How To Pre Market A Home

By Matt Unangst, 23 Jan 11:04

• Tell everyone
• Use neighbors
• Be open about price
• Put up For Sale signs
• Make a website
• Tell people at work

Selling a home can be an arduous process. It can often be overwhelming to think about the amount of work you may have to do to market your home and get an offer you are happy with. Things can be made much easier, however, by following a few simple steps.
If you are working with an agent to sell your home, tell the agent that you are going to be doing some of your own pre-marketing and go over your program with him/her before you begin. The agent will be thrilled that you are making his/her job easier and can give you some helpful hints to make yours easier as well.
Be ready to accommodate and negotiate offers before beginning your marketing. You could get an offer at any time, even if you are just testing the waters before hiring an agent.
The first rule of thumb in marketing a home is to tell as many people as possible. The more people who see your home, the greater the chance of someone making an offer. Even people who themselves have no interest in buying your home may know someone who does.
USE YOUR NEIGHBORS
Your neighbors can be the best salespeople around when it comes to selling your home. An open house for neighbors can be an excellent way to let them see your house, which they then may recommend to their friends and family who have always wanted to live in the area. To promote your open house, spend some time making up a flier with a picture of your house and the date and time it will take place, and slip one of these under the doormat of every house for three or four blocks around your own.
Make sure to print the sales price on the flier as well. You should know by the time you are holding the open house what kind of money you are expecting to get and printing the price up front saves you from having to answer everyone who is interested when they inevitably ask you how much you are selling your house for.
Since the neighbor open house is informal, there is not the normal need to make sure everything is completely spic and span before anyone arrives, taking stress off of you. However, the house should still be reasonably tidy and things like litter boxes should be hidden away.
OTHER OPTIONS
It’s a good idea to put up a FOR SALE sign on your property, even before your real estate agent puts up one of his/her own. Many a house hunter spends the weekend driving around through neighborhoods that he/she is interested in, looking for FOR SALE signs. Make sure to put a phone number on your FOR SALE sign.
The internet has given home sellers a great new option – creating their own web sites. If you are working with an agent, the agent will probably be able to set up a web site for you. If you are selling your house yourself, there are a number of free programs available to help you with creating your web site (try www.ekwa.com). On your web site, you can post photos of your house, both inside and out, give specifications for your house (its age and size), and information about nearby schools and parks. If you create your own web site, include the URL on your FOR SALE sign.
More and more homes are being sold through classified ad-style web sites such as Craigslist and Google Base. Many real estate agents are now even using these sites to market homes, and it can’t hurt to list your own. Put a link to your own web site when you list your home on an online classified ad-style web site.
If you work in an office with an in-house online bulletin board or employee publication, list your home there. Big companies’ employee classifieds are an excellent tool for selling almost anything, including a home. Another bonus is that these listings are usually free.

KEYWORDS: houses for sale, homes for sale, for sale, open house, homes online, pre-market, employee publication, classified ads

SEE ALSO: Do Open Houses Work, Photographing Your Home, Where to List Your Home

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Tags: selling home fsbo