All About For Sale By Owner (FSBO)

How to Sell your Apartment, Plot, or Home in Kenya using the For Sale By Owner (FSBO).

Keyword: For Sale By Owner, FSBO

If you’ve found yourself on this website, you are most likely a property owner looking to cut out the middle-man of a Realtor®, save commission money, and take on the project of selling your home using a “For Sale By Owner”. We have created an FSBO how-to guide that will show you the best practices for selling your own home. It is a step-by-step guide that will hopefully get your home sold quickly. We cover Quiet a lot including the following :

1. A 2013 National Association of Realtors® study found that the typical sold price of an FSBO home is $184K compared to $230k sold by a licensed agent.
2. FSBO properties take on average 190 more days to sell than those listed with Realtors®.
3. A survey revealed that the top challenge for FSBO sellers was was:-paperwork, getting the price right, and preparing the home for sale.
4. Did you know that approximately 80% of people who try the FSBO method, give up and end up listing with a Realtor®? It doesn’t hurt to at least discuss with a Realtor® before trying FSBO.
5. If you own and want to sell a property in Kenya, get a free consultation from a Liberty Sales Champion. We have over 25 years of experience. Chat with us about your situation without any pressure to sell your property with Liberty.

The full 10-Step For Sale By Owner (FSBO) PROCESS

1. Set the Right Price for Your ‘For Sale by Owner’ Apartment, Home, Plot, or Property

Advice. Set a realistic price for your Home or Property

Background

Pricing a home right from the get-go is probably the most important step in the sales process, regardless of whether you sell with or without an agent. The right price for your home is the most important part of the entire FSBO process.

A price that is set too high will put off buyers and they will not give your property a second glance; A price set too low on the other hand will make you sell in no time while also effectively making you lose money that was genuinely yours had the house or property been priced correctly.

Remember, the typical Kenya Buyer is an aggressive shopper that has the time to see and compare up to 40 properties before making a decision

Your home will only sell at the price a buyer is willing to pay, – not higher.

When you set the price for your home, it must be based on similar or comparable homes sold (comps) in your real estate market. Depending on how soon you want it sold, you can price it at market value or below market value.

Analysis

You have two ways in which you can set the correct price for your home or property

OPTION 1 – SET THE PRICE of your FSBO The HARD WAY

You will need to do some research and analyze the price of comparable properties that you are selling. You can use website research to uncover “listing or asking prices”. You will need to adjust the price based on any added features or lack thereof that your property may have. This isn’t an exact science and it works best in neighborhoods where owners buy and sell more often, and in homes that are similar in style and size to other nearby homes. If you have a unique home in a unique location (like a custom waterfront home for example), it becomes more difficult to price, but a proper analysis is still the key.

OPTION 2 – SET THE PRICE For your FSBO The HARD WAY

To get a sense of your home’s value, consider hiring a professional real estate valuer or appraiser.

In addition to a valuation or appraisal, you should look at comparable sales in your area. Essentially, that means looking for similar homes that have recently sold in your area. Find out what those homes are sold for and what makes your home different.

You can also use property search websites to find information about recently sold properties. But be careful of relying too heavily on these sites’ estimates of your home’s value. The values can be inaccurate and might not take into consideration recently sold homes in your area that are similar in age, condition, and size to your listing.

Once you decide on a price it’s time to get the home prepared…

3. GET YOUR PROPERTY READY FOR SALE

Advice: It takes time to meticulously prepare and Get your home or property ready for a SALE, You’ll need to get your property in tip-top shape before selling.

Here are some tips for prepping your home for sale before any listing, photo shoot, or showings to the client.:

