10 STEPS TO "FOR SALE BY OWNER" SUCCESS

Step One:  Pricing Strategy

Determine the best competitive asking price for your home. Sellect Realty will provide a Comparative Market Analysis (upon request, free of charge), which compares your home with the sales prices of recently sold homes and homes currently on the market with similar features to your home in your area, as a guide to determine your listing price.  Consider getting an appraisal.

Step Two: Marketing Strategy

Listing your home on the FMLS and Georgia MLS to expose your home to thousands of real estate agents and potential buyers searching on hundreds of public versions of the MLS database on the Internet.  Advertise through For Sale yard signage, flyers in brochure box, holding open houses, and other supplemental advertising to target markets.

Step Three:  Write Your Ad in Public Remarks of Your Listing

You will be provided a Data Input Sheet in order for Sellect Realty to create your listing on the FMLS and Georgia MLS.  In the Public Remarks section, you will have the opportunity to write the highlights about your property.  Some good wording are:  Fresh paint, well maintained, new carpet, level private backyard, quiet neighborhood, light and bright rooms, etc.

Step Four: Getting Your Home Ready for Showings

How your home looks will have an impact with home buyers’ first impressions and it may affect how soon you could sell your home and whether or not you could get a fair market value for your property. Click on "Preparing Your Home to Sell" on the Menu on how to make your home most appealing.

Step Five:  Showing Your Home

For showings by agents, instruct agents to give you a "Courtesy Call" (your phone number will be printed on your FMLS and Georgia MLS listing and they will call you directly).  Agents usually call one day before showing (if they do not provide a time frame of their visit or you need to know, you can ask them). Most agents do not like by Appointment Only since it is hard to schedule one home at a specific time when they usually show numerous homes in a day.

Buyers with no agents will contact you directly to arrange a time with you to tour your home.

Step Six: Offer

An offer to purchase your home will come directly to you.  If a buyer is represented by an agent, the offer will be prepared by the agent on a Purchase and Sale Agreement form and presented to you.  For an offer from a buyer not working with an agent, the buyer may or may not have a formal sales agreement form.  All Georgia Association of Realtors approved contract forms are available to you, free of charge, from Sellect Realty.

Step Seven: Negotiating the Offer

You will negotiate the offer yourself.  Some of the items that you may need to negotiate are the sales price, closing costs, repair items, and any contingency items. Before signing a contract, Sellect Realty recommends that you consult a real estate attorney.

Step Eight: Home Inspection Items

If you have negotiated to make any repairs to your property, find the vendors that you will need.  Prior to the closing date, a walk-through by the agent or the buyer will be set up to confirm that the repairs have been made.

Step Nine: Pre-Closing Preparation

The closing attorney’s office will send a Seller’s Pre-Closing Information form in preparation for the closing for you to complete. This form enables the closing attorney’s office to obtain your loan payoff amount and other pertinent information. Follow up with the closing attorney’s office to check if the closing is proceeding as scheduled and receive your Settlement Statement as soon as possible to review.

Step Ten: Closing

Contact the closing attorney's office and ask what you should take to the closing (i.e. Photo ID, an executed Contract, receipt for repairs, etc.).