For Sale By Owner Homes / Mortgage Blog

For Sale By Owner Marketing Tactics 101


One of the most challenging aspects of selling a For Sale by Owner (FSBO) home is attracting qualified and interested buyers. There are several real estate marketing opportunities that should be considered.

First you need to spruce up your home, fix what is broken, tidy up the gardens, cut down dead or overwhelming vegetation. Put yourself in the position of the buyer, it’s difficult to be objective, but it’s a good mindset to start with. You also need to ensure that the price you have set for your FSBO home is fair and compares with real estate sold in your area that is similar to yours. You can usually engage a local realtor to provide a free estimate (they do it as a favor in hope that you don’t sell your home yourself and list with them later) or have a hire and pay to have a professional appraisal done. A professional real estate lawn sign is the next essential – a shocking 18% of all successful home sales are initiated by a real estate lawn sign. From there you should consider “creative” classified advertising in local papers.

Additionally, although it is more expensive, you may want to consider “Display Advertising” in your local paper. It is becoming more and more important to advertise your FSBO home on the internet - today’s prospective home buyers demand it. Online real estate listings are an integral part of any successful FSBO real estate sale – again 70% of all home purchasers start there search on the internet. Furthermore, internet advertising allows you to display full color pictures and lengthy descriptions that you could never justify the expense of in classified or display advertising. Another consideration is a For Sale by Owner – “Open House”. There are compelling arguments for both sides regarding the advantage of Open Houses. Many argue that they are a waste of time and are primarily an opportunity for the real estate agent to gather sales leads (people looking to buy a home, just not yours). Others contend that you can’t sell a home without the prospective home buyer having the opportunity to view it.

Another consideration is Flat Rate MLS listing. MLS is a very valuable marketing venue; it exposes your FSBO home to literally thousands of REALTORS ® nationwide that may have a buyer looking for exactly what your FSBO home offers. It also provides very valuable marketing exposure on Realtor.com which enjoys 7 million visitors/month. Flat Rate MLS cost is in the $399 - $599 range, depending on state and coverage. In this situation you agree to pay the selling agent their regular real estate commission (usually 2.5 – 3.0%) – you still save significant real estate commission fees and may facilitate a quicker FSBO home sale. You maintain the right to sell your home yourself without paying a realtor sales commission so in effect it is the best of both worlds.

As many sales people can attest to - nothing sells itself – that includes your home. It is shortsighted to think you can save 100% of a typical real estate sales commission. That said, count on spending at least 1% to effectively market your FSBO home – if your home is at the national average ($238,000) that amounts to $2,000+ but leaves a 5% savings or $11,000 - which is still a significant savings!


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