Finance Gourmet » Realtors

Selling Your Own Home – Day 9

Finance Gourmet — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:08:00 +0000

It’s Monday and no showings. That is to be expected. Most [tag]realtors[/tag] end up working both Saturday and Sunday so they take Monday off which isn’t a very popular day with clients for showings.

Let’s talk about the [tag]sign[/tag] in your yard.

When you list your own home with the help of one of the [tag]For Sale By Owner[/tag] companies, they’ll probably offer you a [tag]yard sign[/tag]. If it comes free with the package I wouldn’t say no. If not, you have to buy one and it is probably pretty expensive. You can usually buy one cheaper at the hardward store. You’ve seen them before, red and white, they say “For Sale Buy Owner” in big letters.

I don’t like it. Here is the deal. For a lot of people out there for sale by owner means cheap. Cheap means low quality. That isn’t true, believe me I know, but perception is reality especially when you want someone to buy your [tag]home[/tag]. Instead of broadcasting to everyone that you are doing a for sale by owner, make your own [tag]sign[/tag].

Get the standard 18×24 sign. It is the internationally recognized size and shape for a [tag]real estate[/tag] sign. Without reading a word, people will know your house is for sale. Different dimensions or shpe might stand out, but then people won’t know if you are selling your house or running a dog grooming business from far away.

There are a number of outfits on the Internet that will custom make real estate signs for you. Keep an eye on the site though for minimum quantities. These sites usually sell signs to [tag]real estate agents[/tag] who probably need five or six of them, so you’ll be the exception to rule. Make sure they will sell you just one without a huge price markup. Also, beware of the “Starting From” price. That is probably for a one-sided, no color sign, with no graphics. Build your whole sign using their online tool and THEN look at the price.

The other option is to have it made locally. Especially when you take shipping into account it is about the same price. Here is what you need.

First, don’t bother getting a metal sign. You don’t need it to last ten years. Hopefully you only need it to last a few months. Get what is called plastic cardboard. It is basically plastic made up like corrigated cardboard (like the side of a box). It looks just fine and it will hold up for as long as you need it. Usually you can pick from several colors. The guy at FedEx [tag]Kinkos[/tag] where we had our sign made recommended black on yellow for best visibility in an outdoor yard sign. Make sure this makes sense for you. Walk out in front of your house and look from all the angles you want people to see your sign. Walk out into the street and imagine someone looking from their car. What is the background? Will yellow stand out or do you need something else. Keep in mind the whole point of making your own sign is to not look cheap and tacky, so avoid colors that scream, “I’m stuck in the 70s!” I would also avoid red on white which has become the standard “By Owner” color scheme. After all, not being associated with that crowd is the point of making your own sign.

The second thing you need to decide is one-sided or two-sided. Basically if you are going to put your sign parallel to the street in front of your house you only need one side. If you are going to put your sign perpendicular to the street so that people driving by can see it, then you’ll need two-sided (so people can see it no matter which way they are driving.) Again, walk into the street. On my street the trees and our landscaping means that no one will see our sign when driving by except for one second. So we got a one-sided sign. Don’t worry about whether or not people have enough time to read it as they drive by. People know what a sign in the yard means. If they are interested they’ll slow down or come back.

Now, what to put on your sign. Keep it simple. This isn’t a brochure. Ours ended up just saying:

House For Sale
Phone Number
Special Feature

You can list ONE (max of 2) special features on your sign if you think it matters to the person passing by. For our house we put the name of the highly rated local elementary school on the sign because that is a big selling point here. You could put “Backyard Pool” or “Private Park” or “Backs to Open Space” or whatever. Again, avoid “4 Bedrooms, 5 baths, 2 Car Garage” You can attach a brochure to your sign. Also, I wouldn’t really bother with a web site unless the address is very short and easy to remember. If you have family web site and are willing to put info about your house on the home page in a prominent way then ok.

www.ourhouse.com is fine

www.realtor.com/denver/streets/weasel/3823023.html is not.

We had our sign made at FedEx Kinkos after checking a bunch of websites and it ended up being the same price. Plus, we didn’t have to wait for it to be shipped. You can try other places like [tag]OfficeMax[/tag] or [tag]Office Depot[/tag].

[tag]Home Depot[/tag] sales the stand for your sign for like $20. Just buy it. We started looking at making our own. $3 each for two metal legs, $4 for a cross-support, $3 for a can of spray paint…you are getting close to $20 anyway and it won’t look as nice. Take a nail and make a starter hole through your sign and the screws will go right through and hold it up nice. Just past finger-tight is fine. You don’t want to crack your sign. Grab yourself one of those plastic carrying folders with the fold-over top from wherever you get your office supplies. Clear is best. Again, run a screw through inside the envelope (make sure you can still open it) and attach it to your sign. You can put flyers or brochures in there. You want a clear one because the brochures are always out on real estate signs and with a clear folder people can see that there are some brochures left inside and will make the effort to take one.

There you go, one professional looking sign.

