How to save money by not hiring a realtor and selling “For Sale By Owner” instead
Updated: Aug 26
Many people think agents are lazy and get paid a lot of money without much work. Especially in this current seller’s market where Yorktown/Williamsburg homes are selling so QUICKLY.
So, in my professional opinion as a Realtor, here’s what I think every agent should be doing at the bare minimum.
Or, if you are absolutely, positively convinced that you do not want to hire a professional real estate agent like me to list your house… here’s what I recommend doing to sell your home for the highest price possible.
I'm going to share a "to do" list of what I personally do to promote my listings here in Yorktown/Williamsburg:
1) Do a lot of research on homes for sale in your neighborhood.
You want to know the perfect price to list your home at, because this determines the amount of offers you'll receive.
Ideally, you want to ignite a multiple offer situation where buyers are competing against each other and bidding up the price. This won't happen if your home is wildly overpriced! So, paradoxically, you'll probably get a higher final sales price by listing at a reasonable price… and then waiting for potential buyers to maximize the price in a bidding war.
And it all starts with your research on what similar homes have recently sold for.
This is not something that should only take 5-10 minutes. I often spend HOURS researching comparable sales over the last year. Sometimes I even drive out to personally look at the neighborhood area in-person, so I can make sure any nearby houses that recently sold are relevant to compare. Common metrics like "price per square foot" can be really misleading, because it assumes that two homes being compared are identical (same flooring, same countertops, same age roof, same size lot, same age of the home, same siding, etc). There are so many variables that make homes different.
When Realtors do their research, they are looking at the specifics of why certain homes sold:
Did they have hardwood floors? Quartz countertops?
Newly updated bathrooms?
How many bedrooms?
Is the master on the main floor?
Is there anything weird or awkward about the floor plan?
Is there a fenced backyard?
Any HOA fees or regulations to be aware of?
Is the home on a busy street? Or a corner lot that minimizes the usable yard space?
Oftentimes you need to go physically look at area homes that have sold to verify these kinds of things, in-person. You can't just skim Zillow and assume every nearby home that recently sold is "comparable." They're not! All of these details are relevant.
A good agent does hours of research on this, because it's honestly that important. This also comes in handy if and when you need to negotiate with buyers! If you know the market inside out and can reference WHY you are sticking to X price by referencing specific homes that recently sold, your counter offers will have much more substance and will likely be accepted.
People don't like to feel they are being "out-negotiated," but if you appeal to actual data, it removes the emotional friction from the negotiation.
And it all starts with research!
The initial listing price makes a big difference in how the public perceives your house. If you're selling your home as a "for sale by owner," you owe it to yourself to spend as much time as a Realtor would on this. It could cost you tens of thousands of dollars if you don't.
2) Formulate your advertising + promotional plan
After you've done your market research (again, this should take hours and even days, not just minutes), it's time to formulate your advertising + promotional plan. It's not enough to just stick a sign in the yard, cross your fingers, and hope that the phone rings. Even in a hot seller's market like we're in right now, you still need to present the home in such a way that it commands a premium price.
You'll probably get phone calls and interest no matter what, but EXCELLENT marketing is the difference between selling at an amazing price versus just a "pretty good" price. Personally, I spend several thousand dollars every month on my marketing plan. Most of this goes into social media advertising campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube. This is where many people do their researching, so it makes sense to invest your marketing dollars here.
I spend more on advertising than almost any agent I know. You should have the same mentality!
Don't try to "save money" by skimping out on the marketing plan. It won't save you money, but it could COST you tens of thousands of dollars by not selling your home for the absolute highest price possible. I spend even more in the spring and summer months when I'm listing homes and hiring professional photographers for my listings.
Do NOT take your own photos. Hire a professional photographer with experience who specializes in real estate photography. They'll often use a variety of lens (including wide angle) to make your home look as spacious and luxurious as possible. The time of day matters, too. Many photographers take advantage of "golden hour" to get the right exposure and lighting for their photos.
The professionalism of your photos will affect the interest that your home gets.
3) Spend a few thousand dollars EVERY MONTH on social media marketing.
This is what I do for all my listings. It's not enough just to upload a video to YouTube, or post some photos on Facebook or Instagram. If you're serious, you must invest money into actual paid, targeted advertising campaigns. This is the difference between a social media post getting a few hundred views versus tens of thousands.
When you're selling your home, which is probably your biggest financial asset, it makes no sense to skimp on this. You want to generate as much attention as possible, so multiple buyers want your home, bid against each other in a multiple-offer situation, and thus push the price up higher and higher.
I don't think of the thousands of dollars I spend every month on marketing as a "cost" in my business. It's honestly more of an investment. If it helps my clients sell their homes for the highest price possible, it's a great investment!
4) A few other miscellaneous tips:
Invest at least a few hundred dollars professionally cleaning your home before you make it open to the public for showings. Now is not the time to do it yourself. Sometimes this can even cost a thousand dollars, depending on what you need done. And let me tell you, it's worth it. Hire professionals who will deep clean the entire house, including any potential carpets, etc. How the house feels and smells WILL affect buyers. Emotions play a role in all of this....as much as we like to think we're all rational and logical. People will make higher offers on a house that is immaculately clean and smells great. Again, this is not a cost but an investment.
It can be a good idea to hire a licensed home inspector before you list your house. This will probably cost you $300-$400 or so. This reduces any potential fear buyers may have of placing a premium offer on your house, only to find that there were unknown problems or expensive repairs they didn't know about.
Open houses can sometimes work to get people in, but the most important thing is to be super responsive when people call and want to schedule a showing. Right now, this is almost a full-time job for most real estate agents who are selling homes. There are A LOT of buyers out there, and not many homes for sale. So when a new listing hits the market, the rush of buyers wanting to schedule a showing is pretty crazy! Plan to keep your phone on, because you will be extremely busy. It can feel inconvenient to make yourself constantly available, but if it helps your home sell for an extra $10,000, isn't that probably worth it? I think so.
Consider hiring an attorney and/or a real estate agent to guide you through the legal paperwork of contracts, title, etc. You definitely don't want to do this yourself!
You must be a strong negotiator. This is one of the main reasons it often makes sense to hire a real estate agent (studies show that because they are more professional negotiators, realtors typically sell homes for a much higher price than for sale by owners). For that reason alone, it probably makes sense to hire an agent instead of doing all this yourself.
But if you're still determined to sell your home without a realtor, one book I recommend on advanced negotiation tactics is "Never Split The Difference" by Christopher Voss. He used to work for the FBI, and his lessons on the psychology of negotiating are very powerful.
Let me know if you have any questions, I'd be happy to give advice. I'm hoping sharing this will build some goodwill in the future. Who knows, maybe 5 or 10 years down the road, you may decide to work with me! If not, that's cool too. I hope this advice is valuable for you.
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