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Selling your house is something you’ll have to do maybe just a few times in your life. Unless you happen to know a local Savannah real estate agent who will sell your house for free or at a hugely discounted commission…
So you’ve landed on this page about “How to sell your house by yourself in Savannah GA” because of a few reasons I’m guessing…
- You’re in foreclosure (or heading that way) and just need to sell fast without incurring thousands in agent commissions
- You have no or very little equity in your house so you can’t afford to pay a real estate agent’s commissions
- You have equity but want to try to save money selling the house yourself before you resort to hiring an agent
- You can’t wait the months and months it sometimes takes to sell a house in the Savannah area in this market so you want to try to sell it more quickly
There are ways to sell your house yourself in the local Savannah real estate market.
The housing sector has been experiencing a major recovery since at least 2013. Selling your house now can be profitable if you do it right. In most cases, it is about using smart marketing strategies and being realistic about your expectations of what you want to achieve if you can sell.
In this article, we want to provide you with some guidelines to help you sell your Savannah area house yourself.
How To Sell Your House By Yourself In Savannah GA – Let’s Dive In
Learn the Savannah Real Estate Market (and the Coastal Region!)
First and foremost, you should do some market research on your neighborhood in Savannah GA. Several home marketing sites (Zillow, Eppraisal, Chase home value estimator, etc.) can be used to find out how much your home is worth, and you can also read about market pricing methods. If you do your homework on these issues, you will be able to determine the right price for your house and avoid making certain selling errors.
In case you’d rather not deal with the hassle of trying to figure out a home value yourself, you can call us at (912) 421-9907 and we’ll give you a fair, honest assessment of the value of your home (if you’re wanting to wait the 3-6+ months to find the perfect buyer). For those who want to sell quickly, we’ll make you a fair all-cash offer on their house (we can close in as little as 7 days if you wish to).
Asses the market
As with market research, this step is similar to that of examining comparable homes in your neighborhood. Are there lots of houses for sale in your neighborhood here in Savannah? If so, what is the average that they are listing for? Are there lots of foreclosures in your neighborhood? That may drag your house price down.
Asses the house
When you are selling your house, you want to make sure it is in good condition in order to get the best price possible. When marketing it, identify certain unique characteristics and emphasize them. In Savannah, for example, homes with driveway parking may be more appealing to buyers than ones with garages.
Are there any repairs that need to be made to your house? Do you need to re-paint it inside or out? Is the roof in good condition? Is the landscaping in good shape? Is the house outdated in any way? (Yellow tiles in the kitchen. Popcorn ceilings. etc.). The buyer’s perception of these things can change the price that they’re willing to pay.
Having gone through all of this, try to come up with a price for your Savannah home that is fair, isn’t so high that it takes 12 months to sell, and is attractive enough to get a frenzy of buyers.
Use Photos & Videos
Media is a huge obsession for Savannah buyers. A video walk-through of the house can be used to advertise the house and reach a broader audience. As a matter of fact, these videos are considered to be more transparent than taking photos. Even so, if you prefer the video, you should not hesitate to use the photo option because it is more reasonable.
Take a picture in every room of the house from any angle you can. You will also want to take pictures of the exterior of the house from the road as well as from a few different angles. Buyers want to see the house before they visit. Having a generous number of pictures of your house online can be the difference between getting the right buyer’s attention fast or waiting months and months for a possible sale.
“List” with Local Savannah MLS and Start Marketing
You can place ads in the local newspaper (Savannah Morning News), place signs on the roads, or host an open house but nothing is going to be quite as efficient as an MLS Listing.
It may be possible to quickly find a low-fee real estate broker who may only charge just a few hundred dollars to put your property on the local Savannah MLS. This places your house in front of all of the real estate agents quickly. (Be prepared to pay “buyer” agents a 2-3% buyers broker fee if you expect to have their support in helping you find a buyer.)
Can You Sell Your Savannah House Fast Yourself?
It’s a lot of work. In the end, many Savannah house sellers think they’re saving money and time by marketing the house themselves when in reality it costs them tons of time and more money.
Here are some things you need to keep in mind when going the FSBO route…
- Are you a talented marketer? Are you ready to spend an unknown number of hours marketing your house right? Be sincere about your time constraints and abilities. Selling yourself may not be your best choice.
- Is the house prepared and can you create the marketing materials to catch the eye of future buyers? Presenting a property that is already working for buyers to build up the value of their new purchase in their minds. That being said, if you aren’t already savvy in how to highlight these aspects of the sale, you may get 3-8% less than you may have gotten for the same house with an experienced person marketing for you.
- Are you prepared for holding & opportunity costs? Every month that the house doesn’t sell means another payment on the mortgage, another tax payment, insurance again, utilities, etc. For example, if your mortgage payment is $1,500/mo… and $1,300 of that is interest. If it takes you just 7 months to sell, that costs you an extra $9,100 (NOT including taxes and insurance you paid during that time). If you were able to sell that house more quickly, would it make sense for you to provide a buyer with a discounted price today so you can close quickly and move on? Would you rather not put up with the hassle of trying to sell a Savannah house yourself… and would you rather just sell quickly for a fair price without paying any commissions or fees?
We at 32Homes LLC. actually buy local Savannah, GA houses.
We would love to make you a fair offer with NO OBLIGATION and NO HASSLE on your house for cash.
We can close quickly (in as little as 7 days if you want)which will save you thousands of dollars vs. trying to sell a property yourself and waiting who knows how many months.
When we buy local Savannah houses we do all repairs that are needed (and we pay for it ourselves) so you won’t have to worry about that.
If you want to see what we can pay for your house, give us a call today at (912) 421-9907 or just fill out the quick simple form through the link here.