The need to do things differently are even greater when you sell own house.  Fortunately, it is often much easier to deviate from the ’standard’ home selling practices when you sell your house on your own because you aren’t constrained by the traditional practices and beliefs of a typical real estate agent. 

So, if you need to sell home, what must you do differently when you want to sell your own house and sell it fast?

Step #1: Prepare YOURSELF – both inside and out – to effectively market and proactively sell your house.  This means:

·  Disconnect yourself from any emotions or hesitations you may have about selling the house. 

Since you are, in effect, your own real estate agent, you must view the sale of this property strictly as a business transaction.  You are only looking for a financially qualified buyer.  The size of their family, their hobbies or habits, their personal hygiene, and their personality – attractive or not – are completely unimportant.  Remember, the first best buyer who you can reach a satisfactory agreement with is exactly who you are looking for!

·   Put yourself in the role of an ‘always available’ salesperson.

You will achieve the best results when you make yourself available to potential buyers at all times.  This means you have to be easily reachable by phone, fax, or e-mail.  You must also make yourself available in person as often as possible.  Since you are the primary sales person for your home, you must also be ultra responsive to any messages you receive by phone, fax, or e-mail.  Especially in today’s very competitive buyer’s market, if you don’t respond quickly, politely, and accurately to any and all potential buyers, those buyers will lose interest very quickly and move on to a different property.

·   Present yourself professionally

Again, as the primary representative for your property, you should always check (a) your state of mind, and (b) the mirror before meeting with a potential buyer.  Like it or not, people are making judgments about us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  If your house makes a great impression, but you do not, it can dramatically affect the way a buyer deals with you throughout the course of the negotiation, inspection, and closing phases of the sale.  Take a few minutes to put yourself in a positive and encouraging frame of mind before meeting with a buyer.  Take an additional few minutes to check your clothing and appearance as well.  People do business with people, so you want to present yourself cleanly and professionally whenever you interact with potential buyers.

·   Assemble your team

If you want the sale of your home to go smoothly from start to finish, you must line up a few key players ahead of time.  At a bare minimum you need to be ready with a well qualified real estate attorney.  Now the fact is you may not need anyone other than your own attorney on your team to complete the transaction, but to effectively market your property and provide the best answers to potential buyers, it is best to have a home inspector, an appraiser, and a good mortgage broker available to you as well.  Why you ask?  Well, independent buyers coming in from out of town may not know anyone in the area and they may ask you for recommendations.  To sell your own house fast you must have these resources available quickly in the event you need them.  The seller who has the names and numbers of well qualified professionals readily available is the seller who will sell their house fast and close their transaction quickly!

In our next article, we’ll talk about Step #2:  Prepare YOUR PROPERTY!

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To sell your own house and sell it fast, you’ll need to take great pictures, inside and out!  You’ll use the photographs in nearly all of your marketing, so take plenty and pick the pictures that showcase your property the best!  Since many houses are discovered and sold over the Internet, you’ll want to post your house pictures on the Web for others to find when they’re house-hunting.

All cameras do fundamentally the same thing, so don’t fret about having to buy an expensive digital camera.  Use can use the digital camera you have but if you need to buy one, get one that you’ll use for years to come, not just to take pictures of your property.

Before you start to take house pictures, hire a maid or clean the house yourself to avoid losing any potential buyers.  I once saw an MLS listing where the entire family room was covered with snack wrappers, and shoes and clothes were strewn all over.  You need to clean up the clutter to succeed with your sell home fast strategy using pictures!  Buyers will not even consider walking thru a house that looks cluttered in pictures.  Remove family pictures and if necessary, move furniture into storage.

So, go ahead and get started.  Study each room carefully to find the best angle for your photographs.  Make sure to let in as much natural light as possible when taking your photos.  If natural sunlight isn’t available, be sure to turn on overhead lights and lamps.  A rule of thumb is to make sure you’re always taking pictures with the light behind you to avoid any glare.

Take pictures of the entire room, not just one corner.  Stand in the doorway and try to get as much of the room in the picture as possible.  We’ve seen someone go as far as getting into a boat to take a beautiful backyard photo of their property.  That may seem like a lot of effort, but those pictures just about sold that property!

Be sure to get close ups of any noteworthy items that will be sold with the house.  For example, if you’ll be leaving a beautiful light fixture behind, get a close-up of it.  If you have a six-burner gas stove, get a close up of that too!  Anything that’s unique, snap a picture of it.

When you are trying to sell your own house, be sure to showcase pictures of the yard.  Buyers want to see that you’ve cared for your house, and it will show from the outside in.  The landscaping doesn’t need to be extensive, just a few simple plantings.  Be sure to weed the beds, trim the bushes and the lawn; that will make for beautiful pictures.  If there’s an area for children to play, be sure to get a few great shots of that too.  Do you have a built-in fire pit or any other unique items on the property?  Get great photos of those items and you’ll be on your way to sell own house fast!

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