How I Sold My Home On My Own In 3 Days – A FSBO Interview

Seller InterviewSeller Interview:  11/18/2014

During the process of building the ultimate resource to help you sell your home on your own, I am interviewing For Sale By Owner sellers.  From time to time, I will publish a recap of one of my interviews.  To protect the identities of the sellers, I will leave their names out of the article.  I want to protect these sellers because at the time of the interview, they are still in the process of selling their home.  At the end of each interview, I ask the sellers what advice they would give to someone selling their home on their own for the first time. 

Download the full case study here.

About the Seller

This was not the seller’s first house he sold on his own. He sold 8-9 homes on his own before this one.  He chooses to sell his houses on his own because he wants to avoid the realtor fees.

If he can’t sell it on his own, he will go to a realtor, but he has never had to go that far.  I asked him if he used an MLS service this time and he said no.

After the interview, I reviewed the Zillow listing and the home was sold earlier this year for a much lower price.  This and some comments made during the interview indicates that this seller is an investor.  So, pay attention, we are learning from a pro!

How Did The Seller List the Home

The seller and his wife started by doing some upgrades to the home and staging it.  They used their own furniture to stage it.  You can see the staged pictures below.

On Friday night he put an ad on Craigslist for an open house.  He got a little traffic from that ad.  However, when he was waiting on Saturday, he added the house to Zillow.  Within about 5 minutes, he got about a half dozen calls.  He got an offer on Sunday morning.  It was his first caller on Saturday from Zillow who ended up buying his house.

The sellers have conducted many open houses in the past.  During the open house, he and his wife are in the home and they greet each buyer as they come in.  After introductions, he and his wife will have a sense of which one has the better connection with the buyer and that person gives them a tour.  If they have multiple buyers, his wife will take a buyer and he will take the other buyer.

Download the full case study here.

How Did The Seller Price The Home?

The seller called two realtors and asked them to conduct a market analysis on his home.  He then did his own research using REI Black Book.  REI Black Book is a piece of software for real estate investors.

To do his own market analysis, he looks at all the comps (comparable houses) in his neighborhood.  He then looks at the size, square footage, bedrooms, bathrooms, and upgrades.  He gets an average price per square foot and then looks to see if the improvements done on his home warrant any increase in price per square foot.

He starts with houses in his own neighborhood.  In this case, he had one of the largest houses in the neighborhood so there were very few comps.  He needed to go outside of his neighborhood to find similar houses per square foot and upgrades.

The two realtor comps were similar to his.  He decided to list his home at $249,000.

Negotiating the Sale of the Home

The first offer was for $223,000, about 10% lower than the asking price.  They buyers wanted some furniture and other odds and ends in the home as well.  He countered at $245,000 and the buyers came back at $228,000.  His last counter was at $238,000 excluding the furniture.

The buyers accepted that offer.

The final sale price was $15,000 over the buyer’s initial offer and $11,000 under the list price.

At the time of the sale, the Zestimate® was $237,020.

He told the buyers that if they wanted the furniture, he would price it separately and he did.  The buyers are currently considering the furniture package.

Download the full case study here.

Closing On The Home

The seller had his own contract template, so once the deal was negotiated, he sent over the contract to sign.  Now that the contract is signed, he will send it to the Title Company to take care of the rest.

The buyers plan on getting an inspection (smart).   The seller has a few small items he knows he needs to address before the inspector comes.  After the inspection, he will make repairs up to $250.  If anything comes back higher than that, he will negotiate with the buyer.

What Advice Would You Give Other Sellers?

Be sure to price the home correctly depending on how fast you want to sell it.  Know your bottom line.  If you price it right and it shows well, you will not have a problem getting what you want for the home.

Download the full case study here.

Lesson’s Learned

  • Take time to price your home right. Use all the tools at your disposal including real estate agents and online data.
  • Stage your home. Make your home look like it should be on TV and your buyers will fall in love with it.
  • This process is easy! Once you go FSBO, you will never go to an agent again.

Now, Back Over To You…Reader

How does this negotiation stack up to your last home sale?  Tell me your story below in the comments.

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