If you’re a homeowner that’s on the fence about selling your home, now is the time to do it.
A lot of homeowners have decent equity in their homes, and there are still plenty of buyers that are entering the market. And with economic uncertainty on the horizon, it’s better to sell now rather than wait.
With today’s hot market and new tech, it’s easier than ever to sell a home on your own. As long as you have the right real estate advertising ideas, you can find a buyer for your home in no time.
How to Sell Your House On Your Own: Our Essential How-To Guide
You don’t need to work in real estate to know how to sell your home. Marketing and advertising is everything for home sellers, and luckily, you can do a lot of the needed work on your own.
If you want to know how to sell your home like a pro, look no further. We have plenty of advertising ideas that can help you sell your home.
Get Show Ready
Before you do anything related to selling your home, you need to make sure that it’s ready to be marketed.
When you’re cleaning your home to make it sale-ready, your usual maintenance routine isn’t going to cut it. Invest some time in extra cleaning and home maintenance to make your home truly stand out.
Hire a deep cleaning service to get everything extraordinarily clean. Also, consider hiring some landscaping help to get your lawn and garden under control.
You may not want to invest a lot of money into the exterior if you’re selling your home as-is, but spending some time adding a new coat of paint or replacing old shutters can help.
Take Great Photos
This may be one of the most essential parts of successfully selling your home in 2019.
Regardless of how you try to advertise and sell your home, pictures are going to play an important role in what you do. You’re going to need them for listings, social media, and nearly anything else you can think of.
Most modern smartphones have pretty decent cameras, so you should be able to snap some nice pictures of your home yourself. Read up on some general photography tips to make sure that you’re using proper lighting.
If you really want to go the extra mile, consider renting a professional camera for your photoshoot. Or, take it a step further and spend a little money on a professional photographer.
Hiring a professional photographer doesn’t have to cost a lot. You could easily find an aspiring photographer at a local college or could use services like Thumbtack and Craigslist to hire someone.
Remember to get shots of every room from a variety of angles. Some realtors suggest taking no less than 30 photos to show off your entire home, and that includes the front and backyard.
Make a Virtual Tour
Now that you have a lot of pictures, put them to good use by creating a virtual tour of your home.
Let’s face it, people these days are busy. You could have a lot of interested buyers that will never contact you simply because they don’t have the time to schedule an in-person tour if they aren’t 100% sure they’re interested in buying.
A virtual tour can give people the opportunity to “walk through” your property without ever having to leave their homes. They’ll be able to see certain features that can’t be described in a listing or shown in a static picture.
All you need to create a virtual tour is a 360° camera (keep in mind that a lot of smartphones let you take panoramic and 360° pictures) and a program to stitch everything together.
Google’s Tour Creator is a very simple virtual tour tool that nearly anyone can learn to use.
Don’t Forget Signage
When there are so many ways to utilize technology to sell homes, it’s easy to forget that sometimes simple methods can be just as effective.
A for sale sign may be old fashioned, but it’s a very easy way to let people know that you’re ready and eager to sell.
Plenty of people explore neighborhoods they want to move to before they pick a home. Your home’s next owner could be taking a stroll around the block!
Don’t forget to mention that you’re personally selling your home by using the language “for sale by owner” on your sign. Some people prefer to work with private sellers over realtors.
Create Listings
When you’re selling your home, don’t limit yourself to posting on a single site. Post to as many different realty websites as possible so you can get a lot of eyes on your property.
Don’t underestimate the power of sites like Craigslist. A site like Craigslist is hyper-local and can ensure that you’re targeting people that are nearby and interested in living locally.
There are so many different websites that are made for selling homes. Zillow and Trulia are some of the most popular sites, but they certainly aren’t your only options.
Finding websites to post listings on your own can be difficult. We recommend using a service that can make sure that your listing ends up in all the right places.
Don’t Leave Out Details in Your Listing
Your listing should always include information about the size of the house and the number of rooms. Basic information is helpful, but you shouldn’t be afraid to advertise to add value to your home.
Did you recently replace the crown molding? Are kitchen appliances less than a year old?
Always call out recent repairs and renovations in all of your listings. They’ll add extra value to your house and give people a better idea about important features in your home.
Go beyond features of the house itself, and add in some important information about the neighborhood and surrounding area.
When you think beyond the traditional offerings a home has to offer, you can think of all the unique selling points that come along with your house.
Are there a lot of young and growing families on your block? Is there a school within walking distance of your house?
Maybe your area isn’t great for young families, but it’s the perfect place to retire and find older friends. Or it could be the opposite, and you could live in a thriving metro area that attracts a lot of young adults.
Utilize Social Media
If you have a profile on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, you have access to a powerful real estate marketing tool.
Do a quick search on the platform of your choice for hashtags like #JustListed, #OpenHouse, and #HomeForSale. As you can see, there are already a lot of people using social media to buy and sell homes.
You can choose to create a special profile that’s devoted to selling your home, but you may want to consider using your personal profile for promotion.
Your personal profile is already full of a lot of important connections in your professional and personal network. You don’t want to miss out on marketing your home to them.
Make picture-heavy posts that emphasize the best features of your home. Make sure to list important details in the text portion of your posts, and leave a way for people to contact you either through a phone number or email.
You should also consider joining groups that are devoted to helping people buy and sell homes. You can connect with potential buyers and find another place to post your listing.
Consider Paid Social Media
Posting on social media is one thing, but putting together a small ad campaign can help bring your social advertising to the next level. Putting ads on social media is simple, and it could do a lot to help you sell your house.
The key to creating successful real estate based ads on social media is to focus on targeting. If you target your ads correctly, you’ll be able to ensure that they’re reaching the right people.
You can target by location to make sure that you’re only reaching people in the immediate area. Some people prefer to enter their zip codes along with zip codes from nearby towns.
It’s also important to consider targeting by income levels. Use a mortgage calculator to see what a reasonable income level is for buying your house.
One of the most important and new features you can use on Facebook is targeting homeownership status. You can target based on whether or not they own a home, rent, or if they’re soon-to-be first-time buyers.
Going Beyond Real Estate Advertising Ideas
When you combine classic and modern real estate advertising ideas, you can find a buyer for your home in no time. Remember to reference this article when you’re ready to sell your home so you can handle the process the right way.
Now that you have some ideas on how to advertise your home, it’s time to think about the legal side of selling.
