What you need to know before you sell your Milpitas, CA. Home Yourself "For Sale By Owner"

What you need to know before you sell your Milpitas, CA. Home in plain english.

Hi there, if you own a home chances are you might have wondering from time to time what your home might be worth, or maybe you saw your neighbors home for sale or you have seen some news about the current Real Estate Market. So now here you are wanting to know more about selling your home, well good for you at least you're taking the initiative to do some research. I will explain the following 7 most common questions a typical Milpitas, CA. Home Seller might have in plain english

• Can I sell my Milpitas, CA. home myself?

• How can I price my home right and get top dollar?

• Where can I find buyers?

• How do I show the home?

• What's the typical home showing process?

• Do I need to write up a contract?

• The closing process

Can I sell my Milpitas, CA. home myself?

Yes, you can. It is totally legit to want to sell your own home yourself and on a scale from 1-10 with 10 being the most difficult, most sellers that have tried to sell their own home find that selling their home would rate in the 8 to 10 difficulty.

Why? Well, generally what makes it difficult is that if you have never sold a home you don't really know the legalities and you don't know how to screen the buyers or know that you're actually getting the best price for your home. Of course we live in the age of modern technology and there are many apps that might help us with massive resources to do most of the research, but the bottom line is that I can go to a website like Web MD and learn all about many symptoms and how to cure them on my own, but I wouldn't want to perform my own surgery. With that being said, if you are one of those who likes to do things on their own, then this might be right up your alley. But keep this in mind, a typical "For Sale By Owner" end's up selling the home for approx 3-8% below Fair Market Value according to 2013 For Sale By Owner statistics. So to recap, you can sell your home on your own and have a sense of accomplishment, but at the end you might just end up saving a couple thousand dollars while putting a lot of time and effort into selling your Milpitas, CA. Home. Wondering what your home is currently worth?

How Can I price my Home Right and Get Top Dollar?

There might be 3 explanations for this question, In plain english, you have to evaluate, appraise, know the local real estate market trends.

First, for the evaluation, a home inspection can be beneficial to know exactly how your home stacks up to today's home standards. This leads to asking if there is any structural damage to the property? Whether it's visual or hidden, the structural integrity of the home will always affect the value of the home. You can choose to fix or not, but you will have to disclose any known material issues that might affect the property at the time of selling actually selling your Milpitas, CA. Home.

Second is estimating or knowing the current home value of the home, the best way to do that is to get an appraisal done on the home you are considering selling, the average fee for a home appraisal varies depending on the size of the home, in Milpitas, CA. the average home is about 1,200 sq. ft. and the current average fee for that size home is $450-600 depending on the appraisal company conducting the appraisal.

Third is that you have to know where your current real estate market stands, is it an up market? A down market? or A flat market? This is part art and part science. Different neighborhood areas in Milpitas, CA. are affected differently and so are price ranges. Once you have evaluated these 3 factors you can be more confident as to how much your home is actually worth and make the decision to price it right and once you price the home right it will in turn allow you to  - Attract buyers. 

- Allow you to earn the most money possible. - Help you sell as quickly as possible.

One quick word of advise, beware of the bargain hunters that typically will try to only look at "For Sale By Owner" homes due to the fact that they already have the notion that a "For Sale By Owner" is typically trying to save money by not using a local real estate agent.

Wondering what your home is currently worth?  

How Do I Show the Home? or What's the Typical Showing Process.

Plainly speaking, As an independent home seller, you would be responsible for all showings of your home. With that in mind, always encourage prospects to make an appointment, and discourage drop-ins. Work to screen the serious buyers from the lookers. Be ready for the curious or nosy neighbors with similar style home as yours, they're going to want to know how their home stacks up to yours and will detain you by asking many questions without any intention to buy. You should also pre-qualify potential buyers to ensure they can afford to buy your home. The typical showing process is open houses on Saturdays and Sunday and if you advertise the home on the internet, be ready for drop ins even if you specify a specific time. When the time comes to negotiate, you'll need to be prepared and informed. Try to resolve any doubts your buyers might have, work to keep their interest high and make a final agreement as quickly and efficiently as possible. Once an offer is made, agree on the price and terms, respond to objections and try to be responsive and flexible to legitimate concerns.

Where Can I find Buyers?

There are several ways to attract buyers and create quality traffic. You have many options to choose from nowadays, You have the old ways - Sunday morning newspaper advertising, radio, TV, billboards, etc. but now you also have internet, social media, and many "For Sale by Owner" websites, but for most, recent individual home sellers statistics show that most home sellers just feel comfortable with the following;

- Paying for classified ads in the local newspapers. - Holding open houses. - Working to ensure the home gets good word-of-mouth exposure among friends,  neighbors and community organizations.

- Using Zillow

Again one of the most critical parts about selling your home is finding the right buyer that's ready, willing and able to buy the home at the price you want. This takes screening and knowing what to look for in a qualified buyer. You might be able to find them, but qualifying them is a different task on it's own.

 

Do I Need to Write Up the Contract? 

Yes, someone has to and if the buyer doesn't have representation chances they might not know how the home selling or home buying process works. It's always better to let an expert help you with this. Every independent home seller should have an attorney or other qualified individual to preside over all legal real estate agreements. You will also need to manage the sale proceedings and closing process along with setting up the closing date and time. You should be sure to include a list of items you want written in to the contract, including personal property that is to remain with the home (the refrigerator, microwave oven, dishwasher, etc.), or items excluded in the sale. Also, (and this is probably one of the most important and why most sellers get sued) remember that as the seller, you are obligated by law to disclose any material defects in your property to the purchaser. 

 

The Closing Process

This is where the money exchanges and legal action takes precedence, to find out more please visit the following link; http://www.SellMilpitas.com

 

 

Wondering what your home is currently worth?

 

Still considering selling your home one your own?

HERE are some interesting FACTS about selling a home on your own and "For Sale By Owners"  

• FSBOs accounted for 9% of home sales in 2013. The typical FSBO home sold for $184,000 compared to $230,000 for agent-assisted home sales.
• FSBO methods used to market home:
• Yard sign: 36%
• Friends, relatives, or neighbors: 28%
• Online classified advertisements: 16%
• Open house: 14%
• For-sale-by-owner websites: 13%
• Social networking websites (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, etc.): 7%
• Multiple Listing Service (MLS) website: 7%
• Print newspaper advertisement: 7%
• Direct mail (flyers, postcards, etc.): 1%
• Video: 1%
• Other: 2%
• None: Did not actively market home: 32%

  Most difficult tasks for FSBO sellers:  

• Understanding and performing paperwork: 18%
• Getting the right price: 13%
• Preparing/fixing up home for sale: 12%
• Helping buyer obtain financing: 3%
• Attracting potential buyers: 3%
• Selling within the planned length of time: 7%
• Having enough time to devote to all aspects of the sale: 6%

Source: 2013 National Association of REALTORS® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers