For decades, real estate agents have been the “go-to” experts to help people sell their homes. But increasing, many people are choosing to sell their homes themselves.
There are many reasons for this, although many private homesellers point out the fact that they stand to save thousands of dollars that they would normally pay an agent to represent them.
Sell it yourself or get an agent?
This is the big question that home owners need to decide.
If you go with an agent…
An agent will provide you with guidance and advice prior to listing your home, such as:
- How much you should ask
- What changes you should make to the house to make it more sellable
- What your expectations should be in terms of getting people to come through the property and making an offer
The agent will list your home on a listing service and advertise your home in various places.
When you get an offer, the agent will help to negotiate on your behalf and help you as you counter a buyer’s offer.
The listing agent will also help you to fill out all the paperwork so the property sale is legal.
If you sell on your own…
Many people who choose to sell on their own, choose to do so because they believe that they can do it on their own.
If that’s you, here are the steps and strategies you should be aware of:
Sell your house yourself In New Jersey
Step 1. Take a look at your house and figure out who the likely buyer is and what they’ll be looking for when they want to buy your house. If they’re a young, growing family, they’ll want to see bedrooms and a safe playspace in the backyard. Make sure that your house has these! Think about the people who are most likely going to buy your house (based on the your home’s location and any trends you see in the neighborhood) and give your best guess.
Step 2. Make renovations to your home. If you’ve painted your walls a unique color, consider painting them white. Prospective homeowners don’t want to see your current home… they want to see a “blank canvas” of possibilities. Be sure to fix up things that are broken or run down to help your home appear to be well kept. Even a few burnt out light bulbs or light switches that don’t work will signal to the prospective homeowner that the house wasn’t taken care of, and they might get aggressive during negotiations to raise questions about how well the house was maintained.
Step 3. Declutter your house to keep it nice and simple and tidy. Consider renting a storage unit to get rid of most of your belongings. Keep the house simple and neat and only have the basic furnishings. Although this might be temporarily uncomfortable for you, it will help your prospective buyer to visualize their belongings in the same space.
Step 4. Start advertising your home. Advertise it anywhere you can — online, in social media, in print, on community bulletin boards, etc. As people start to contact you, you can show them through your house. Don’t be offended if they don’t like something about your house!
Step 5. When someone makes an offer, review the offer carefully (perhaps with an attorney) and make a counter offer if desired.
Step 6. Complete the paperwork and hand over the keys of the house! This part can be tricky so make sure you work with a reputable title company to help you make the arrangements appropriately.
Follow these six steps to sell your house yourself in New Jersey.
There is a third way…
Not everyone wants to go through the hassle of selling their home with an agent OR by themselves. And other people try selling their home and find out that they can’t for one reason or another. If you don’t want to sell your home through an agent or by yourself, there is another way, and that is to sell it to an investment company that buys properties. We buy homes from homesellers, often very quickly, usually for cash, and usually as-is. Although you might not get as much as you would if you sold the house through an agent or by yourself, you’ll also save yourself a lot of time and hassle and frustration of renovating and showing the house and negotiating (this is the part that lots of sellers hate). Selling to us bypasses all that and we’ll buy your house, give you the money, and you totally skip all the steps in between. It couldn’t be easier!
If you decide that you don’t want to sell your house through an agent or by yourself, contact us at (908) 547-0404 or by filing out the form and we’ll be in touch.