If you are ready to sell your house and you want to save some money by doing it yourself read my guide on how to do it and then give me a call or send me a text/email if you have questions or need some assistance.  It’s FREE. If you want a free market analysis to see what other houses in your area are selling for then Contact Us   for information about the selling prices of houses, like your, in your area.

There is absolutely no reason that you cannot handle the sale of your house by yourself and avoid paying some of the real estate Brokerage Fees, You just have to be willing to learn how to do it correctly, and be able to deal with:

• Losing about 90% of the buyer pool since most buyers use an agent and agents won’t, generally show FSBO’s
• doing your own marketing on the internet, in the news paper, and other advertising,
• being referred to as a FISBO (For Sale By Owner). This is not a derogatory term but makes you a target for certain types of buyers, some good, and some bad. All will have the opinion that they can take advantage of you, because they think that don’t know what you are doing, you can’t afford to hire a REALTOR®, you don’t know the law, and you don’t understand how to determine the market price of your house, and you don’t know that you can get help, from me, FOR FREE,
• making yourself available all day, every day, to let people in to tour your house,
• lots of nuisance phone calls from non-qualified “buyers” and people that want you to “seller finance” or to rent your house,
• drive-by visits from people that give you lowball offers because they think that you are desperate to sell and don’t know how much your house is worth,
• the risk of having criminals “case” your house to see if you have anything worth steeling (or worse), and when you will not be at home,
• handling the scammers that will try to make money from your house, without you knowing about it,
• probably selling your house for less than you want to.

The procedure is essentially the same as a home owner that uses a REALTOR® to sell their house. Do it like a professional.  Act professionally (educate yourself and learn how to market your house and how to negotiate the “deal”).

The plus side of selling your house, without an agent, is that you will save the commission that is normally paid to real estate professionals. The downside of doing it yourself is that you will miss out on about 90% of buyers since most buyers use a REALTOR® and REALTORS® don’t generally show FISBO properties because they probably won’t get paid.  You will not have access to the major real estate marketing tool, the Multiple Listing Service, that REALTORS® use.

The MLS is the most reliable way of getting accurate, current, sales data on home in your area. Many of the property ads that you see on Trulia, Zillow, and many others, come from the MLS but they do not contain complete information about the sale of properties. You will have a reduce pool of potential buyers since about 90% of home buyers use real estate agents.

Buyer’s agents will, generally, not show your property because it’s not listed in the MLS, and they might not be paid for doing their job. You will have to be available to show your property yourself and negotiate the sale without expert advice and guidance and you may get less for your property than a REALTOR® could get for you.

If you need help, I can assist you with certain things, such as providing you this guide, as well a visiting your property to give you my professional opinion about the condition of your house and discussing this list of things with you. For Free!

1. Know the law. You should consult with a real estate attorney in order to make sure that you use the correct forms, disclose the right information about your house, and reduce the risk of future law suits arising from the sale of your property. There are lots of important laws and regulations involved in a real estate transaction. Become familiar with them.
2. Know what your house is worth. Don’t let your house be branded as ugly. That is just a tactic to get your to lower your sales price. Check the sales ranges for houses, near your, that have sold within the last couple of months. Compare the plusses and minuses of your house to the sold properties. Find out from your neighbors, that have sold their houses, what the sales price was. (and hope they will be honest with you) Check here to see what houses are being listed for, in your area.
3. Don’t let your situation dictate the sales price. If you are in a difficult financial situation, are going through a divorce, or are dealing with a family members estate, use a real estate professional to help protect your interest and see that you get a fair price for the property. Don’t accept less than the property is worth. There are investors that target people in these situations because they are the most vulnerable. Don’t let yourself be taken advantage of.
4. Gather all of the information on the house that you have; the survey, deed, MUD disclosure, HOA information, home owner’s insurance information, copies of utility bills for the past year, seller’s disclosure, inspection reports, etc.
5. Get the house and property ready for showing by cleaning, painting, and repairing anything that is broken or excessively worn. Pressure wash the driveway and sidewalks and wash exterior walls. Replace worn or stained carpet, if it cannot be cleaned. Keep the lawn mowed and the flower beds and trees mulched and weed free.
6. Get a professional opinion concerning any upgrades that you are thinking about, before doing it. This could save you some serious cash. Not all improvements or upgrades will add to the property value, but some may make the house more attractive and make the house sell faster.
7. Hire a professional photographer to take interior and exterior photos of your property. These photographs will be the primary thing that people see when the see your ad. It is very important that this be done well.
8. It is best to remove any items that you want to keep from the property before having photos made and before showing the property to anyone. Learn about fixtures and attachments and real property versus personal property. Clearly label anything that will remain in the house, that you want to take with you. Label anything that you would like to sell, as personal property, to the buyer or anyone else.
9. Get your house inspected by a professional inspector before your list it for sale. Many deals fail due to things that are discovered during the option period. A prelisting inspection will allow you to find and correct problems and reduce the chance that the buyer will try to “nickel and dime” you for each thing that turns up during their inspection. Be prepared for buyers trying to get you to contribute to their closing costs or asking you to reduce the sales price due to items that show up during their own inspection.
10. Get professionals to inspect the HVAC systems and make sure that they are in good working order. Get a termite inspection, and possibly a treatment, prior to listing. Some financing requires a termite inspection. Get a pre-listing inspection to avoid problems during the option period (if there is one).
11. Keep the air conditioning system running, at a comfortable level. You want your potential buyers to feel comfortable so they will take their time inside your house. Don’t turn off the A/C in the summer time. Mold and mildew will build up quickly and create a stink that is near impossible to remove, without expensive professional services. Keeping the A/C on also will help the inspector get a better reading of the temperature difference between the intake and output of the air.
12. Purchase a home warranty and make sure that everything that is covered prior to the sale is in good working order.
13. Have yard signs professionally prepared. Don’t use a magic marker or paint and stencil to make your own. Your sign, house, and property should have the look that it would have if a REALTOR® was doing things for you.
14. Create an attention grabbing description for your property that lets potential buyers know about it’s finer attributes.

