Periodic tips and reminders to help focus your by-owner marketing and win your commission-free sale - from Canada’s by-owner web-site, www.privatelist.com.

THIS ISSUE:      Reassuring Buyers / Lost Cause / Log-Off For Showings

ARCHIVES:     www.privatelist.com/newsletter.htm

REASSURING BUYERS

As a private seller, do everything you can to overcome any reservations buyers may have about dealing without the supposed protection of a realtor intermediary.

Here are some ways of meeting buyer nervousness head-on - by providing objective evidence that you know what you’re doing, that your property represents fair value, and that they won’t be saddled with hidden defects down the road:

• have your house in tip-top shape: from a professional-looking lawn sign to the farthest corner of the basement, make sure that the house is as showable as possible, minor repairs are already done, and everything is clean and uncluttered (see Timely Tip #1);
   
• do your homework: be ready to answer buyers’ questions concerning the house and neighbourhood (see Tip #6);
   
• be ready to act: have several blank copies of your area’s standard offer to purchase on hand (get them from your lawyer), and be sure you understand their terms (our online guide will help);
   
• consider an independent appraisal: an independent appraiser’s report (costing around $175-250) could prove invaluable during negotiations, and might even save your purchasers some money if you hire a firm regularly used by the banks (in fact, you might try to have a bank pre-approve the house for a high-ratio mortgage);
   
• hire a house inspector: costing about the same as an appraisal, a detailed and comprehensive inspection will help you identify and remedy any minor faults that might jeopardize a sale - and perhaps avoid an "inspection" condition that your purchasers might otherwise include in their offer;
   
• look into a home-owner’s warranty: a warranty company undertakes to repair or replace covered systems and appliances in return for a pre-paid annual premium, protecting you up to possession date and your purchasers for a period thereafter - with part of the the annual cost ($300-400) coming back to you in the pro-rated closing adjustments related to your sale.

Although these suggestions entail out-of-pocket expenses at the beginning of the game, they will be more than offset by the savings you realize upon successful completion of your private sale (see in particular our Oct 21/99 newsletter).

LOST CAUSE

From a telephone conversation with an ex-client who had thrown in the towel - after three weeks - and listed with a realtor:

- Had you done much classified advertising of your own, and what sort of response did you get? No, we really didn’t get around to placing any ads in the papers . . .

- What kind of lawn sign did you use? We picked up one of those square red things from Canadian Tire and wrote in our phone number in felt pen.

- Did you have any response to the highlight sheets you posted? Actually, I think they’re still on top of the fridge . . .

- And what are you asking for the property now, through the realtor? Well, we came down a bit [$5000, BEFORE the realtor’s fee of $9000] . . .

What can we learn here?

LOG-OFF FOR SHOWINGS

Did you know that simply bumping your computer when it’s running could be enough to damage your hard drive and cause data loss?

If you happen to be doing some last-minute record-keeping - or even simply cruising the net - when buyers arrive for a showing, make a point to save your work and, preferably, shut down your computer, particularly if your prospects are accompanied by children.

FRIENDLY REMINDERS . . .

Are the thousands of dollars you'll save by selling privately worth, say, an hour each week-end, spent reviewing your progress to date and mapping out your continuing campaign?

It's important to maintain an active marketing focus until your property is sold. Therefore, each e-mail version of this newsletter ends with a series of reminders, tips and tools that lead to a sale!

To access these resources, press here.

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