1. Repair and Fix all the basics. Ensure that everything is in working order! You want to avoid any problems with the home that could prevent a sale or become negotiating points for buyers. Do not make major renovations or additions as they will more than likely be a net loss for you. Instead, meticulously go through the house from the crawl space to the attic and roof, and make sure everything is in working order. If you think there could be issues, it may be a good idea to contact a home inspector for a pre-listing home inspection. But as an FSBO seller, you’ll want to be very careful not to overspend on repairs. If you need to hire out for repairs, make sure to get written estimates from at least two contractors.
2. Declutter: De-clutter and deep clean your house so it smells great, and is free and clear when walking through it. You might be used to loads of furniture in your house, but to a stranger, it may feel way overcrowded. Most of the time, homeowners will need to consider removing furniture, containers, trinkets, and items that don’t add to the appeal of the home. We all have an emotional attachment to our homes and the things in them,” Oliva says. “But once you decide to sell it, your house is no longer a home. It’s a product on the market.” By getting rid of the clutter and junk, you can maximize your money and sell for the highest amount in the shortest amount of time.
3. Make it sparkle: Cleaning can do wonders. A little Windex here and a little Pledge there can bring in more money. If your budget allows, consider hiring a cleaning crew to do a deep clean, Lappin suggests.
4. Add curb appeal: The first impression is everything, and your home’s exterior should be immaculate. Spend some time on bringing the curb appeal up. Oftentimes, buyers will drive by a property and add or reject it based on just how it looks from the outside. Make sure the shrubbery is trimmed, weeds are pulled, new mulch or pine needles are installed, and the grass is as green and clean as you can get it. Pull out any weeds, add fresh mulch and store toys or bikes out of sight. Add a few pots of colorful flowers on the entryway or porch. Finally, add a fresh coat of paint to the front door and a new welcome mat as finishing touches.

4. Staging the Property for Sale

TIP: Make your home look as presentable as possible

The staging of your home is crucial to make the entire marketing package of your home easier and better,

Buying a home is a very emotional process. People rely on gut feelings more often than logic. This is where staging comes in.

The idea is to control the buyer experience as they view or walk through the house or property. We need to make the buyer feel and imagine themselves as the new home or property owner.

Liberty has professional stagers that work every day to make and transform homes to look great for photos and in-person showings. We can avail furniture and interior decor for hire at affordable prices

Many For Sale By Owner home sellers want to save money, so if you opt-out of using a professional, pretend that you are having the governor and his family over for dinner. What would you do to make your home look as presentable as possible? Would you go out and maybe buy a few flowers? Maybe you’d hide ‘that oversized chair’ that you’ve had just a few years too long. Another trick is to have someone over who doesn’t come often and ask them to be HONEST about what they like and what is a bit distracting. (For best results, find someone who can be honest!)

5. Property Photo and Video Shoot

PHOTO

Hire a professional photographer: Displaying professional photos online is a must to draw buyers in, A real estate photographer can vary in price depending on your location and the size of your home Some photographers may also provide a virtual tour service to help market your home online

have large windows.

For best results, a professional photographer is needed for bright, crisp, and well-angled photos that feature the house well. If you would rather not hire a professional, then take the photos with the best camera available with the widest angle lens available.

Open all the windows, turn on all the lights (even the little lamps), and make the home as bright as possible. If there is a time of day that you get more natural light, take the pictures at that time. Don’t take photos when it’s dark or cloudy.

When taking photos, don’t be creative with portrait orientation photos, stick with landscape photos that match more closely to what your eyes see. Get Wide! When taking photos, back up as far back as you can to get the widest angle possible. This makes the room appear at least as large as they do in person. The closer you zoom in, the smaller the room appears.

The “Big One”

The most important photo is the front exterior of the home. This photo must be taken excellently. The best times to take this specific photo are early morning or late afternoon. Choose a time when the sun is shining on the front of the home as opposed to having the sun behind the house, causing unwanted shadows.

If you are an advanced photographer, you could think about using a twilight photo to make even more of an impact. However, the twilight photo works best on homes that are well-lit from the outside and have large windows.

As you can see by these before and after photos, a photo can make a BIG impression on the perception and value of a house. Before the photo was taken by the owner in an attempt to market the home for sale by owner, the second photo was taken by a professional on the Lake Norman Mike team shortly after to demonstrate the difference.

Video

Having a professional video tour will bring even more awareness and help spread the news about your house. Did you know that videos are much more likely to be shared on social media than photos and text combined?

Youtube is the world’s second-largest search engine and Posting a video will further improve the visibility of your property listings

Drone Photography

Drone photography is becoming increasingly popular within the real estate industry. Aerial photography provides agents and sellers with a new way to display property highlights, acreage, and features. Using drone photography for your real estate listing can show your home from a unique perspective. It can allow you to show the surrounding areas of your home in a single shot. As real estate drone photography is becoming more popular, many listings are still solely using traditional images to feature their home. Adding aerial images to your listing will draw more attention to your home and help you stand out among your competitors, potentially leading to a faster sale.

6. Market, Advertise, and Promote the For Sale by Owner Apartment, Home, Plot, or Property

Advice: Create massive awareness using multiple channels to make your home or property visible to potential buyers. This is called marketing your home.

