6 SECRETS TO SELLING YOUR HOUSE QUICKLY AND EASILY WITHOUT PAYING A COMMISSION

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1 6 SECRETS TO SELLING YOUR HOUSE QUICKLY AND EASILY WITHOUT PAYING A COMMISSION A Free Consumer Guide In this report, you will discover: The Top 5 Things Real Estate Agents Don t Want You to Know 3 Easy Ways to Discover What Your House is Worth 10 Key Questions to Ask Yourself Before Making a Decision Top 7 Most Costly Mistakes to Avoid 100% No Risk Guarantee An Educational Resource Provided By:

2 Dear Homeowner, We know how difficult and stressful major decisions about likely your largest investment can be. Deciding if and when to sell a house, using which method, at what price, and with whom are choices not to be taken lightly. We have seen many homeowners experience a great deal of stress while trying to make these decisions mostly because there are many aspects of the whole process that are unclear and mysterious. We wrote this piece because we wanted to help provide homeowners like you with more information upon which to base your decisions. The goal is that whatever decisions you make, you feel confident they are the right decisions for you and your family. Our hope is that the information you will discover inside this free report will shed light on the many aspects of selling your home that are likely on your mind. Here s to the next chapter in your life. We hope you find this guide useful in helping you move forward. Sincerely, Jeff Stephens and Darren Stowell Principals Abound Properties, LLC

3 What Is For Sale By Owner (FSBO)? For Sale By Owner, often called FSBO (pronounced fiz bo ), is a scenario in which you represent yourself in the sale of your property. In other words, you choose not to hire a real estate agent to represent you, and instead perform all the steps of selling the property yourself. Two Ways to Sell Your Property FSBO There are essentially two different ways you can sell your property For Sale By Owner. You can either: 1. Sell your property FSBO to retail buyers 2. Sell your property FSBO to an investor like Abound Properties Deciding If You Should Sell Your Property FSBO to Retail Buyers A retail buyer is your average home buyer. Most of them are seeking a home they can live in themselves ( owner occupants ), and are using traditional bank mortgages to finance the property. A retail buyer will often pay the highest price for a property, and they represent the vast majority of buyers in the market. However, retail buyers can be very picky, fickle and inexperienced, and their ability to purchase the property is usually at the mercy of the lender they are borrowing funds from this can sometimes make their offers seem unreliable. If you want to sell your property to a retail buyer, you must decide if you want to do so on your own (FSBO), or work with a real estate agent. To make the best decision for yourself, there are several considerations to take into account.

4 Paying Real Estate Agent Commissions and Closing Costs Probably the primary reason people choose to sell their home FSBO is to avoid paying real estate agent commissions and fees. A typical property sale with real estate agents comes with a hefty 6% commission, which can be thousands of dollars in costs that eat into your equity. If you choose to sell your property FSBO, however, keep in mind that in many cases, even though you are not represented by a real estate agent, your buyer very well may be in which case, the buyer s agent will expect to be paid upwards of 3% for his or her work. Thus, you may not be saving as much money as you originally thought, unless you can find a buyer who is not represented by an agent themselves. However, finding that unrepresented retail buyer is going to be far more difficult. Pricing and Marketing the Property Without a real estate agent, you will need to decide by yourself what price to ask for your property. While this may seem simple, it can be difficult to get an accurate, objective and realistic idea of the market price of your property. The consequence of pricing the property wrong is that it can take much longer to sell, and the property may develop a stigma in the eyes of buyers as being overpriced.

5 3 Easy Ways to Discover What Your House is Worth We recommend you estimate the value of your property in at least three different ways, and then compare the results and calculate to an average price. Here are three easy ways to do it: 1. Assess the Competition: Pretend you re a buyer looking for a home like yours. Take some time to empathize and step into their shoes. Conduct searches online among MLS listed properties to see which other homes would be contenders. Then go visit those homes (ask the listing agent to show you the home, or attend an open house). Then, do a realistic comparison: how do these competitive homes stack up to yours, and how are they priced? 2. Check Sold Home Prices: Using a website like you can look up your neighborhood and see the prices of homes that have sold in the last 6, 12 or 24 months. Then, as above, conduct a realistic comparison of how these homes compare to yours. 3. Ask a Real Estate Agent for An Analysis: Many real estate agents will be happy to visit your home and provide you with their opinion of what your house might sell for. They do this as a courtesy to build relationships with potential new clients.

