When advertising your “for sale by owner” home, there are three essential elements for a successful advertisment. The first is an attention-grabbing headline. When writing your headline, use the features of your home in the headline, such as “Solid as a Rock!” or “ Assumable Loan!” You want your headline to be explosive enough to catch the potential home shopper’s attention. You want them to read your ad about your home. By piquing their interest they will be interested enough to see your home above all the others.
Another element is to highlight one of the properties best features, such as an ocean view, recently remodeled or within walking distance of schools. You are trying to entice their pleasure or practical portion of their mind. This will give them even more reason to want to look at your home before making a final purchase.
A good closing line will entice the potential buyer to call. You will want to appeal to their desire to own a home, or maybe as a good investment, or even their sense of urgency. “See it Now, before it is gone!” or “Don’t pay your landlord another dime!” are just some examples. Now you have your ad written you will want to place the ad in your local newspaper.
Another effective method of advertising is an “Open House”. You have your house already to show, the repairs have been made and the clutter cleared, so advertise your “open house”. Make up flyers so everyone who attends your open house will get a flyer before they leave. The flyers will list your price and describe the property.
When scheduling your “Open House”, you will want to schedule it for a Saturday or Sunday afternoon between 2 – 5 PM is the best time of day. You will also want to check your calendar to ensure your “Open House” is not competing with any kind of major sports playoffs or any major religious holidays.
You will want to have a guest book so you can get the names and addresses of every person who attends. If you can, make sure to take notes, and jot down every positive impression and comment made by those who attended. You will want to be able to keep in touch of people who show an interest. This could be especially important if you reduce your asking price or change the terms of the sale later on. During the “Open House”, be prepared to make them aware of the schools in the area.
Make sure to have plenty of blank sales contracts in case someone is interest enough to buy your home. You can get these sales contracts can be bought at any office supply store, or you can even download a sales contract to your computer.
The flyers should be an 8 ½ x 11 inch fact sheet describing your home, the asking price and numbers on how you can be reached. Every guest should leave with your “Open House” with one of these flyers. If you are advertising on your web page with pictures of your home, make sure the web address is also listed on these flyers. You will also want to attach these flyers under windshield wipers of cars, and attach flyers about your “Open House” to neighborhood mailboxes. Do
You might want to place an “Open House” sign in your front yard with balloons attached. If you are on a street with not a lot of drive by traffic, you may want to use some signs on prominent corners with arrows pointing the direction to your house.
Mark Moebius
CEO
MILJONAIR Development
MiljonairDev.com
636.300.9000
3451 St. Albans Rd. Suite 5B
St. Albans MO 63073
