Every day thousands of home owners sell their own home and bypass the entire Realtor System, saving them thousands of dollars in commissions and allowing them to sell at a more competitive price. It's not a secret that "For Sale By Owner" (FSBO) homes are more attractive to potential buyers because the buyers believe they can save money by not using an agent and buying direct from the home seller. The St. Louis real estate market is no different than the rest of the country, and while the MLS is still involved in most home sales in St. Louis, there are a growing number of sellers succeeding as a "FSBO" (For Sale By Owner) and walking away with more money in their pockets.
If you would like to sell your home FSBO (For Sale By Owner) in St. Louis, I have a few tips for you. These tips will not only make you more effective, but will also save you time and money. I have sold many St. Louis homes on the MLS, but I have helped hundreds of sellers sell their home For Sale By Owner in St. Louis without the use of the MLS as well. Whichever For Sale by Owner route you choose to take these three tips can help you too.
St. Louis For Sale By Owner Tip #1
Do not to hold open houses. I repeat, DO NOT DO OPEN HOUSES. Out of the hundreds of homes I have helped owners sell, not one was sold through an open house. The open house is prehistoric relic of the real estate world of yesteryear. In days of ole' buyers with agents had to flip through a listing book published weekly, pick out their properties, call the listing agent (who didn't have a cell phone), the listing agent would have to contact the owners (who didn't have an answering machine) to schedule the appointment, and call the buyer's agent back (who didn't have a cell phone). After this tedious process, the buyer's agent would have to go to the listing agent's office to retrieve a key to the home, meet the buyer at the property and conduct a showing. This painful process made the "Sunday Open House" a necessity. Agents and buyers could spend all day Sunday popping from one house to the next with ease. Now we have cell phones, voicemail, electronic key boxes, e-mail and an online MLS system we no longer need open houses. If a buyer wanted to see your home, they would call right now to schedule a showing. Trust me, they are not going to wait until Sunday.
St. Louis For Sale By Owner Tip #2
You will put your house up for sale in this tough market and begin by spitting in the face of any agent who calls you with a buyer. Good for you, for the most part agents are scum, but after a few weeks you may consider paying 2 or 3 percent to an agent if they could just find you a buyer. I can tell you this, the agent will not "find" you a buyer, and I can promise you this, there is an agent is St. Louis right now that is working with a buyer the will buy your home. I promise you. Agents don't find buyers, agents find homes. An agent will not find your home if you spit in their faces. Seriously, even if you are not spitting in agent's faces, but enough FSBOs have that they won't won't to show your home. The little red sign from Home Depot in your yard lets them know you are a spitter. Put your home on the St. Louis MLS as soon as you hit the market. It will cost you between $99 and $600 to list your home on the MLS with a St. Louis Flat Fee MLS Listing but it's worth every penny and more. Just offer 2.7% to a buyer's agent and then continue to try to find a buyer without an agent so you won't have to pay any commission. Consider it a race between you and the agents to sell your home. The winner of this race gets 2.7%. The money is either going to you or the agents. Guess who usually wins? Just do it and thank me later.
St. Louis For Sale By Owner Tip #3
This one is common sense, yet no for sale by owners seem to do it correctly. Come close because I'm about to let you in on a real estate insider secret. Price your home correctly. I know you are shocked and amazed, but hear me out. I realize it is very tempting to try and make an extra 10, 20, or even 100 thousand dollars, and I also realize you don't want to leave money on the table, but if you listen to one thing I say, listen to this. Pricing your home incorrectly is detrimental to your success. Your probably thinking to yourself, "It can't hurt to try a high price first and then lower it if I have no bites", but you are so wrong. Many people think of buyers like fish and if your bait is too big for the fish to bite on you can always try smaller bait later. The problem with this thinking is that these fish will only look at the bait once. They are not going to wait for you to come to your senses. Going with the same analogy, these fish will turn around and bite the smallest bait they can find. When you put your house on the market you are dropping it into a pool of buyers. If you turn these buyers off with your wishful thinking, there will not be very many "new fish" coming in the near future. Price your home correctly before dropping it into the market. This is crucial, do it, enough said.
I hope I haven't offended you by calling you a spitting FSBO, but in my defense I did also called agents scum. My only hope is that you listen to what I say, even just a little, so you can increase your chances of selling your home and saving thousands.
If you need more help you can always reach me at the home of St. Louis For Sale by Owners and St. Louis Flat Fee MLS listings. Just go to http://www.soldbyme.com and ask for Greg.
