Sell Your Home Without a (high priced) Realtor [2018 Miami Guide]

Are Realtors Necessary when it comes to selling my home?

Having a high priced realtor does not necessarily mean you will get the best results when selling your home –and their is proof.

Yep, I said it!

(I am already bracing myself for angry real estate agent comments)

• Keep reading: Once you’re done you will know the following inside and out…
• Is it possible to sell your home without a Real Estate Agent?
• How would I sell my home on my own?
• Sell a home: “The Hard Way” 🙁
• Selling your home: “The Easy Way” (This is Ninja)
• Should I even sell my house without an agent?
• If I do sell on my own, will I regret it?
• What kind of paperwork do I need?

Ahh so many questions… I GOT THIS and soon SO WILL YOU.

Is it REALLY possible to sell my home without a Real Estate Agent?

Yes! All you have to do is what this Florida homeowner did…

Kidding! (although clever)

This is what you actually need to do to sell your house without a realtor…

Selling your home without an agent is completely possible and here is why. An agent’s sole purpose is to represent a buyer and or seller and provide “industry knowledge” to the client (in this case, you). With this knowledge the client can then give the final say and decide to accept/reject an offer on your property.

Now, although professionals in the field are important, there are (so many) other ways to sell.

Selling to a realtor is a valid option, but it is NOT your only choice. That is the big AH-HA moment we are trying to get to here.

Don’t take my word for it… let’s look at the data!

Out of 5.5M Homes sold in 2017, over 440,000 out of them were sold “Fizbo” (The cool way to say For Sale By Owner, AKA “FSBO”, AKA “fizbo”)

What is even more incredible (to some, but not those who know)…

Out of those 440,000 sales, 28% of them did not even put their home on the market AND still sold it… BAM!

Source: 2017 National Association of REALTORS® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers

Okay Raul (hi, nice to meet you), I believe you…

How do I sell my home on my own?

I love answering these questions, and they deserve simple answers.

Here are 4 different ways to sell your house without a realtor (PLUS action steps):

Find a professional home buying company (not an agent) to help. What this does is that it gets a local professional that is used to buy houses for cash and can typically give you an offer quickly. We do it in less than 24 hours but who’s counting 😉

List it on a FSBO website. This stand for a For Sale By Owner website. There are plenty and we’ll get into this in detail later on in the article. Stick with me here –I promise, it’s worth it!

Put a sign in the front yard. Believe it or not, this is actually quite effective. It will not sell your house right away or attract the TOP notch buyers. However, it will get exposure in your local neighborhood and possibly get you some action.

List on Flat Fee MLS. MLS mean Multiple Listing Service, which is the database which all real estate agents have access too and list properties for sale. This is fairly new, but there are companies out there that you can pay a flat fee of a couple hundred dollars to list on the MLS. This is effective but there are pros and cons. We’ll go over this further down in the article…

These are the top ways (statistically) to sell your home without an agent.

After reading this you might have a ton of specific questions on each one.

Keep reading. I am sure I will answer most of them, but if you need more information or can’t sleep give us a call @ 786-926-5001 or shoot me an email. We would be more than happy to spend time answering any questions you might have.

Selling your home FSBO … The HARD Way

I’m sure we can all agree that in life you can either take the easy path, or the hard route, which usually gives you the best results.

Now that we understand that it IS possible to sell without a realtor, and we know at least four ways to sell your home on your own. Let’s go over the most effective way and what it takes to get it done.

Let’s go through this Step-By-Step (with details).

YOU GOT THIS…

Step #1: Determining the Price

This is extremely important if you ACTUALLY want to sell your house. I say that because some people list their house just to see what they can get for their property. When really selling your home you have to price it correctly.

How do you do that, you ask? Well, I actually wrote an article which explains this in great detail. I cover how it is done with some ninja tricks in this article.