One caution: You are trying to avoid the first impression that a cheap for sale by owner sign makes, but you are NOT trying to trick or lie to anyone. Don’t make up a phony real estate company name or pretend to be a real estate professional. You are just asking for legal trouble.

Selling Your Own Home – Day 9 originally published at Personal Finance Blog - FinanceGourmet.com

Selling Your Own Home – Day 8

Finance Gourmet — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:07:00 +0000

Sunday and two showings. Not too shabby. Overall, 7 showings for our first weekend on the market. We’ll take it. So far, no one seems shocked at the price which is good. We had to set our price in a bit of a vaccum since no one has sold a house in our neighborhood in a while. Otherwise, everything is pretty normal.

Selling Your Own Home – Day 8 originally published at Personal Finance Blog - FinanceGourmet.com

Selling Our Own Home – Day 7

Finance Gourmet — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 02:35:00 +0000

Saturday and we’ve ended up with 5 showings. Not bad for a first weekend on the market considering how things are going in [tag]real estate[/tag] right now and the fact that it is still early April. Actually we weren’t really looking at selling in April but it was important for us to get out there first to help set the price in our market. Here is how to handle showings when you are [tag]selling your own home[/tag].

When you are selling your own home, you have to handle all of the things your [tag]realtor[/tag] would normally do for you. With a realtor, their number is on the sign and on the [tag]MLS listing[/tag] and they get the phone calls and set the showings based on your instructions. Obviously, without a realtor it is your number on the sign and you get the calls to set the showings.

The first thing you want to do is to use your cell phone number. Although [tag]real estate agents[/tag] try to plan ahead like everyone else, they are working for their clients and if their client doesn’t confirm or get back to them or whatever until the last minute, then the agent is working at the last minute too. You don’t want to miss a showing because you are out walking your dog.

Second, change your cell phone message to something like:

“Hi, you’ve reached Bill Smith. If you are calling about the property at 5555 Main St, the asking price is $600,000 and it is 2000 sq. ft. with 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. If you would like to set a showing or have any questions please leave your name, number, and the day and time you would like to do the showing and I will get back to you as soon as possible.”

Now, when a realtor or their assistant or just someone walking by your sign calls they know, that they have the right number and most importantly that you are the one scheduling the showings. This is important because some realtors don’t schedule their own [tag]showings[/tag]. They have someone in the office do it for them. By letting them know that you are the contact they know that they don’t have to put any more effort into setting up the showing which is important when you have 4 clients each seeing 7 houses on Saturday.

When you get a call, if at all possible, answer it. Don’t let it go to voicemail. A real estate agent might be calling at noon to set five showings between 2:00pm and 3:00pm before meeting with another client. That means if you don’t take the call, you might not get the showing. Don’t worry if there are kids in the background or a lawn mower out front. Remember most realtors work out of their homes, so no one expects you to be in a cubicle somewhere when you answer the phone. This also applies to answering in the grocery store or the mall or whatever. Real estate agents take calls anywhere anytime.

When you answer keep in mind that realtors expect to be calling a receptionist at some real estate office. I started by answering the phone “This is Joe,” which is how my real estate agent answers when I call her. What I didn’t realise is that she doesn’t schedule the showings, so this isn’t how the phone gets answered for that. My method led to a lot of dead air and confusion where realtors would say “Um…I’m sorry (thinking they have the wrong number) … I’m trying to set a showing for 5555 Main St?” Instead, answer your phone with the deliberately vague “Thank you for calling. This is Joe.” That’s enough words to make someone think they’ve called the right office.

You can expect showings to be in blocks of 1 to 2 hours depending on how many houses they are seeing. Thus, a one hour showing means they are seeing fewer houses. If you think you might be there say so. “There should be someone there to let you in.” If you won’t be give the lockbox combination. “Ok, you are set for 3:00pm to 4:00pm on Thursday, the lockbox combination is 9238.”

It is best if you can not be home when the agent and clients show up. The agent will be fine, but some people find it awkward to meet a new person while looking through their house. Put your lockbox on the door with a key. I like to set the combination to something so that I know if they have already been there or not. For example, I set the combo dials to 2233 and then if I come back and the numbers on the lock are 5832 that means someone has put the key back and scrambled the numbers.

If the person setting the showing is not a realtor you might have to guide them through the process a little. Most people don’t know what it takes to see inside a home that is for sale because their realtor has always done it for them in the past. Just walk them through it.

“When would you like to see it?”

If the person does not have a Realtor, then DO NOT leave your house during the showing. Don’t follow them around, but stay near the door. This way you know they aren’t loading your stuff up in a truck. A real estate agent gives you some security because they shouldn’t be letting their clients walk off with your stuff. That said, be smart. Don’t leave out things that are small and valuable. Put your jewlery box in storage somewhere out of site. Same thing for money, watches, or anything else that fits in a pocket. There is no need to hide your stereo, that isn’t likely. For the most part you are worried about someone seeing something and putting it in their pocket.

Don’t worry about scheduling multiple showings at once. If you get the chance to set three showings between 2:00 and 3:00, do it. It happens all the time.

