Sell My House Privately

There is no reason why you absolutely need to use a real estate agent to sell your home. You can go ahead and sell your house ‘privately’ if you prefer. However, you will need to do some research on the steps to take to make that successful.

Selling privately will certainly save you the commission you would need to pay an agent. It will also mean you bare the costs, the time and the energy involved in selling a home.  At this early stage, it is worth considering whether you have the time, energy or negotiating skills to make a good job of it.

There are a few areas of selling a property that you will need to be aware of. You might want to list these down and look into them one by one:  

• The Contract of Sale (private treaty)
• Setting a price
• Advertising
• Negotiating
• Contract Exchange
• Settlement

Each of these points deserves a full page to themselves. However, on this page, we will cover a few of the integral steps involved in successfully ‘advertising’ your home.

Advertising

Of all the ways you can advertise there are a few standard methods that have a good track record.

1. Selling online – you can reach many buyers this way. So many more than you can with your For Sale sign, flyers or Newspaper ads. If the online real estate site is well set up then your property is more likely to be viewed by a multitude of serious buyers wanting a property in your area.

Online property searches are popular because people can search for a specific area and even a specific set of criteria for a house, saving them a lot of time. Most sites that sell advertising to property vendors allow you to key in exactly what you want, such as:

• Post code, suburb or region
• Property type (house, apartment etc)
• Number of bedrooms
• Minimum price
• Maximum price

What this means for someone selling their property is that if a potential buyer contacts you about your online property, they are more likely to be serious about buying because they’ve already done their homework. They know what they want.

To sell in the newspaper, you can take out a couple of black and white lines in the classifieds, or put in a small colour ad. This will take care of property enthusiasts who also like to read the paper. If you are also going to be advertising online, it would be wise to add the address of the website in the ad, so an interested party can get more information and view photos.

2. The For Sale Sign

Ever seen a handwritten sign; maybe one that is advertising a Garage Sale?  You don’t expect to pay much for things at a garage sale and if you use home made signs for real estate people may expect to treat it like a garage sale and pay less.

These days For Sale signs are attractive and informative and this is the market you will be competing in. It will pay to at least look into it.

A quick search for ‘for sale signs’ online should uncover the multitude of companies ready and waiting to help you design and print your sign.

Before the sign can be designed, you will need professional photos of the interior of your house (another reason to get your house in order first!). You will also need to think of what you need the sign to say. You may find a For Sale Sign service that helps you with the wording or you can look for a copywriter. While it seems simple to put together bullet points about your house, it’s the details which may escape you that could mean a wasted effort. For instance, imagine forgetting to put the phone number on – or neglecting to mention you have a pool. It happens!

One way to make sure your sign is worded correctly is to take note of the professional For Sale signs around your area and copy the style of the best of them.

 3. Flyers

You can have thousands of flyers made quite cheaply and if there are plenty of buyers and not many homes to choose from, this may be enough. However, like the For Sale sign, if you are in a competitive market it’s best to make sure you have an attractive and informative flyer.

Remember: Your advertising is all about standing out in the marketplace.