First, Lets say that you live in the Miami  area and are looking to sell 3 bedroom /1.5 bath room house in as is condition. (see a real example of a house I actually purchased below)

SUBJECT PROPERTY: 19100 NW 12th Ave, Miami Gardens Fl 33169

1,469 sq ft. 3 bed 2 bath

Side note: Bought this as a short sale to help out the homeowner and she wanted to stay in the house so we rented it to her at a discounted rate 🙂

Here are the basics:

1. Go to Zillow.com/miami-homes-sold/ (just click this link to open a new tab already filtered to Miami – Raul’s got you covered!)
   
2. Filter the map to only look at homes within ½ a mile of your address
   
3. Find homes that recently sold AND look as SIMILAR to your home as possible (here is what I would pick from the list below)
   
4. Then filter further through that list to find homes with the same number of Beds/baths
   
5. Filter to homes that have similar square footage. (the above house met that criteria)
6. You just found a “Comp” (AKA Comparable Home Sale)

Step #2: Listing

Alright, alright, I got this price thing down.. Where the heck (can I say that?) do I list it for sale? How do people know I am selling this place?

1. Go to Google.com
2. Search “flat fee listing (your city)”
3. You will find links to list on:
4. MLS (which is effective)
5. FSBO.com
6. zillow.com

Step #3: Marketing your Property

Let me save you weeks of frustration, just because you listed it, does not mean you get to sit back and enjoy all the people throwing cash at you. This is just the beginning. Marketing includes; talking to all your neighbors, posting on craigslist, taking top notch pictures, a video walk-through, printing flyers, sharing a Facebook post, and yes even tell Uncle Drew about it. EVERYONE needs to know!

Step #4: Open Houses

Fun fact, ask any agent about a FSBO open house and they will talk for about 112 minutes straight. An open house is meant to paint a picture for the buyers. There is a lot that goes into it. “Staging”, which basically means make the house look as picture perfect as possible. Make the house smell nice, some people even bake cookies in the oven! That really gets the people going. In all seriousness, a successful open house should attract several buyers and agent into a nice looking home. Let them walk around imagine what THEIR life would look here. Paint that picture for THEM!

Step #5: Organize your homes key selling points

What does this even mean?!

Ok, pay attention here, every home has unique features and every home has things that make it stand out. Who knows that better than you!

Some examples are:

• Location (Located directly in front of A schools and community park)
• Pool (Bring your swimming trunks, Sparkling pool ready for the summer)
• Garage (Home features a spacious 24×24 garage with tons of storage)
• Basement (Additional feature! Basement for extra storage)
• View (Overlooking the beautiful Ft Lauderdale Skyline)
• Proximity to good schools (Miami’s top schools only a few miles away)
• Patio (Huge patio with tons of space for guests and entertainment for the whole family)
• Impact windows (Brand new impact windows ready for all weather)
• You get the idea…

Step #6: Perform Negotiations

Ahhh it’s all one big sales and negotiations game. Negotiating is an art.

Let’s start with some key pointers that will really help you through this. Understand your home value and the selling point of you’re home –and understand it REALLY WELL.

Know what you’re talking about –This gives you the upper hand. Once you get that down pact, now you have to know who you buyer is. What are they looking for? What is important to them? When do they want to close? Do they have kids?

DON’T talk price in the beginning. Just trust me, DON’T do it.

Get to know them, learn their story, and sell them what they came to buy!

Step #7: Comply with Local laws

So this is a biggy. When buying and selling a home there are rules you have to follow. I know you may be thinking, “this is my house! I should be allowed to just do whatever!!!”, but real estate laws exist for a reason and they protect BOTH the buyer and You (the seller).

The most important legal matters you need to get right are:

1. Contracts: Make sure you have the right contracts filled out correctly
2. Title Company: This is needed to close a real estate transaction
3. Transaction: Do not take money in cash or anything out of ordinary. Use an attorney or title company to help with this.
4. Inspections and rights to enter: Yeah it’s your home, but if under contract they have the right to inspect, so make sure you know those rules.

Step #8: Don’t get overwhelmed!

I help readers all the time. Sometimes you just need to run an idea by a pro. If you feel overwhelmed, give me a call @ 786-926-5001 or shoot me an email. We would be more than happy to spend time answering any questions you might have.

