An Easy Way to Make More Money Selling Your Home

Welcome back! We hope your week has been wonderful; it's been another great one for The Murphy Team as we are getting busier and busier with a new listing, appointments with brand new clients, and buyers! 

A few of the appointments are working with For Sale By Owner sellers. These are some of our favorite people to work with because they are typically very knowledgeable about their finances and wants/needs, plus they have done some research about selling their home so we always have lively conversations about the direction they want to go. We have a fantastic FSBO program to help these sellers with, and we are very supportive when they want to get started and try to sell on their own. Something we have discovered in the past couple years is that it's tough for these sellers, and they often end up requesting a listing appointment after some time.

Selling a home by owner requires not only time and marketing knowledge,  but money. Regardless of how one sells, there are costs such as freshening the home, cleaning, repairs based on inspection, closing costs, and the actual cost of moving. A real estate attorney is necessary as well in a FSBO transaction to ensure all documents have been filled out and filed properly.

With real estate commissions traditionally running around 6-7%, is it any wonder many people try to sell on their own to save up to $10,000 on a $180,000 home? (Technically sellers would only save about $5,000 because no agent is going to show the home without a buyer's agent commission of around 3%, so keep that in mind as well.)

Let us ask you this -- would you rather save $10,000 or make $25,000?

We ask because a lot of homeowners who sell themselves undervalue their home and neighborhood. It takes a professional agent to put together a complete market profile and evaluate the home. In fact, just this week Andrea met with a FSBO who has priced his home over $15,000 under what it should sell for. We want you to make money and get what you deserve from the sale of your home! That's an important facet of our job.

The numbers themselves are powerful. Now let's talk a bit about marketing.

How does a FSBO market? A yard sign.

If you want to sell your house, you have to know where the buyers are and how to reach them. An agent is the way to do  that. We recently saw a National Association of Realtors article that stated 88% of buyers used an agent to purchase a home in 2014. For sellers, an agent is the way to access thousands of potential buyers for the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). 

Here are a few other ways an agent helps sellers:

• Advising on home repairs or updates
• Pricing the home based on the latest market data
• Actively marketing the home to buyers
• Scheduling showings with potential buyers
• Negotiating to get the best price on the home
• Handling all the required paperwork (This is one of the most important. There is a lot of paperwork, including disclosures, contracts, inspections, lender documents, etc. These are legally binding, so you want trained eyes looking at these with you.)

So, while we see the merit in considering selling your house by owner, you're missing out on a lot of assistance, guidance, and opportunity. Would you rather save a little bit of money or make a lot? Find a agent you like and trust, and set up a meeting. The Murphy Team is always here to answer your questions and would be happy to sit down with you anytime!