Real Estate NewsTurning the Tables on a Buyers" Market
There are ten houses on your street for sale: they"ve sat for six months and
prices are dropping. Any buyers that look at your home are asking for you to
practically give it away. What are you going to do?
In a buyers" market, there are more homes for sale than buyers. Prices plummet, homes take longer to sell, and those that sell often do so with tremendous concessions made by the sellers.
You"ve got a home to sell. How can you gain the upper hand in a buyers" market?
If you are in a buyers" market and wish to sell your home quickly, do the following:
1. Be sure that you can sell without a loss.
Look at your financial situation, and evaluate where you would go, what
kind of home you would buy if you weren"t in your current home, or if you would
re-buy at all. Conveying your home has to make sound economic sense. See if an
equity loan would help you make your home more attractive to buyers by allowing
you to make updates. Use an equity loan to consolidate your debt in the
meanwhile so that you can reduce your monthly outgo while waiting for the home
to sell. Reserve monies to make repairs that an inspection may reveal. Talk to
a Realtor and ask his/her help in evaluating your goals and economic situation.
The Realtor will know in which updates buyers are the most interested.
2. Be prepared to sell by putting your home in the best condition possible.
Improve the cosmetics and fix all obviously needed repairs. Get your home
inspected so that you can decide what repairs will need to be made and which to
discount off the selling price. Being up front with buyers about the condition
of your home will actually put you and your home at an advantage. Buyers will
wonder what they are not being told about the other homes on the market and
will appreciate that you have a report to show them, especially when the
findings are confirmed by their own inspector. You can explain what you have
fixed or are planning to fix. (Editor"s note: Even if a seller has an
inspection performed, buyers should always have their inspection done.)
3. Because there are fewer buyers, it is imperative that you play the
numbers in your favor.
Market your home through a REALTOR®. Unless you have all the time in the world, marketing a home yourself can turn out to be an unpleasant, thankless experience. It is a full-time job. You will have to become an instant expert in marketing, advertising, communications, diplomacy, negotiations, and law.
As a FSBO, you will be limiting the number of buyers who will see your home
- not smart in an already buyer-poor selling environment. You are only one
person, and one who most likely has another full time job. You won"t be there
to answer calls, market the home in newspapers and on the Internet, obtain
financing information, show the home, search for more buyer prospects, and the
hundreds of other jobs a REALTOR can do for you. If you have a REALTOR,
you have the members of an entire MLS organization trying to find a buyer for
your home and networking with other MLS organizations from around the country
and the world to sell your home.
Since FSBO buyers are interested in saving money, they will expect you to do
the jobs of a REALTOR, too. You will find yourself spending time arranging the
settlement for their benefit: finding them financing, showing the home to them
and their relatives and friends repeatedly, and helping them negotiate the sale
of the home in their favor!
4. Even if you hire a Realtor, you can pitch in with marketing
efforts.
Insist that your Realtor list your home with every home search site
possible on the Internet. Ask the Realtor to tell you with which sites their
MLS organizations have agreements. Most will have agreements to run listings on
Realtor.com, but there are numerous other
home search sites that may accept your agent"s MLS listings, including HomeAdvisor, HomeSeekers, HomeScout, CyberHomes to
name just a few. Some of these companies may accept listings from agents in
territories where they do not have an agreement with the local MLS. For
example, Northwest MLS, the MLS organization for Seattle and surrounding areas
does not list homes with any on-line organization. As one of the top ten
relocation destinations in the country, Seattle area homes are at a premium for
all home search sites.
Also check out the free classifieds on most of the search engines such as Yahoo! and classified ad companies such as Classifieds2000. They are also free.
Most on-line FSBO organizations, such as ForSaleByOwner.com will allow you to
list your home even if you are represented by a Realtor. Although their traffic
is not to be compared with the MLS associated sites, they still draw a
significant number of seekers. You will have to remember that the buyer who is
interested in FSBO sites is typically a bargain hunter. To get this buyer to
act, you will have to attract them with price.