Selling your house to a buyer without an Agent (The Easy Way)

This part of the article is going to be really short.. Cause it is so darn easy!

Ok, let’s get into it. Ready?
Hold onto your seats…

Here is what you do:

1. Find a local Miami home buyer (either online or if you received a piece of mail)
2. Call them up and send them the info on your property
3. Ask them the questions that I wrote in my Miami Home Buying Companies article and they will know you aren’t messing around
4. Sit back and wait for the offers to come in!

Here a video I put together to show you how our process works at our company… 3 steps

The Main thing is to do to be able to get the best offer for your home and needs.

BE HONEST. This is of utmost importance.

Don’t work with people you don’t like or don’t trust.

But once you find a good homebuyer, speak truthfully about your situation and what exactly you are hoping to get and why. This upfront honesty will not only help with the price, but also when you close, move out, or if any challenges come up.

KNOW YOUR GOAL!

What is your desired outcome?

When do you want to close?

What are you doing with the money?

How soon do you need it?

Do you know where you are going to live next?

Does anyone else need to be in the decision process?

Have those answers ready and then you can work with a home buying company, and sell that bad boy (home) quickly 🙂

Should I Really Sell my Home Without a Real Estate Agent… for real?

So instead of writing about it, how about I just show you the pros and cons:

[infographic of pro/con]

Will I Regret Selling My Property Without a Real Estate Broker?

Nah.

As you see in the picture above there are a lot of moving parts that are uncertain with a broker.
The ONLY time that you would be regretful will be about SALE price. Because there is no doubt that a home buyer will be at an adjusted market price. However, keep in mind, the amount of money you get to “walk away” with is really the most important.

If your ok with the slight haircut of the price then there is not much regret. There are no guarantees when working with an agent. A home buying company profits when they BUY homes. Therefore, Miami Home Buyers are MOTIVATED BUYERS!

Now let me defend Real Estate Agents for a second so you can see both sides fairly.

With a Real Estate agent you get representation (for a price). This is BIG when it comes to someone who knows nothing and not really looking to do much. And this is why Agents get paid, to represent! That means they will negotiate for you, market it for you, answer the calls, show the home. They work for YOU. Legally they must have your best interest at heart and get you the best possible deal.

To conclude this section, working with an agent is not a bad thing; however, not necessary. There are many people already selling their homes on their own and those numbers are climbing fast. As long as you understand the process which we have outlined above, you are ahead of the game. Selling on your own can be as easy as A B C .. 1 2 3

Well maybe not THAT easy but you get my drift….

Paperwork for Selling Your Home on Your Own in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale Area

You will see some pictures below of the paperwork you should know about to be able to do this, and will also be putting a checklist of everything.

Here are the top 5 things to check on the contract:

1. Name of Seller Name of Buyer – Make sure it is accurate on both sides so the title company knows who is buying and selling
2. Title Company Information – Make sure that all the information of Title company is listed so both sides know who to contact. This is important because the Title company controls the money!… Your Welcome 🙂
3. Price – This is self explanatory. Make sure you have the agreed upon price on the contract please. Do it for me
4. Closing Date – Have this very clear to a specific date
5. Additional Terms – On every contract there is always terms or information that can be added. Write, review, and initial all these terms. VERY IMPORTANT. With us we always make sure our clients know EXACTLY what is going on at all times.

Here is a picture of a Florida Bar Contract  (see link below to download a blank one)

Conclusion

It is possible to sell your home without a Real Estate Agent.

Now you know BOTH the “easy” and “hard” ways to sell your home by yourself, STEP-BY-STEP.

Of course this is a lot of information and there is more that goes into selling a house… BUT with this you will be able to do this. I BELIEVE IN YOU!

It takes effort, a little bit of hustle and creativity.

Bottom Line … You can sell

ALL
BY
YOURSELF…

Don’t wanna Be…

 

P.S. I help readers all the time. Sometimes you just need to run an idea by a pro. If you feel overwhelmed, give me a call @ 786-926-5001 or shoot me an email. We would be more than happy to spend time answering any questions you might have.