One of the biggest concerns investors and homeowners alike have in this market is how to sell your home fast… And it doesn’t matter if it’s your personal residence or an investment deal.
You can use this strategy to find a retail buyer for a house you’ve already rehabbed, a tenant-buyer for a lease option, or a straight renter to fill a vacancy. When I refer to the term “buyer” below, I’m referring to anyone that’s going to move into or take the property off of your hands.
Here are 5 Steps to Selling Your House Fast.
1. Determine who your “target buyer” is…
Determine who you’re really trying to sell to. Each type of buyer has different wants and different needs. Spend some time pinpointing the exact person that you envision selling your house to. For example, there are dozens of types of retail buyers: first time homebuyers, retirees, 2nd home buyers, move up buyers, etc. If you’re going to sell your home to an investor, is it someone that’s looking to fix and flip or buy and hold?
2. Figure out what’s important to them… and give it to them!
This is where you’re going to want to look at staging your deals and making them look their best! Yes, you want to do this even if your buyer is the rehab investor because people are human and they still see the junk in front of them. Get into the minds of your buyer and imagine what they’ll be DOING once they get into your property. Remember, the goal is to sell your home FAST! So, do a few things to make that happen.
3. Stage the Property
I can tell you that I resisted this for a LONG, LONG time! It seemed like a waste of time and a waste of money, but when you do it right, you can get it done for a fraction of ONE MONTH’S payment! Even if you’re just flipping the contract, it could mean the difference between selling your house or not selling your house! Again, stage appropriately to the person that’s buying!
For instance, if you’re selling to a first time homebuyer in a bread and butter neighborhood, stage the house for small children and some light entertaining. Paint a picture of what life would be like if they were living in your property!
You can see how to add little touches that appeal to your end buyer. In the entry-way, we placed an alligator pool toy for fun. In the master bathroom, we used soft, rich colors and added a few touches to make the room inviting. Upstairs, in one of the kids’ rooms, we laid created a “Florida State” theme room. Again, the property was located in Florida and we were marketing during college football season.
#4. Hold An “Event” to Get People Through the Door.
I’m not talking your standard old open house. You need to do something creative… Consider having a theme party, or a neighborhood block party and really marketing the heck out of the event. For instance, in the summer, have a 4th of July party or in November, hold a “Food Drive” open house.
When you do a property event the “right” way, you’ll find that you can easily get 20, 30, often times more than 50 people through the door in a single weekend. Keep in mind, to do it right, you’ll need to set up – and execute – and entire marketing campaign to sell the property. It’s not enough to just stick some ‘Open House’ signs in the front yard and expect dozens of ready, willing, able and qualified buyers to stampede through the front door.
5. Follow Up.
It doesn’t matter if you get a contract onsite or not, you’ll want to follow up with everyone that showed up or even just called on the property. This will help you secure a contract AND several backups. Plus, you’ll build a buyers list of people ready to move on the right deal when they find it. Here are the follow up questions you need to ask in order to sell your home fast… and for the highest price:
- Will you be making an offer? Or if you had multiple offers, what is your highest and best offer?
- If we can’t make this property work for you, is it okay to keep you on our VIP notification list for future properties?
- What 3 things are most important to you in the purchase of a property?
- What price range have you been qualified for (if they have not been pre-qualified, refer them to your preferred lender)
- How quickly would you be prepared to move on a property if you found the right one?
At this point, you now have the beginnings of your own buyers list AND you’ve hopefully found a buyer, lease option tenant, renter, etc. for your existing property. It is important to keep this information in a database that you can access easily and from which you can easily communicate when you have new deals.
Based on your answers, you may choose to get aggressive and go out and find a handful of properties that meet the criteria of the most serious – and motivated – buyers that you followed up with.
Or, contact local investors or real estate agents and see if they have any properties that meet your buyers’ criteria and work out an agreement if the deal closes. Make sure that you don’t turn the lead over… and that you maintain control of the deal at all times.
This strategy works especially well if you have a property that’s suited for a retail buyer, an end buyer who’s looking to move into the property.
Remember, the goal is to sell YOUR house. Anything else is just an added bonus.
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