SELLING ON YOUR OWN

 

by  Mark Lewis

President, All Island Real Estate School

 

     Would you like to obtain less money for your home?  Would you enjoy tying up your home for months and then finding out they couldn't obtain a mortgage?  Do you invite strangers to your home and show them where the valuables are?  Do you like to spend all your time at home waiting for phone calls from an ad you put in the paper?  If the answer to any of these questions is YES then you don't have to read any further.

     I am sometimes amazed at the people who try to market a home by themselves.  Don't you realize that you will probably net 11 or 12 percent less for your home?  Just because you feel that the market is strong now that it would be an easy project to sell the home and save the real estate commissions. Let's look at the facts:

 

Price -   Why would someone come directly to you to buy your home?  Real estate brokers can chauffer prospective buyers to many homes in your area.  You can only show them one.  Over 85% of all homes for sale are listed with a broker.  If they are coming directly to you it's for one thing, a bargain.  Homeowners selling on their own obtain over 11% less than a real estate broker. 

 

Qualification -  Can you ask your prospective purchaser how much they earn?  Many will tell you to mind your own business.  If you accept an offer from them you may tie your home up for months when they were never qualified to buy your home in the first place.

 

Security -  Do you ask all your prospective purchasers to show you correct identification?  You show them the bedroom and location of all your valuables. Then you show them how your alarm system works.  Think about your wife allowing strangers into your home.  Call your local precinct and ask about the connections between people selling their own homes and the rate of burglaries.  Professional real estate agents never show a home without calling the prospective purchasers back with homes they have set up to show.  This method assures the agents of a correct phone number.  They also log all clients that have seen your home in a book to keep track of all further transactions.

 

Telephone Calls -  Can you call your prospective buyer back four days later?  Of course not, you would be saying that you're ready to lower your price.  An agent calling a buyer back is just doing their job.

 

Marketing -  A good percentage of all homes sold on Long Island are sold through The New York Times or Newsday.  It would be very costly to advertise your home every week in one of these papers.  If you do not  you lose a substantial market of buyers.  The highest price paid for homes on Long Ishand are sold to relocation buyers.  They need a home quickly and are not the bargain hunters.  How can you reach these buyers?

 

Showing a home -  There is a correct way to show a home.  A good professional knows how.  Sometimes a $10 investment in paint can bring an additional $1000.  Would you know how to increase the value of your home for $10?

 

Time at home -  You would love to spend the weekend at the beach or the mountains.  Phone calls came in and you set up appointments. Four of your appointments never showed.  It's now aggravation time.

 

Obtaining a Mortgage -  You've finally sold your house and your purchaser's bank sends an appraiser out to see your home.  The appraisal comes in $6,000 short.  What do you do now?  Real Estate agencies can help keep deals together.  They are trained on what to do at this point.

 

    Imagine,all these problems to attain 11 or 12 percent less for your home.  If you are a chemist you wouldn't call a real estate agent to check your lab reports.  This decision may be the most important of your life.  Please don't make the mistake of trying to sell on your own.  It is rarely successful.  Try and find an expert in marketing your home.