The 4 Methods For Selling Your House

There are several methods for selling your top Maine architects,The 4 Methods For Selling Your House Articles with advantages and disadvantages to each. How fast you will sell your house is dependent on how many other houses are on the market; the current desirability of your neighborhood; the price you are advertising compared to the others on the market; and how your house compares in size, condition, and amenities to the other houses on the market.

There are four methods you can use to sell your house. The first is to employ the services of a real estate agent. They are trained professionals who will assist you in finding a buyer, and will help you with various steps along the way. They charge a commission based on a percentage (usually between 5 – 7 percent) of the sales price.

You can also go for the For Sale By Owner (FSBO) route and save the commissions that are charged. When you choose this method, you do the marketing and advertising of your home to find a buyer. You are in control throughout the whole process. It will be up to you to handle the incoming phone calls; schedule the showings; sell the house; negotiate the terms of your agreement; and complete a Purchase and Sales Agreement.

A variation of the FSBO is to use a flat fee listing company like BuyOwner.com which will charge you a flat rate fee to help you market your house to find a buyer. They provide marketing tools and some training on how to locate a buyer and negotiate a deal. The difference between them and a real estate agent is that they show you what to do, and you do it. The agent, on the other hand, handles everything for you.

The final method is to sell directly to a real estate investor. These are individuals in your community who are looking to buy homes on a regular basis. You contact them, tell them about your house; and if they are interested, they will make an offer to purchase your home very quickly.

Each of these methods has advantages and disadvantages to you based on how much you want to pocket yourself from the sale, how much work you want to do yourself, your knowledge of the home selling process, how quickly you need to sell, and the current condition of your home. No one can make this decision for you. It is a personal decision. You have to think about what you need and want at this point in your life and make the best decision for you. The difference is what you want from the whole experience. With that in mind, let us explore the advantages and did advantages of each of these methods so you can make the decision for you based on your current situation.

The biggest advantage of using a real estate agent that they handle the marketing and sales process for you, and you only have to pay them if they find a buyer. They will advertise your home in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), which is the service that other realtors review when their clients are looking to buy a house. Your home has immediate exposure to all the buyers agents. A good agent will also look for other ways to market your house. They will do open houses, place ads in homes for sale magazines, and invite agents from other offices to preview your home. And since they provide a lockbox on your door, you do not have to be home for agents to be able to show your house. When an offer comes in, they will help you with the negotiations, and they will follow up on all steps required to get you to the closing table.

The disadvantage of using an agent is that you pay a commission on the sale of the house. As I said earlier, this can amount to 5 – 7 percent of the sales price of the house. So on a 100,000 dollars sales price, you would pay them between 5,000 – 7,000 dollars for their services. Since they are not paid unless they sell the house, many agents will not spend any additional money to market your house. They are afraid that they may not sell your house, and so they will never get back the money they spent. My question for agents with that attitude is: If you aren’t sure you can sell my house, why would I want to list with you?

Which leads to another disadvantage: since the agent works off of commission, if your house it not easy to sell, they will often just list it on the MLS, but do little else to promote it in the marketplace. You should also be aware that some agents use a concept of listing as many houses as possible with the idea that some will sell, and some will not. They will make their money of whichever ones sell. That’s fine for them. But if your home is not one of the houses that happens to sell, it could sit on the market for a long time with no one working to locate a buyer.

Finally, real estate agents lock you into a listing contract for a specified period of time which prevents you from selling the house yourself without paying them a commission. This works fine when they quickly bring you a buyer, but if the process is delayed, it can be very frustrating not to be able to take matters into your own hands and locate a buyer yourself.

Selling Your House Yourself

If you decide to go the FSBO (for sale by owner) route, you retain full control of the process, and you save the 5 – 7 percent commission. You can invest your money into marketing to advertise your house by running ads in the paper or in real estate for sale magazines. You decide who enters your home, and when.

The challenge of FSBO is being able to get the information about your house sale in front of enough people quickly to get it sold. Also, everything is left up to you. You will also need to be available to show the house, negotiate the terms of the sale, and complete a Purchase and Sales Agreement with your Buyer. Be sure to consistently follow-up on the status of their loan application so you have no surprises and no delays before closing.

Flat Fee Listing Services

Flat Fee Listing Services such as BuyOwner.com offer that half way point between the real estate agent and selling the house yourself. They offer some marketing for you, show you ways to market your property, and show you how to walk through the negotiating and contract phase with your potential buyers.

The down side is that there is an up-front cost associated with this service, and no guarantee that you will find a buyer. After going this route, you may still find that you need to contract a real estate agent, which means that you will pay for both this service and the agents services.