FSBO - (For Sale By Owner) HELP page

The two overwhelming mistakes made by home owners selling their house without the assistance of a real estate agent:    1.  Pricing the property too high!   2.  Failing to develop a Marketing Plan which "gets the word out"!   Let it be said that having a real estate agent does not necessarily guarantee that either of these mistakes will be avoided.

Pricing In order to price your property correctly, insure you have a knowledge of market conditions in your area.  What similar homes have sold and at what price and terms. Be realistic on the price and the time it will take to sell.

Marketing Advertising should be part of your marketing plan.  Below are a few links which provide your property with FREE exposure. The Bulletin Board is a publication which offers free non commercial advertising and has a Internet submission page:  http://www.thebulletinboard.com/ Craigslist for Montgomery  A client advertised and investment rental and received numerous inquirers and had the property rented in less than 2 days.  They have a home for sale submission page: https://post.craigslist.org/mgm/H/rfs/none/x Where the above two are directed to a specific area (Montgomery and surrounding area) and in the case of the Bulletin Board may not have a large national following,  the following is a national site and is rather new but it is still free. Zillow.com is a "beta" site and is trying to provide a site to help you with your home valuation.  Its current focus is larger cities i.e. New York etc.  But, it has a free home for sale submission page: http://www.zillow.com/postings/Postings.htm If you know of other sites which allows FREE homes for sale submission by the owner,  please email Jim VanErmen for inclusion in this Web Page.

Home Preparation Considerable information on preparing you home for sale can be found on the listing tips fact page a part of the RealtyVan.com web site:  http://realtyvan.com/page6t.html

Letter  of  Assistance: The following letter has been mailed (no phone calls) to a number of home owners throughout the area: Dear  Homeowner,     We at RealtyVan.com wish to congratulate you on marketing your home.  It is this entrepreneurial spirit that helped make this a great nation.  For a few minutes of your time let us provide a few helpful suggestions.   What are your objectives in selling your home?   First, to pocket the most cash as possible!  Second, to do this within a favorable time frame.  We can help you meet these objectives.     First, we can provide a realistic market analysis showing the prices of sold houses in your area and the prices of houses competing with yours.  Overpricing the house is often the biggest mistake owners make in listing their house.     Second, for the simple cost of a free visit, we provide candid comments on how your house "shows" and provide simple suggestions on how the house can be staged to maximize your profits.  The purpose of this first meeting is NOT to list your home.     Third, on a case by case basis we offer a service to assist in closing the deal by providing a contract for the buyer and seller, holding escrow funds, assisting the buyer in financing, and providing for all the details which may be required from working with the closing attorney to the termite letter etc.  Fees for this service are surprisingly low.     We also sponsor the area's premier Internet Web Site.  By accessing our site you can obtain more helpful information along with numerous tips on preparing your home to sell and valuable advertising suggestions.  Let us know if we can be of further help.     Warm regards,     Jim & Jon VanErmen  REALTORS®