If you have any special instructions, now is the time. Unless you just had your white carpets cleaned try not to make people take off their shoes. It just makes it that much harder to make someone feel at home in your house. Also, it goes without saying that people won’t be smoking or bringing pets into your house, so don’t bother saying anything. If you have a dog or cat, it is best if you can put them away somehow (out back, in the garage, on a walk with you) so that they don’t interfer. If you can’t or won’t be sure to tell the person scheduling the showing that there is a dog and he is friendly. That way, everyone knows what to expect. Also, if there is anything funny, like a strange lock on the backdoor let someone know now.

That’s it. Your showings are scheduled and people can start to see your wonderful house.

Selling Our Own Home – Day 7 originally published at Personal Finance Blog - FinanceGourmet.com

Sell Your Own Home – Day 6

Finance Gourmet — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 07:51:28 +0000

Well, we’re officially on MLS. Whoo-hoo! Frankly, it’s been a bit of kluge, but I guess in the end it all works out. Our very first day we get a call from a realtor to setup a showing. My wife spoke with her and after setting a time for the showing my wife inquired as to whether or not she was a realtor. Generally you don’t stay at your house for showings. It helps the potential buyers see your home as their home if they don’t see the people that currently live there. Also, it keeps you from answering awkward questions. And, if you are very lucky, they may want to spend a lot of time going back and forth and talking about your house if they are very interested in it. However, we aren’t going to leave strangers alone in our house without a realtor. (The realtor is semi-liable and probably wouldn’t allow anything shifty. It isn’t worth the trouble for them.)

Now, this particular real estate agent upon being asked if she was a realtor asked my wife if she was. She said no. At this point the realtor said she needed to "check something" and then after a moment said never mind. My wife asked why and the realtor said "because of the commission."

We are selling our home ourselves but we understand that the buyers may not be doing it themselves. So, we were offering 2.0% as a commission. Now, apparently the "normal" commission for the buyer agent is 2.8%. So, this realtor is not even going to show our house to her clients. It doesn’t matter if it would be their perfect house of they would love to make it there home, she won’t show it to them because she won’t get her full pay day. I work in finance and this kind of behavior is a specifically forbidden conflict of interest. I guess real estate agents have looser ethics. And, they wonder why there is a backlash against real estate agents and their commissions. Here is a woman whose paycheck is more important to her than her client’s needs. Keep in mind that we are talking about 0.8% here, so it isn’t like this was a big hit. I guess selfish and self-serving is alive and well in the real estate business. (Just for context, I mentioned this encounter to our usual realtor and she said that it made her sick to her stomach that someone would behave like that, so it isn’t all realtors.)

We scheduled two showings anyway. I guess someone who isn’t this woman’s client will be getting our gem of a house. Maybe it will bite her when her clients see our house and wonder, why didn’t we get to see that one, it looks great.

Sell Your Own Home – Day 6 originally published at Personal Finance Blog - FinanceGourmet.com

Selling Your Own Home – Day 5

Finance Gourmet — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:23:04 +0000

Hello scammers. Well, our house isn’t even on MLS yet, and already the scam punks are coming out of the woodwork. So far, I’ve gotten two emails from two different people who actually already own homes in my city but they live in another city and the market there is bad, so they are wondering if we could work something out. Yeah. You can make an offer, get a mortgage and buy my house. If you meant something else then no.

I’m not sure, but I’m guessing this scam revolves around me getting all excited that someone is interested in my house only to get somewhere down the road where they have some "situation" that requires me to send them $10,000 to help clear up, but not to worry because they’ll give me my asking price plus $10K. Of course, there is no situation, no offer, and my ten-grand disappears.

I also got someone who called and was headed down the road of asking me for some information like my bank account or Social Security before I noticed where she was going and got very cold. Then all of the sudden she "had something to take care of" and she would call me back. Yeah, right.

I wish there was a way I could flag my posting with "Hey, I’m a college educated guy with a lawyer wife who will not be stupid enough to send you money or give you any information other than the asking price and the square footage."

UPDATE: Hey, this one is new. Someone copied a for-sale posting I made on Craigslist and put it in the For Rent section with the same pictures and my address. I never would have noticed, but someone who saw the listing decided to drive by my house, saw the sign and called about it. I notified Craigslist and sent an email to her email provider, but I doubt anything will come of it. Hopefully, no one is stupid enough to give her any info. Needless to say, I’ve deleted my Craigslist posting and won’t be posting again there. I guess it has officially been over-run by vermin. Too bad. I really liked it.

Selling Your Own Home – Day 5 originally published at Personal Finance Blog - FinanceGourmet.com

Selling Your Own Home – Day 4

Finance Gourmet — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 02:15:59 +0000

We got our first showing today. It was someone who lives on our block as a renter and walked by the sign. The wife came without her husband because he has a travel job and won’t be back until next week. Seemed like she really liked it. The nice part is that as someone who already lives here we don’t have to explain anything about the neighborhood or why our house is worth more than one about 8 blocks away where the school boundaries change. How cool would that be if we just sold it right away from someone seeing the sign?

Selling Your Own Home – Day 4 originally published at Personal Finance Blog - FinanceGourmet.com