Today’s homeowners no longer have to be tied to the old ways of selling their property. With 90 percent of prospective homebuyers now beginning their real-estate search online, coupled with the advent of so many free and inexpensive online tools and e-marketing websites to advertise and market the sale of a home, there’s simply no need to dish out thousands of dollars in commission to an agent — not when you can do it all yourself.
Many people will avoid selling their own home primarily because of the work that it entails in properly marketing the house and consummating the sale. And they’re correct in that respect: For Sale By Owner (FSBO) is in no way a lazy person’s way to sell a home.
But with the proper research, smart marketing and a little hard work, a homeowner can take charge of one of the most important financial transactions of their life — and greatly increase the odds of seeing a sizeable profit after the closing has been finalized.
We’ve assembled the following list of just a few of the many online tools that are available to homeowners looking to “go solo” when selling their house:
Zillow.com
Features: Easy-to-use free listing service, unlimited photos, alerts sent to home shoppers about your listing.
Why it’s great: Zillow is one of the most popular real-estate websites that consumers visit in order to find a home for sale. They feature thousands of listings in most areas as well as many helpful articles in order to research additional information. This is a great site to assess the value of your home and research your home’s best listing price. When considering an FSBO home sale, this website is a must in order to market to the largest possible audience.
Trulia.com
Features: Free listing service, real-time leads, reports of views on listing.
Why it’s great: Trulia is top-notch and highly rated on the home-searching process for home buyers as well as agents. As noted earlier, with so many people beginning their home-search online, it pays to be on the top search sites. The site’s option to upload multiple pictures can increase the search optimization and make your home more appealing to buyers.
MLSmyhome.com
Features: Services that help FSBO customers get their home on the MLS. The MLS (Multiple Listing Service) is where 80% of all sales are made and it provides access to thousands of searchable listings. Without a real-estate agent, however, you cannot post your listing on an MLS site — but some companies, like this one, will post it to MLS as part of an FSBO selling package.
Why it’s great: Included with an MLS listing for just $199 you get:
- 6 Months on your local MLS in Ohio (OH)
- 6 Photos on MLS
- 4 Photos on Realtor.com listing
- Listing on other major real-estate websites
- Listing on hundreds of individual local agent and broker websites
- Broker listing support throughout the process
- Required state disclosures provided
- You choose the buyer’s broker commission
- No cancellation fees and no commission if you find a buyer
- Buyer phone and email leads forwarded to you.
These features will help push your listing to the top of the pile and get the greatest exposure across multiple Web platforms, all without the high real-estate agent commission fees.
ForSaleByOwner.com
Features: Customizable marketing packages, support from professionals, step-by-step guide to home sales, interactive checklists to keep track of your listing, listing on multiple sites such as Realtor.com, MLS and others that require agent status.
Why it’s great: Similar to the other listing agents, FSBO.com lists your home on multiple sites, provides lead-management tools, and provides information on which marketing options will best help you to sell your home. In addition, this site gives you multiple package options for the amount of marketing that you wish to do with your home. You can decide which package you wish to employ (ranging from $80 monthly to $600 for a full package with various options and features).
However you decide to sell your home, the most important factor is researching all the options available to you. The For Sale By Owner process can be time consuming, but the outcome can prove to be very profitable. If you put the time and effort into selling your home that a project of this caliber deserves, you could save quite a bit of money and reap the benefits in no time at all.
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