Everything A Real Estate Agent Doesn't Want A Self-Seller To Know
Jim Hart

One of the biggest mistakes people make when selling for sale by owner (FSBO) is underestimating the home selling process.  Everybody knows how the FSBO game gets played: You sign up with a FSBO magazine, you submit a photo of your home, they run your ad in their magazine, give you a yard sign and away you go with whatever ideas you have to self-sell.  And for many that’s where the fun stops and the problems begin.  Why?  Because selling a home is a marketing problem coupled with fundamental technical problems many self-sellers never consider.  Can you sell your own home?  The short answer is yes. However it is a good idea to wrap your mind around a few issues before leaping into self-selling.  A home is just a product and there are many competing products for sale on the market all the time.  Most homes that are for sale tend to be listed with real estate companies who have name recognition, market share, large advertising budgets, business relationships with mortgage lenders and trained agents to represent those homes, hold open houses, and finagle with prospects. Agents have some level of experience dealing with people, overcoming objections, selling and closing the deal. These are important marketing assets and resources most self-sellers lack.

Remember a home is just a product and every product launch must be rolled out with a marketing plan that includes advertising, promotion and sales representation. There are many different and cost effective ways for self-sellers to roll out their home for sale but a detailed explanation of that topic is outside the scope of this article.  What is important to understand is that, as a home seller you cannot stand alone on an island and think you can do it all yourself.  And here is just one example of where you are going to need help.

1. Who is going to pre-qualify your buyer before you enter into a purchase contract with them?

As a self-seller this is one of the biggest “technical problems” mentioned earlier.  Why? Because it makes no sense to enter into a purchase offer with unqualified buyers and unless you are a loan officer or have relationships with a couple loan officers or know how to pre-qualify people according to mortgage lending standards, you are accepting offers from people blindly.  Accepting offers from people blindly is risky business which can tie up your property for a long time waiting to find out that your buyer is a financial dud.  So what do you do?  The answer is simple—talk to a few mortgage lenders in your area and develop a relationship with them to pre-qualify your buyers BEFORE you enter into legally binding contracts with them.  You need loan officers from 2-3 mortgage companies and maybe a banker or two.  Loan officers who work for mortgage companies will be more inclined to help you deal with buyers because that helps them develop a relationship with the buyer/borrower which increases the probability they will get to finance the home loan.  Why is this important?  Because mortgage loan officers are on a commission and they eat when they close loans.  So mortgage loan officers will be enthusiastic about qualifying your potential home buyers.   The reason you want a bank or two to be available is for your more upscale buyers who prefer to get a home loan at a bank rather than a mortgage company although there is really little difference today. Many times loan officers are willing to meet your prospective home buyer at their office, at your home or at the buyers place of residence.  And when you are selling a home the more service you can offer your prospect the better.

This bit of insight is just one little glimpse into the information you will find in our real estate kit called “Everything A Real Estate Agent Doesn’t Want A Home Seller To Know.”  The kit is very cool because it teaches you how to set up a mastermind group to help you sell your home for free. It gives you the complete marketing plan to effectively roll out your home for sale by owner with all the forms you will ever need to sell, sell, and sell.  And, if you so choose, it shows you how to list your home with a real estate company in the most intelligent manner so that you dominate the home selling process, reduce commissions, reduce selling time and save money. It’s the smartest investment a homeowner can make and it is available at our website.

Copyright © 2006
James W. Hart, IV
All Rights reserved

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