The global housing market is in tough times. Trying to sell your home in such a market can be a major headache. With profit margins at all time low, saving on real estate agent fees are more significant than ever before.
There are still a number of ways to market your property without engaging the services of a real estate agent. Here are some alternative ways that you can market your property and save yourself thousands of dollars in selling fees.
Market your Property Using Social Media
The most common use of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are to post funny pictures and poke fun at friends and family. However, more and more commercial companies are turning to using social media to market their products so why can’t you use it to market your property! Facebook is a great way to advertise your property. Interest grows as friends look at the pictures of your home and leave comments, in turn, friends of your friends will have visibility for your property and so the interest snowballs and can gather significant momentum.
Twitter can work the same way. Even though you only get 140 characters, with the use of clever marketing, you might be able to get your tweet read by millions of the 175 million registered twitter users.
For Sale By Owner
Another way to get the word out about your house while staying in charge of the sale is to sell your house yourself. By cutting out any real estate agent and going with a private home sale, not only do you keep all control over the listing, you don’t have to worry about commission or fees. This allows you to keep 100% of the sale price. You will find sites on the internet that will allow you to list your property for free or very little and for a relatively small price also supply you with a for sale board. It is worth noting how effective a for sale board can be when you consider that 80 percent of the population will only move relocate 10 miles from where they currently live.
House Swap
Whilst not that common a house swap is exactly what it says on the tin! Believe if it or not there are websites out there where you can register your property details for other interested house swappers to search and you can search yourself for properties that fit your criteria. You can arrange a straight swap if you believe both properties to be of similar value, or if one property is of greater value than the other a cash settlement can be made to balance this inequality. It is recommended though that if an agreement is made with another party willing to swap their property, that the services of a lawyer is engaged to complete the swap.
Auction
Another way to sell your house without a traditional real estate agent is to put your home up for auction. There are several agencies that can do this for you, but it will end up costing you a percentage of your final sale price. Auctions can be difficult to locate in your area so keep your eyes out for their boards. Whilst you will typically be charged a percentage of the sale price this can often still be a cheaper method to sell your home than a real estate agent and the speed of the sale often far quicker.
If you are serious about saving money on real estate agent selling fees then give one or more of the above methods a try. They do work and if you try one of these alternatives we’d love to hear from you!
