Promoting Your Home Effectively When Selling By Owner
By Nate Garin, Fri Dec 9th

By selling your home on your own you are known in the realestate world as a "FSBO" or "For Sale By Owner". Some buyersspecifically look for FSBO listings because they assume they candeduct a standard real estate professionals fees from the priceof the home so they tend to make lower offers. Others believethat FSBO homes are easier to deal with than trained real estateprofessionals. Obviously, neither case is always true but ithappens enough to be aware of it.

Your advertising is what drives potential buyers to first,become aware of your home, second, to gain interest, andfinally, to make an offer for your home. It is only reasonableto assume that the more interested buyers you have the higherselling price you can expect.

In this

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Residents of Western Montana aggressively look for cost-savings in the sale of their homes. Because of the obvious appeal of the area, the presence of the University of Montana, thriving arts and cultural scene and dramatic scenery, the Garden City has been growing for some time. Putting aside the national credit market meltdown which began in 2007, Missoula real estate seemed to be for some time selling itself, and the steep fees associated with selling it did not seem to make sense for many sellers.
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era of highly accessible information there are manyoptions available to you as a seller of real estate. As in anyproject you undertake, it would be wise to sit down and thinkout a strategy before spending any money, in order to avoidwasting money on ineffective promotional tools. Some questionsyou might ask yourself are the following:

1. How much time do I have to sell my property?

2. How much cash do I have to spend on advertising?

3. How many buyer leads do I expect, per dollar spent onadvertising?

4. How much time do I have to devote to advertising daily andweekly?

After assessing your personal situation you will be betterprepared to develop your promotional strategy. There are severaladvertising options out there, some more expensive than othersand some deliver more leads than others. It's reasonable toassume that the most valuable advertising resources are thosethat deliver the most leads to you for the least amount ofmoney. Some of the most popular and effective methods follow.

* Posting an ad in the local newspaper

* Conducting an open house

* Distributing flyers around the neighborhood

* Posting a yard sign in front of your house

* Posting an ad on an internet real estate website (or onmultiple sites)

Naturally, there are no guarantees that you will get attentionby merely participating in the above promotional methods,because a lot depends on your ad copy, the presentation ofinformation, and your asking price. Buyers simply won't contactyou if your price is too high. However, the right combination isessential to selling real estate by owner successfully.

Once you have decided where and how to advertise, you'll need towrite your ad copy and organize facts about your property.Following are a few tips on writing your ad.

Writing your ad Keep in mind that many people seek out FSBOproperties when you write your ad. Be sure to take advantage ofthis by making it clear you are selling by owner.

Here is a list of things to do when writing your ad:

* Do indicate you are selling by owner

* Do indicate you have a complete property listing on theinternet, and where it can be found

* Do describe the structure, style, and number of bedrooms andbathrooms

* Do describe the neighborhood

* Do list the sales price

* Do highlight any special features your home may have, such asa pool, hot tub, fenced yard, etc.

* Do include your phone numbers and email and indicate the besttime to reach you (if by phone)

By not including the property address in your advertisement, youencourage potential buyers to call for more information, whichgives you an opportunity to set up an appointment to show themyour home.

About the author:The author is involved in one of the leading For Sale By Owner websites aswell as an online community for loan officers.

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