You’re ready to put your home or land (house, townhouse, condo,
apartment, farm, ranch, finished lot, raw land, etc.) on the market as
a FSBO (for sale by owner). You’ve priced your property appropriately
and gotten it ready to show. How are you going to market it so that it
gets exposure to enough potential buyers to actually sell?
Signs
In some parts of the county, the real estate market is so hot that you
need do little more than buy a “for sale by owner” sign at the nearest
hardware store. Simply put it in a prominent position on the front of
your house and stand back.
In other areas, a great deal more marketing is needed, but a “for sale
by owner” sign is a good place to start. Directional signs (“home for
sale” with an arrow) at intersections leading the way to your property
are useful, too, if your location lends itself to that.
Classified Ads
A classified ad in your local newspaper is a good idea and is generally
not expensive. A short ad repeated a number of times is apt to be more
effective than a long ad run once, or only a few, times.
Bulletin Boards/Posters
Are there bulletin boards where you work? In neighborhood shops and
restaurants? At your church? Any place you, or members of your family,
frequent that has something like a bulletin board is a good place to
post notices of your property’s availability. If you have the use of a
digital camera and a computer, you might want to do a one-page poster
with several photos of your house, a description and contact
information. Consider having tear-off strips at the bottom with your
phone number repeated on each strip.
Magazines & Community Publications
You may want to check the cost of putting an ad in “For Sale By Owner”
type magazines. Most communities have such magazines and you don’t have
to be a realtor to buy an ad.
Brochures
Brochures or one-page flyers can also be a useful method for marketing
your home. You can use the same one you made for bulletin boards or you
can expand on it a bit. Use more photos, have captions under them
identifying the rooms, garden areas, tennis court, community club, pool
and other benefits to buying your home.
There are several things you can do to get your brochures in front of
the public. You can buy a brochure holder (typically, a plastic box
with a hinged lid on a stick which gets “planted” in the ground near
the curb in front of your home) from the hardware store. Plant it in a
prominent place in front of your home and keep it stocked with
brochures.
Don’t get annoyed when “noisy neighbors” pick up your brochures. Your
neighbors can afford homes priced similarly to yours. They probably
have family and friends whom they’d enjoy as neighbors who can afford
this price range, too. Smile when you see a neighbor picking up a
brochure; another marketing ambassador is on its way.
Also keep a supply of brochures in your home to give to prospective
buyers who come to look at it. People looking for a new home usually
look at a more than one property, and can get overwhelmed with too many
properties. “Is this the one with the built-in book cases or was it the
one across town?” The house whose best features go with them via a
brochure with color photos and salient information is memorable. Buyers
tend to write contract offers on properties they remember and can
visualize.
Consider taking your brochures to your peers at work. After all, you
find it convenient to live in your home and work there; might your
associates know someone who’d find it a similarly pleasant arrangement?
Ask them.
Internet
There are several Internet sites on which FSBOs may list their
properties for sale. Some of these permit sellers to include photos,
information about “Open Houses” they’re holding, etc. Prices for this
service varies. Try fsboamerica.org or go to your favorite search
engine and check out a few.
Open Houses
That brings up the notion of “Open Houses.” In many areas, sales
frequently take place because of an Open House attended by potential
buyers. If you are in a location with good traffic, an open house can
be an excellent tool. You can promote your Open House in any, or all,
of the venues we’ve discussed above. It’s also often effective to
install an Open House sign with helium balloons tied on with bright
ribbons on the day of the Open House.
Whether you use a realtor or sell your home on your own, marketing it
is going to be the key to getting a quick sale. It takes some time and
access to a few tools, but most sellers can put together a successful
marketing program.
