How to Sell Your Home Without an Estate Agent?

  • 4 years   ago

While most people work with an estate agent to sell their house, this is not something you have to do.  It is possible to sell your home without an estate agent, but you need to take the right steps to achieve this.  These steps will ensure you cover everything in the sales process that an agent would do. 

Set A Price

One of the most important steps in selling your home is setting the price.  As you are not working with an agent, you will have to work out what a realistic asking price is.  A lot of people who sell their homes themselves will get valuations from estate agents, but some people feel bad about contacting the agents when they have no intention of hiring them. 

If you are one of the latter, you can use some online tools to help you set your price.  Property websites often have search facilities where you can find the average asking price for houses in your area.  You can use this as a starting point and then look at houses like your own.  It is best to compare prices from the last couple of months to ensure you understand the current real estate market. 

Take Pictures

Property listings that have pictures are more likely to be looked at than those that do not.  Therefore, you must take pictures of your home.  However, the quick pictures that you take on your phone are not going to help because you are competing with thousands of listings and listing by real estate agents.  

If you want to have photos that draw potential buyers in, you should consider hiring a professional.  While this is an expense you might not want, the results you get will be worthwhile.  There are professional photographers who specialize in property photos and you need to work with. 

If you cannot afford a professional photographer, you need to have a good camera.  Your phone will not work, and you should also look at getting a wide-angled lens and tripod.  Wide-angled lenses will offer the large photos that increase the size of the room and the tripod will keep the camera steady. 

When you take the pictures, you need to focus on the main items in the room.  When taking a picture of your living room, you should focus on the standout feature such as the fireplace.  There are a lot of pictures online that can give you some inspiration if you need it. 

Create A Floorplan

You should not underestimate the impact a floorplan can have on your listing.  More and more potential buyers want floorplans before they look at properties to get a better idea of the layout.  This will help them determine whether they want to view the house saving you and them some time.  

There are online tools you can use to create your floorplan.  However, you will need to take measurements yourself in many cases.  There are some tools that will use your pictures to create the floorplan and will calculate the measurements for you.

Advertise the Property

One of the hardest parts of selling your house without an agent is listing it.  The most popular property sites that you might head to when buying generally do not accept listings from private sellers.  If you want to list your property on these websites, you will need to pay an online agent to get access. 

Fortunately, there are some websites that accept private listings.  There are some websites that only list property sold by the owner and will not accept any listings from agents.  Most of these websites will charge a fee to list your property.  There are some websites that list your property for free, but the listing will be limited. 

You can also look at other methods of advertising such as social media.  There are Facebook groups that you can use to list your house.  If you have a following on Twitter or other social media platforms, you can list your home there as well. 

Arrange the Viewings

When you work with an agent, they will handle the viewings for you.  However, as a private seller, you will need to take care of this.  To ensure a sale, you need to be flexible with your viewings and accept them as they come.  Many buyers will consider that you are selling the house and will not ask for viewing times during business hours. 

Selling your property without an estate agent is possible, but it does take some work.  You will have to take the pictures for the listing and write a description of the property.  You also must find websites to list the house as popular websites will generally only take listings from agents.  Viewings will also need to be arranged and you will have to walk potential buyers through your home.

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