There are numerous reasons individuals do not manage to succeed in a home sale by owner. Most are related to the time needed to address the real estate buying and selling processes. However, some are also related to tasks that only real estate professionals can perform.
Among all, these stand out:
1. Lack of Knowledge About How to Prepare The House Before The Sale by Owner
Several tasks are necessary to have the house ready when you want to put it up for sale by owner. Although they are common sense issues, many are not carried out by the owners unless their agent advises them in that regard.
For instance, you must order the rooms and perform any necessary repairs. Also, it is of the utmost importance that the house is impeccable. Especially, all the light bulbs and lamps, outlets, and drainage must work properly.
Finally, you must depersonalize your house, which is something rather difficult to do yourself. In my own experience, one always forgets something.
You must remove personal objects, paintings, memories, and photographs. As the owner, you only have one chance per visit. If you are also residing in that house, getting rid of personal issues is an almost impossible task.
2. Forgetting that Time Is Money
Transactions that last a few weeks usually give good results to the owner. However, after a month of putting the house for sale by owner, it begins to lose value.
Moreover, if it is unsold for a long time, it ends up “burning.” Because the finite number of buyers already know that this property has been on the market for some time.
3. Too Many People to Deal With
The home sale by owner involves answering many questions from many people talking to each other. First, you must negotiate with the buyer, who wants to lower the price to the maximum. Then, you must speak to the buyer’s agent, who represents them and seeks the best agreement for their client.
Afterwards, you must deal with the buyer’s lawyer, who takes care of the contracts and paperwork. Then, you must talk to the bank managing the mortgage on the house if that is the case.
Finally, don’t forget about the government, notaries, tax authorities and a long etcetera. And if that was not enough. You also might find false buyers who just want to know the price and gossip about the house.
It’s not just about spending time dealing with each of these individuals. It is about knowing how to defend your interests before them.
3. Qualification of Potential Buyers
Individuals do not carry out research work on the potential buyer to check if he has the financial capacity to buy the house. Not even if it is a person in an initial phase of search or if they need to buy in a short time.
And what’s more, they don’t know who are those who call to see the house or enter the house without identifying themselves.
Real estate agencies offer security about the potential buyers they represent since they are pre-qualified.
4. Difficulty in Responding to Buyers’ Questions
There are buyers of all kinds and very diverse questions, from basic to very specific ones, which the owners do not know or do not have the answers to them.
Buyers are not exclusively interested in the status of the home and its characteristics. They want to know more and what will happen if they decide to start the process.
6. Contractual Issues
After acceptance of the offer, the formalization does not stop with the sales contract between the parties if they reach an agreement.
There are many clauses to consider, in addition to mortgage issues, possible inheritances, capital gains, and other taxes, which affect each party.
Many buyers do not go ahead because the contract proposed by the owner does not make them feel confident.
7. Setting the Market Price
Hopefully, as the owner, you will know the price of homes sold in his area. At least the price that someone told you that a third party has told them.
The usual thing is to put a price equal to or higher than what you paid. And set a slightly higher price, in case you have to negotiate downwards. What you don’t know is that this way, you might put a price out of the market.
Real estate agents have complete data on what is sold and not sold in the area, of very similar homes on the same street, especially when they work with the MLS system and share data between real estate agencies in the area.
8. Use of Professional Technologies and Tools
Today’s real estate agent is an expert in marketing. Much of their training is aimed at mastering tools that they use on a day-to-day basis and that allow them to improve the image of the properties they manage.
And if they don’t specialize in certain areas, they hire professionals.
The photographic and video services, carried out with professional cameras and by professional photographers, are of a much higher quality than those made by amateurs with mobile cameras.
9. Low Diffusion and Reach of the Advertisement
Putting the advertisement of the house on several portals is a common practice among individuals since most real estate portals allow it.
But getting a good presence in those portals, with such a large volume of properties, is difficult, and it has a cost. And there are more and more portals that only allow publication through agencies specialized in real estate management.
Going from real estate agency to real estate agency is another common tactic among individuals. Still, in recent years, the only way for the house to be put up for sale in different real estate agencies in the area is with a shared exclusive contract. Without that commitment, the individual’s announcement won’t be in any real estate showcase. Real estate agents will not work on them, or they won’t reach the database of qualified contacts.
10. The Closing of the Sale
Before the closing of the operation, there are issues to consider. For example, you must consider if the technical supervision of the dwelling has been satisfactory. Also, the contract must have the purchasing party’s approval.
You must check that the buyer has obtained the financing if that is the case. Finally, you have to make sure that the calculations of taxes and notary costs are correct. And many more steps that an individual is not aware of. That, of course, can make the buyer back out.
Contact Top Mexico Real Estate to get more information. And remember…We make it happen!