By admin1
Step 4: Price your home competitively
When selling a house by owner, you need to set the right asking price for your home. If you price it too high, your property is likely to sit on the market longer than necessary. If you price it too low, you could significantly undersell your home.
“We had a condo where everyone was telling the homeowners that they could sell for $375,000,” shares Scott McAllister, a top Florida agent with 29 years of experience. After more research, McCallister advised the seller to list for more. “We ended up closing for $410,000. That’s money they would’ve left on the table had they listened to their friends and neighbors.”
Home valuation is an especially tricky task in Florida, as the state has many unique variables that influence property value. For example, waterfront properties may garner a price increase compared to similar inland homes. A booming rental market means that tourist locations and vacation-like amenities need to be priced right to attract cash homebuyers and investors.
Start with a free online home value estimate
As a starting point, look at several online estimators for your home’s value. HomeLight’s Home Value Estimator aggregates publicly available data, such as tax records and assessments, your home’s last sale price, and recent sales records for other properties in the same neighborhood as your Florida home.
Gather your comps
Comps are recently sold homes comparable to yours in characteristics, such as size, age, condition, and major features. The most reliable comps are those located as close as possible to the property you’re selling. Since you won’t be able to access the multiple listing service (MLS) data without a real estate license, you’ll need to look at major real estate websites to collect pricing information.
Conduct your own comps analysis
Compare your home’s features against the nearby comps you collected. Hopefully, the houses you studied give an indication of an appropriate price range for your home. From there, you can make dollar adjustments based on characteristics that add value, such as a backyard pool, a boat slip, or a screened-in porch, versus those that detract from it, like a busy street, deferred maintenance, or less square footage.
Get a pre-listing appraisal
A DIY comps analysis is risky if you don’t have a ton of experience making sense of property data. Alternatively, you could get an appraisal before listing your home. An appraiser will combine desk research with an on-site visit to your home to provide a professional and independent opinion of value.
The average cost of an appraisal is $358, but getting one doesn’t mean that a buyer’s lender won’t require a separate and independent appraisal before closing. However, it can reduce some of the stress of pricing your home for sale since appraisers are licensed and trained for this work.
Step 5: Arrange for professional photography
For $110 to $300 per shoot, FSBO sellers can have professional photos included in their listings. A professional photographer will take steps to shoot each room from the best angle, ensure optimal interior and natural lighting, and edit for the ideal brightness and exposure.
A high-quality camera with a wide-angle lens is also essential to showcasing entire rooms rather than half or three-quarters of what’s there. As high-quality images easily grab homebuyers’ attention and highlight your home’s best features, professionally photographed homes can sell faster than houses marketed without high-quality photos.
In addition to professional photography, consider these add-ons to enhance your FSBO listing:
- Drone photography: Getting an aerial view of the property can help buyers see the location and layout. Homes with drone photos tend to sell 68% faster, so using this method will help your FSBO listing compete.
- Video walkthrough: A professionally edited video walkthrough will help attract out-of-town buyers who might not be able to come for an in-person showing.
- Floor plan imaging: Having a 2D or 3D floor plan image allows buyers to see spatial relationships regarding how the home is connected.
Research shows that 51% of buyers find their homes via the internet. That means your home’s visual online presence is important. Even the best cell phone pictures can’t compete with professional images.