6.1 Erect a Lawn Sign

Real Estate is local and the best market segment to target is your neighborhood. Let them know that the property is available for sale. Directional signs to your home could help get a few more people to it who are just browsing around neighborhoods. Use the biggest ones your community allows, and make sure you have your phone number on it too!

A professionally branded “for sale” sign can bring up the perceived value of the house much better than a store-bought sign. Think about sneakers that have the Nike brand on them compared to a generic brand, even if they are the same shoe, which is more desirable? It works similarly when selling a home. People expect higher-valued homes to be branded better.

6.2 Market Using the Internet

Over 92% of people use the internet to find and buy homes and properties. The key to internet marketing is to find and use the right Keywords. Your potential customer will find you using these keywords and they may include: –

• Type of Property eg 2 Bedroom Apartment
• Location eg Lavington

If you need some help with how to post to these websites, a simple search for “how to list my home by owner on [INSERT SITE NAME HERE]” on google.com will get you the answers.

Make sure you properly add all the details about your home correctly. Details and clarity make all the difference and you will need to use the acceptable lingo and terms for an example. decks, balconies, porches, garages, and carports. Floor-to-ceiling closets, standby generators, etc For More information about this click here.

Where to post your home for sale…

• Buy Rent Kenya
• Liberty Website
• Property 24

6.2 Advertise or Market your FSBO Using traditional print media

Where to post your home for sale…

• Daily Nation
• Standard Newspaper
• Star Newspaper

6.3 Advertise or Market your FSBO Using Social Media

Post and market your home using social media that may include

• Whatsapp,
• Facebook,
• Instagram, and
• other social media sites.

More importantly: Ask your network or family, friends, and colleagues to share the posts. Place a great FOR-SALE sign in your yard so that you can activate and get the message to your neighbors.

6.4 Use Social Media to Advertise or Market your For Sale By Owner (FSBO) Property (Apartment, Home, House, or Plot)

Other effective cost-effective channels where you can advertise include:- the signboards at Church, Market Centers, and Shopping Malls.

Share your FSBO listing with different local communities and groups on Facebook. You can find these groups by searching on Facebook for “your city” and then clicking search. When the results appear, click “Groups” to see all city-related groups.

If you use other social media platforms like Twitter, Google Plus, Linked In, or something else, You should let everyone know you are selling your house. Many of your friends will “like” and even share the post out of courtesy to you.

7. Show your Property

Buyer Appointments

To better your chance of scoring a buyer, you need to be flexible and show the property to as many buyers as possible and at their convenience. You must be open to buyers’ schedules and you cannot keep them waiting for weeks or even days.

During this period your home will need to be kept as clean as possible for each show, with a focus on minimizing clutter. Keep that toilet seat down!

Another thing to note is that once you post your listing on these websites, you will begin getting calls from Realtors® attempting to be hired to sell your listing. The best way to keep them from keep calling is to let them know you are already committed to a Realtor® should you decide to list with one.

Most buyers will want to have the home inspected which will more than likely find things that need repaired and taken care of.

OPEN HOUSE: You could also schedule an open house: Instead of having private appointments with potential buyers, Plan to have an open house during a weekend afternoon. An open house provides buyers with the perfect opportunity to see your home up close without the hard sales pitch. Consider printing out listing sheets showing the key details of your home so attendees have something to take with them and a way to get a hold of you to make an offer.

8. Receive Offers Confirm a buyer’s financials

When you receive an offer, you’ll need to confirm whether a buyer can afford a home. Please ask for a mortgage preapproval letter From any buyer that wants to use a Mortgage. As a seller, you also have the right to call the lender, to confirm. but Realtors do not, she adds.

Find out how much of a down payment the buyer is offering, what loan program they’re using, and how much they’re qualified to borrow from a lender. If a buyer has conditional loan approval, find out what types of conditions they have to meet to secure final approval.

Be aware that during this process you’ll need to negotiate with :

• The buyer who wants the best deal possible
• The buyer’s agent represents the best interest of the buyer.
• The buyer’s attorney (If the buyer has no agent)
• The home inspection companies which work for the buyer will almost always find some problems with the house
• The appraiser if there is a question of value.

Note on Negotiations: Just like trying to represent yourself in court, it’s always best to be represented by a third party whose sole purpose is your best interest. This is the reason why over 90% of home sellers choose to use a Realtor® as opposed to going FSBO.

