For Sale by Owner – Marketing Your House for Sale

You’ve decided that the house you are presently occupying no longer suits the needs of you and your family and, after careful deliberation, have opted to put it up for sale, the proceeds of which you will use to purchase a new unit. Since you’re now ready to sell, you must know how you can properly market the house in order to attract the attention of as much potential buyers as possible.

The cheapest and easiest way you can announce to all and sundry that you are selling your house is to put a big “FOR SALE” sign in front of the property. Unfortunately, you are only likely to attract the attention of your neighbours or travellers who are simply passing through the area. Another relatively cost-effective way of marketing your property is by placing attractive posters on community bulletin boards (in church, the supermarket), where foot traffic is high.

If you want to reach a wider market, you can place an advertisement in the classified ads. Placing an ad is not very expensive but you may have to limit the number of words or characters. If you plan to place an ad in the classifieds, make sure that you are familiar with the real estate lingo and abbreviations, and it is advised that you put several short ads over an extended period of time rather than place one long advertisement once. An alternative is to place an advertisement in real estate related publications and magazines.

To reach a bigger market, you can place an advertisement on the internet. Being visible on the World Wide Web is no longer as costly as it was before. If you do your homework well, you would be able to find sites that offer very competitive rates and prices. Compare services first so you can get the most out of your money.

In addition to these marketing strategies, it also helps if you prepare brochures or flyers showing a photo of your property and listing down main points of interest (of the house and the community / neighbourhood). What’s good about brochures is that they are very handy. You can place a brochure holder in front of your home (by your For Sale sign or beside your mailbox), you can bring several copies with you to the office and distribute it to your colleagues, you can even ask your friends and relatives to help out by handing over a stack and requesting them to give it out to their friends. These brochures will also come in handy when you host open house events. Potential home buyers can just grab a copy and compare your home’s features with the other properties they are contemplating on buying.

There are several other ways by which you can effectively, cost efficiently and creatively market your home. You just have to think out of the box. Make sure, however, that your marketing activities will not bother or annoy other people.