Can you recall a few years ago you thought the housing boom of the time was going to help you retire early? Your property value was going up in price month after month and the equity in your home was a nice tidy sum. Fast forward a couple of years on and everything seems so very different. Nowadays, you are looking at ways of saving money rather than making money from your home. I believe this is why you are considering trying to sell your house yourself.
Recent studies have shown that nearly 1 in 7 house sales are "for sale by owner". In my honest opinion, this may be directly related to savings that can be made from not having to pay agent's fees. If you consider that you will need to give up approximately 7% of your sale price, this could well spur you in to selling your house yourself.
Your main concerns will most likely be, how much you should price your property for and where to advertise it! One option you have for pricing - firstly check out zillow.com on the internet.
This is a site for everyone involved in a real estate transaction. Whether you are looking to buy or sell, check the value of your property and as a professional you can also list properties for sale. You should use zillow for a comparative value for your home in order to decide on the best price.Many people do actually use real estate agents just for the pricing of their property. You can ask for a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) to get an approximate valuation. This should set you back in the region of around $400, but well worth it. Additionally you can also ask a professional property appraiser to value your home. This can cost much more depending on how detailed you wish the inspection to be.
As for advertising, once again you can approach zillow. Another great website is Craigslist.com. Craiglist is a website mainly used for classified ads, however, they receive literally millions of visitors every month. When selling your house yourself, if the cost of advertising is an issue, rather than putting ads in newspapers and magazine, see if they have online advertising space as well. A magazine will usually charge a fairly hefty fee for advertising on their pages, however, many offer free online advertising.
If you really want to sell your house yourself without the aid of a realtor, i would always suggest that you research the process thoroughly. Price and advertising are just 2 small cogs in the wheel, but the two sites mentioned above can help provide a lot of useful information along the way!
Selling Your House Yourself - Strategies For Pricing and Advertising Your Home Without a Realtor!