduct inspetions and share them with your potential buyers.
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. we also have a 1-1-1 program where we rebate 1% of commission to our sellers and 1% goes to charity of your choice.