“Beautiful 3 bedroom 2 bath brick home on a cul-de-sac in a quiet, kid friendly, neighborhood. Close to shopping and high quality schools.” for example.

Check out the property descriptions used by others, in their ads. Choose something that is appropriate and use it.

9. Prepare a Seller’s Disclosure of Property Condition and list any and all defects, with the property, that you know about. Don’t try to hide anything. Fraud is a serious offense. You could be held liable for years to come. Find out what needs to be disclosed and what doesn’t before you fill this out (get professional advice).
   TREC Seller’s Dosclosure Rules
   TREC Seller’s Disclosure Form
10.  Develop a marketing plan. Decide how you are going to market your house and who your target group is. You will be approached by investors and people looking for a cheap house, since they know that you are not a professional, may not know how much your property is worth. Expect some ridiculously low offers that will make your mad. Unless you are a REALTOR®, or you are working with a REALTOR®, you won’t be able to list your house on the MLS, the primary means of marketing properties. You don’t have to respond to anyone and you don’t have to sell the house unless you get the price and terms that you are looking for. Just be prepared for some really low offers and decide, ahead of time, how you will respond to them. Keep your cool!
11. You can purchase a combination lock box to hang on your door, or some secluded place on your property, and put a key to your house inside it. This would allow people to enter your house, at any time, once they have the combination, and check out the interior, without you being present. You should remove all personal items that you don’t want to lose. This includes any prescription medication. Don’t just lock it away, remove those items from the property. It may be better to arrange showings for your house and be present when prospective buyers arrive so you can let them in and give them a tour of your property. Since the combination box can be opened at any time of the day, or night, you should remove the key from the box after showing hours or if you are going to be away from the property for an extended period of time and don’t want people in your house during that time.
12. Install keyless deadbolts or other security devices on all exterior doors that will prevent someone form entering your home while you, or your children, are there, especially while you are sleeping.
13. Be careful, you never know who will show up at your house. Showing your house to strangers when you are alone can put you, or a family member, at risk since you won’t know them, or anything about them. For added safety, you should make appointment ahead of time and get them to email you a photocopy of their driver’s license, social security card, and loan approval letter from a lender, before you agree to show them the house.
14. Never be alone when you are showing your house to strangers. You will have people that just show up at our house, without an appointment, and expect you to let them in so they can look the at interior of the house. You should get their information and arrange for a showing at some later date. Consider leaving the house until the visitors have concluded their tour and have left.
15. If you do not live in the house, have someone check it every day. Check for damage and to make sure that all windows and doors are locked as well as gates or entry ways into the back yard where the outside A/C unit is located. A/C units don’t last long in vacant houses. You might even want to have a neighbor park in your driveway at night. Leave some lights on or get a light controller that will cycle lights to give the appearance that someone is still occupying the property. One thing that some criminals like to do is to leave downstairs windows, or back doors, unlocked so they can gain access later, when everyone is gone. make sure that your house is secure, daily.
16. Review all offers. Choose the best offer, not necessarily the highest price. Check the credentials of the buyers. Understand each paragraph of the contract. If they are not using the promulgated TREC contract, or, if there is anything that you don’t understand, have a real estate attorney review the contract.
17. Negotiate the terms of the contract. The sales price, earnest money, option fee, option period, closing date, title company and title policies (there will be two of these), required repairs that the buyers want, objections, special provisions, etc. all are important considerations for determining the “best offer”.
18. Be aware, the purchase offer may not be what it seems. Some buyers use a tactic to lower the sales price that involves a price reduction or contributions from the seller due to issues found as a result of the inspection or appraisal. They may want you to agree to lower the sales price due to property condition or they just want to see if you will do it. Once you have a signed contract (with option period), the buyer can opt out any time, during the option period, and get their earnest money refunded. The buyers are in a powerful position since your house is now off the market, you have a signed contract, and the other offers are now gone. You can either accept their new terms, or put your house back on the market and repeat the same process until your knuckle under and give in to someone.
19. You can list your home for sale on:

For Sale By Owner.com,
FISBO.com, Fizber.com,
Trulia.com,
Zillow.com, and
CraigsList.com and
you can place ads in local newspapers.

The forms that you will need are available on the
Texas Real Estate Commission website

If someone tells you that Your House is UGLY they are trying to create a mindset where you will think that your house is worth less than it actually is. Many predatory investors will offer you about 50% (or less) of the ARV (After Repaired Value) and then flip it for huge profits. Get the advice of an expert before giving your house away to these predators. Minor improvements and changes can sometimes increase the selling price significantly. Learn about ARV (After Repaired Value) and how to determine your house’s actual worth to buyers. There are lots of simple things you can do that could increase your house’s appeal and the price that you can get for it. Don’t be taken advantage of because you are lead to believe that your house won’t sell for what you think that it should. Get educated and Get Free Professional Assistance.

If you have any questions or would like assistance, with preparing, listing, or marketing your house, I will be happy to work with you to help you be successful in selling your house, Without Charge and without bugging you about listing your house for sale. In exchange for this, I would like for you to recommend me to others, that you know, that may want to sell or buy a house, and that might want to use a REALTOR®. Just go to  the Contact Us Page for Free Expert Assistance!