9. Contracts Paper Work. Should you use a Lawyer?

You do not necessarily need to hire an attorney to sell your house on your own “However, if you are going to sell your home by yourself, it’s probably a prudent decision and expense to do so,” Murtaza says. He adds that you should hire someone who specializes in real estate law. “A novice seller can get into trouble when complications start arising.”

A real estate attorney will likely charge a fee and you’ll receive much of the same guidance that you would from a good real estate broker, he says. For example, an attorney can help you evaluate complex offers, draft closing documents and ensure the legal side of the sale runs smoothly.

“If I were selling by myself, I would want an attorney representing me in the sale,” Cianciulli says.

Once you accept an offer, the buyer’s agent or lawyer will put together the contract possibly with contingencies and other terms and conditions that may not be in your best interest.

Note: At this point in the transaction, once an offer is accepted, there is still a possibility it never makes it to closing. Put another way, many times an issue will arise that will cause the deal to fall through.

From here an escrow needs to be opened where a deposit will be held after providing instructions. This can be done by the buyer, you the seller, or the buyer’s agent, but will more than likely be done by you the seller if there is no agent involved.

The signed contract will allow the buyer to inspect the property thoroughly. The buyers will normally use inspection companies that will go through the entire house from top to bottom looking for anything needing repairs or replaced—and unless your house is brand new, they will find things, trust me! If there are major repairs, you’ll need to have those fixed and other findings may cause the buyer to want to renegotiate the price or cancel the sale altogether.

Inspections will be done to assess:

• Septic – Is it clogged? Does the size match the number of rooms?
• Well, Water Test – Is it free and clear of bacteria, heavy metals, and other contaminants?
• Termite Inspection
• Full Home Inspection
• Radon Inspection
• Land Survey

Remember, all repairs are negotiable but issues with the property are normally taken care of by the seller (that would be you!).

10. Closing the Deal

If everything is taken care of during the entire process, the closing should occur about 90 days after the sales agreement contract is signed by both parties. A meeting at the closing attorney’s office to sign the deed and closing statement is done on the day of closing. Both Buyer and Seller will usually be present for this meeting.

If you do decide to << hire a real estate agent >> Link to our Agents

Keep in mind that while real estate commissions are negotiable, a listing agent typically splits the commission fee down the middle with a buyer’s agent.

There are also some benefits and attractions when you sell your home yourself—also known as “for sale by owner” (FSBO)

Advantages and Disadvantages of using FSBO or Sale-By-Owner to Sell your Home, Apartment, House, Plot, or Property

3 Advantages FSBO or Sale-By-Owner

• You will Save on commission fees: You’ll keep more of your profits after closing the sale. You can save thousands of dollars. Depending on the complexity of a deal the standard real estate agent’s commission in Kenya is between 3% to 10%—that’s Ksh.100,000 to Ksh300 000 on a Ksh 3m home. You could save this entire fee if you can act for yourself. We however recommend you read 10 reasons why you may want to reconsider.<< Hyper Link>>
• You will have full control over the Sale Process: You will be selling your property with the least amount of middlemen. You make all the decisions that will include how to sell or market your home, how to advertise etc. You directly deal with buyers and/or their agents and get to choose which offers to consider.
• In some cases you may make a quicker sale using FSBO or Sale-By-Owner especially if you have networks or are selling a prime or hot property: According to the National Association of Realtors’ 2020 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 77 percent of US FSBO homes sell in less than two weeks.

3 Disadvantages of FSBO or Sale-By-Owner

• Selling is not easy! Not everyone is born or is an expert salesperson. Selling requires time, and patience and can be overwhelming. It means you do it all – prepping it for sale, analyzing recent sales, marketing, answering the phone, setting up appointments, fielding offers, and negotiating with a buyer.
• You could lose money. Selling a property without using a Realtor typically leads to a lower sales price due to costly mistakes like underpricing. The USA median sales price for an FSBO home was $217,900 in 2020, nearly $25,000 less than the median sales price of $242,300 for agent-assisted home sales.
• You are Alone. You must tack obstacles without professional help: This could cost you money and will include dealing with non-permitted work, issues with the title deed, Mutations, transfers or repairs, and financing issues. A Realtor regularly deals with these problems; going it alone can be a challenge.

Learn more:

• Home-seller tips that put money in your pocket
• How much are closing costs for home sellers?
• How much does it cost to sell a house?

Our guide was created from scratch with experiential real estate expertise and with some additional guidance from many sources.