6 Perhaps more challenging is that you will be on your own to market the property. In this case, marketing the property means letting the pool of potential buyers know that your property is for sale. While there are great tools available for this such as and even your property will not get as much exposure to potential buyers as it would if it were on the Multiple Listing Service that real estate agents use. Showing the Home Regardless of how you sell your property, you will have to accommodate the visits of potential buyers. Coordinating these showings can be time consuming, and frustrations can be amplified by buyers who do not show up for their scheduled appointments, or who knock on the door unannounced and expect to see the property at that moment. Negotiating and Handling Transaction Paperwork Perhaps the biggest challenge of selling your property For Sale By Owner is navigating the required paperwork in a way that sufficiently protects yourself. While there are certainly books and websites that can walk you through this, the responsibility is on your shoulders to make sure your transactions are legal and that you re protected. Regardless of which paperwork is used, or how many real estate agents are involved, it s common that the transaction be closed through a professional escrow and title company. Making Repairs It s very common for retail buyers to require property sellers to make some repairs to the property as a condition of their purchase. These can be small but potentially irritating repairs like fixing doors or paint, or can be costly major repairs such as roof replacement or sewer line replacement.

7 The Top 5 Things Real Estate Agents Don t Want You to Know 1. Selling a Home Is Not As Complex As It Seems: People buy and sell properties all the time with simple one page contracts. While it may not be quick and easy to sell a house by yourself, the steps involved are probably not as complicated as you think they are. 2. They Make Money Even If You Don t: Whether you sell your home and walk away with equity in your pocket or not, your real estate agent will be getting a predictable and substantial payday for their services. 3. Anyone Can Get a Real Estate License: As with any type of professional, there are great ones, and there are not so great ones. It s rather easy to get a real estate license, and simply having one does not make the person an expert advisor. 4. They re Not Incentivized to Get You The Highest Sales Price: As was explained in the book Freakonomics, the real estate commissions system encourages real estate agents to sell your property quickly...not necessarily for the highest price. Dropping your price $5,000 will likely feel like a big hit to you, but will only result in a $150 lower commission for them. 5. They May Not Know Your Neighborhood Very Well: Every neighborhood is different, and while the information about real estate transactions is available on an equal basis to all real estate agents, that doesn t mean every real estate agent knows every neighborhood the same.

8 Deciding If You Should Sell Your Property FSBO To An Investor Your other option is to sell your property For Sale By Owner, but to sell it to a real estate investor (like Abound Properties) instead of a retail buyer. There are many potential advantages to this option: Pay No Commissions At All A real estate investor like Abound Properties can often work directly with you, without any real estate agents involved, meaning you can save your entire 6% commissions. Avoid Marketing The Property By working with a real estate investor, you don t have to worry about the difficult process of marketing the property widely to all of the potential retail buyers. Avoid Multiple Showings When you work with a real estate investor, you only have one party to deal with. You won t have to show the property repeatedly to tire kickers who may likely have no intention of making an offer, or no real ability to buy the property. Get Cash Offers; Avoid Financing Problems One of the challenges in selling to a retail buyer is that their offers are often contingent upon them getting the financing approved from their lender, sometimes resulting in failed transactions when the financing falls through. In many cases, an investor will pay cash and their offer will not be contingent upon financing. Sell The Property As Is Most often, real estate investors like Abound Properties will make their offers as is meaning that they will not ask the seller to make any repairs to the property whatsoever. It s important to note that when you sell your property to an investor, you often won t get the highest price possible (a retail buyer is almost always the best way to get the highest possible price). An investor requires a discount on the property in order to be able to provide a solution to the seller that is streamlined, easy, quick, as is and highly likely to successfully close. If speed, ease and simplicity are just as important to you as the price you sell the property for, selling to a real estate investor like Abound Properties might be a great option for you.

