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Old 06-06-2007, 07:06 AM
 
13 posts, read 57,645 times
Reputation: 13

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My husband and I just listed our house for sale by owner about a month ago. I have decluttered and made it look very showable. I know the market is slow in Ohio right now but I have yet to have one showing. The asking price is way under the appraisal so I feel we have it priced very competetively. It is a 4 bedroom home custom built in 2003 on 7 acres between Mansfield and Wooster. Does anyone have any suggestions on what we can do to get more exposure without listing with a realtor? Thanks for any or all information!
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Old 06-06-2007, 07:17 AM
 
Location: Liberty Township, Ohio
122 posts, read 957,042 times
Reputation: 74
Run an ad in the paper.
Make sure you have a visible sign in the yard.
Make sure you are correct on your homes value. This is probably the biggest mistake of FSBO - over valuing their house. Look to see what other similar houses are going for, and make sure yours is better and priced less!
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Old 06-06-2007, 07:45 AM
 
Location: Grafton, Ohio
286 posts, read 1,583,676 times
Reputation: 164
Also get it listed on as many sites as possible (craigslist, zillow.com, yahoo, etc). Make good pics available of inside and outside. As an out of state shopper (we're moving to Ohio very soon and looking for a house with acreage), I have found most listings are very disappointing... They do not give me a very good initial impression because the one and only picture does not make the home look appealing. Or, I'll come across a home I'm interested, but only to find out they don't have additional pics (rooms, up close condition of home, out buildings, etc) or have extremely limited information on their write up. With the price of gas, I do not want to be driving all over tim buck two looking at properties, and I want to be able to shop online so that I can narrow my search and then only contact the listings that really strike my interest.

If you have potential facilities or ability to facility animals, you might want to think about listing it on sites for animal enthusiasts or including words like "horse(s)," Pasture," or "barn" in the descriptions where you post is incase folks with animals that do a key word search.

Also, get third party constructional opinions. Human nature is funny.. once we look at the same thing over and over, we miss small details. Once you have your house "presentable" (which you already said you had gotten it decluttered), bring in an outside pair of eyes attached to a person that can be straight up and honest with you. They may see something that wouldn't appeal to a buyer that you had missed - landscaping that could be done better, piece of furnature that just doesn't fit in the room, etc. Let them give you an honest opinion as if they were a buyer looking at it - what would appeal and not appeal to them? Don't take any of it personally. Same thing with your written description.

Another thing you might want to indicate to potential interests is.. 1. the price is X because we are not listing with a realtor, so grab it while its hot! Price will go to Y if we have to list it - look at what you can save! 2. have a third party that is not emotionally involved with the home available to show it; some buyers are uncomfortable with seeing a home or making an offer on a home because they don't want to insult the seller. By taking yourself out of the picture for potential shoppers, you might be helping your case... part of the job for a realtor is to imagine that house being THEIR home, not YOURS.

Once you have nailed down a showing, please feel free to contact me privately. I was once an apartment property manager and know a few tricks of the trade to put in place for the showing that will help trigger subtle messages for the buyer.
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Old 06-06-2007, 11:03 AM
 
13 posts, read 57,645 times
Reputation: 13
Thank you for all your great advice. Bubbagirl I will contact you when I get a showing scheduled. We do have it listed on one site currently (ashlandhomelistings.com) and I think there are about 26 pictures so hopefully that will give people an idea if they want to come in or not. I have noticed the same thing with some people only using one picture. I don't know why they would do that if they want people to buy their home. I am considering listing with forsalebyowner.com. With one of their packages you can have 24 pictures and it is also listed on several sites. I have been advertising in the local papers and have gotten some interest but nobody to come out yet. I like your suggestions for what to put in the advertising. Thanks again!
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Old 06-06-2007, 02:25 PM
 
Location: Sacramento
14,044 posts, read 27,109,333 times
Reputation: 7373
Default Newspaper and FSBO

Very sound advice from bubbagirl but I just want to point out one issue I have run into with prior sales. My experience is that the newspapers will not allow you to highlight anything indicating "save the commission" by dealing directly with the owned.

I think it might be because they don't want to offend the realtors listing their ads in the paper, making it appear they are being undercut. You have to assume that FSBO means some type of a savings, but many buyers view it as the seller wanting to keep the commission costs, and no advantage to the buyer.

I don't know if a local paper or a weekly paper would have the same issue, but I ran into this with the Plain Dealer quite a few years ago.
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Old 06-07-2007, 07:23 PM
Status: "Mistress of finance and foods." (set 15 days ago)
 
Location: Coastal Georgia
49,979 posts, read 63,301,795 times
Reputation: 92434
You get what you pay for.
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