You made the decision to sell your home For Sale By Owner (FSBO) because you don’t want to pay those annoying commissions, that's great!
Here's a step by step guide you can follow to sell a home by owner in Tampa.
Tips To Sell A Home By Owner In Tampa
1. Check Out The Competition
Go to websites such as zillow.com, realtor.com, trulia.com etc. and see how the other houses are staged, what condition they're in, where they're located, and pay attention to the prices. You may not be able to change your home’s layout or location easily, however you can scope the competition to see if the house is staged, if they installed a new deck, or if they enhanced their landscaping. Once you know what your competition is doing, this gives you a chance to do something to your home that they don't have to gain a slight advantage.
2. Make The Necessary Repairs
Fix what absolutely needs to be fixed. Some of the things that you might need to fix are broken light switches and plugs, leaky faucets, or running toilets - just to name a few.
3. Apply Fresh Coat Of Paint
A fresh coat of paint can make a huge difference in how your home looks. It’s fairly inexpensive and this instantly makes your house look newer.
Make sure you pick one color with a neutral palette. We have personally noticed that pastel colors have a very pleasant and soothing effect to the feel of the house and we love these colors, and so do most homeowners.
4. Declutter Your Home
Now that the house has a fresh coat of paint (if it was needed), let’s try to remove those items around the house that may turn off potential buyers. Make it easy for them to picture what the house would look like were they to buy it. Therefore, remove personal pictures, personal items, and art. Make the house look simple and elegant, but still showing off its unique features.
5. Stage Your Home
Your home is now inspected, you know what condition your home is in, and you fixed what needed to be fixed. Your home looks great, and it is now in either sellable condition (good enough for people actually to be interested) or in great condition (if you went that extra mile to get as much as possible for your house… now what!? Learn how to stage your home for a quick sale! That’s what!
Now you dress up your house and present it to buyers! You’d be surprised how easy staging can be.
If you're living in the home you're trying to sell, then you most likely have plenty of furniture. Try not to use old, ripped, or faded furniture as staging material. If you're very serious about getting your home sold as quickly as possible, consider renting a storage unit and put your old furniture away temporarily and hire a stager to give your home’s interior a facelift. A good stager will know how to use your home's interior features and bring out the best possible feel of your home to get it sold fast.
6. Determine The Price For Your Home
You’ll be surprised how many FSBO (For Sale By Owner) have no idea what their house is worth - accurately! Sentimental value and personal opinion has nothing to do with this. In order to sell your house fast in Tampa without a realtor, you need to know how much you should expect for your house.
Now that your house has gone through an inspection, you cleaned it up, and fixed some things here and there, you know exactly what condition your house is in and now you can price it.
The way to figure out how much your house is currently worth as-is, is to do a Comparative Market Analysis. A real estate agent can help you with this, but it wouldn’t be fair to them to make them do work on your house for you, when you're not going to list it with them. So either do the analysis yourself, or give an agent a little something for their research. We have written a comprehensive step by step on how to get the market value of your house. Read it, learn it, master it, and get your house sold reliably! We highly recommend you do 2 sets of analysis. First do a CMA to determine what the current as is value of your house is, and secondly, do a CMA to determine how much the market value would be of your home as if it was completely updated and fixed up.
You get these numbers the exact same way. To find the current as-is value, you simply pick comparisons that are similar to the current condition of your home and to find the after repaired condition of your home you just chose comparisons that have similar characteristics of your home (same location, same features) but the home is simply fixed, renovated, or upgraded. Now you have a very clear understanding of the potential of the home and why your buyers may like the home and this gives you ammunition for negotiating!
7. Take Awesome Pictures
You might be tempted to take the pictures yourself to save money, but you should strongly consider hiring a professional real estate photographer.
This can make a huge difference in showcasing your home to potential buyers.
8. List Your Home
Now that you know what your house is worth, now we can price it competitively. Is your roof leaking? Is the driveway is full of potholes? Does the kitchen need to be upgraded? That’s fine, just price it accordingly. Give the buyers a credit to fix these issues if you do not have the money to fix it yourself. The biggest mistake homeowners make when selling their house is thinking that their house is somehow special and worth more than the current market value of their house. Price it to sell!
9. Keep The House Clean
Keep your house presentable at all times. This may actually be the most difficult task to do, especially if you have kids or pets. You may need to show off your house at a moment’s notice, when a buyer just drives by your house and sees the “For Sale” sign and decides to stop by right then or there. Of course, you can always say “only by appointment” but you risk the interested buyer to drive off and then see another for sale sign down the street and they let him in and they fall in love with the house and you lost your opportunity to get an offer. Remember, always try to do something extra that your competition is not doing. This can help you sell your home faster.
The Pros and Cons Of Selling A Home By Owner
Pros
The pros of selling a home by owner:
- You pay less commission so you keep more profit
- More control over both your listing and your showing times
- More personal interactions with potential buyers
Cons
The cons of selling a home by owner:
- More work and time involved
- Less access to marketing channels and real estate info
- Learning curve due to inexperience in the industry
Consider Selling Directly To Local Home Buyer
If you want to avoid paying commissions, fees, and closing costs, you can sell your house directly to a local home buyer like us.
We pay fair prices for properties in Tampa and we can close in as little as 7 days. If you need to sell your house fast, for any reason, we can help. Get in touch with us today!
You can call us at (813) 461-5999 or click here and fill-out our form to get a FREE, no-obligation offer!