9 Top 7 Most Costly Mistakes to Avoid 1. Pricing Your Home Too High: If the home is priced too high, it won t generate the traffic you will need in order to find a buyer. 2. Pricing Your Home Too Low: By pricing the property too low, you may actually miss out on some good potential buyers who think the home is not large or nice enough for their needs. 3. Not Marketing Your Property Well Enough: Simply putting a sign in front of your house or posting it on craigslist.com will likely not sell the home. You will need to find many creative ways to expose your product to the right type of potential buyers. 4. Wasting Your Time on Unqualified Buyers: It s easy to accidentally spend a lot of time and energy on tire kickers, or those who are well intentioned but don t have the true financial capacity to buy the home. 5. Not Making the Right Repairs: Most homes need some level of repair. The key is understanding which repairs buyers will notice, or get distracted by. 6. Not Understanding The Competition: Your potential buyer is most likely evaluating your home versus several others. If you don t have a really clear idea of what your competition is, you won t know how to help your property stand out. 7. Not Presenting The Home Well: The experience a potential buyer has when she visits the home is very important. Presenting the home well means designing every detail of the experience from sight to sound to smell and beyond to be pleasant.

10 10 Key Questions to Ask Yourself Before Making a Decision Deciding how to sell your home FSBO to a retail buyer, FSBO to an investor or through an agent is an important decision. Here are 10 key questions to ask yourself as you try to make the best decision for yourself: 1. How soon do I want or need to sell this house? Am I comfortable waiting several months or more? If you need to sell quickly, working with an investor like Abound Properties may be your best choice. 2. Do I mind showing the house frequently? When your house is on the market with a real estate agent or even FSBO searching for a retail buyer, you will need to be flexible enough to prepare and show your house repeatedly. 3. Do I know how to assess potential buyers? If you are selling your house FSBO, you will need to know what questions to ask, in order to know if your potential buyers have the financial capacity to buy the property. 4. Is it important to me to have an easy, stress free transaction? If having an easy, stress free transaction is the most important thing to you, working with an investor will almost always be a smoother transaction. If, on the other hand, easy and stress free is less important than maximizing your sales price, listing the property with a real estate agent may be better. 5. Am I willing to make repairs to the home if a buyer asks me to? Investors like Abound Properties buy homes as is, but nearly all other buyers will likely make at least some repair requests. 6. Do I feel I would get enough value from real estate agents to be happy paying them 6% in total commissions? This may be a matter of principle to you, or a simple matter of practicality. Either way, paying a 6% commission is a significant expense to consider.

11 7. Do I want some control over when the sale of the property closes? If a retail buyer purchases your home (whether FSBO or through a real estate agent), you will most likely be working on their closing timeline. 8. Am I comfortable accepting offers from buyers with financing contingencies? If you are selling your property to a retail buyer, they are almost always going to be getting a loan, and their offers will almost always be contingent upon them getting financing. Any time there is a financing contingency, there s always at least a little risk that the transaction could fall apart if the financing doesn t come through. 9. Do I feel confident in knowing how best to market the property? Your goal in marketing the property is to expose it to as many well suited potential buyers as possible. Do you know the best marketing strategies and tactics to do that? 10. Do I feel confident pricing the property correctly? Pricing your property correctly not too high or too low is important when selling your home. Are you confident that you can price it correctly to attract the right types of buyers? Conclusion Selling your property For Sale By Owner whether to a retail buyer or an investor like Abound Properties can be an excellent solution for some homeowners. Every homeowner situation is unique, and we hope the information in this guide has been helpful in providing an orientation of FSBO sales. To discuss your unique situation and explore options with Abound Properties, please contact us directly: info@aboundpdx.com

12 Other Recommended Resources Seller s Guide by ForSaleByOwner.com my house/ How Home Sales By Owner Works by HowStuffWorks.com estate/selling home/home sales by owner.htm About Abound Properties We are a local Portland, OR based small business. We buy, rent and sell houses and apartments in our community. The word Abound refers to abundance mentality a sincere belief in mutually beneficial relationships. We are proud to be known for our commitment to: Crafting win win relationships Transparent, open, honest communication Creativity in solving difficult challenges Creating an enjoyable experience for our customers For more information, please visit