I Need To Sell My House Fast

Sell Your House Fast Yourself, Cut Out the We Buy Houses Guys, Like Me! (Fourth Confession in a Series)

       If you really need to sell a house fast, especially now, it may look as difficult as brain surgery or winning the lottery. Actually it is as simple as four little letters, A. I. D. A., and you can do it yourself. You can, but you may not want to.  Let’s see!

      A.I.D.A. is a staple of the advertising industry and it tells how to sell everything from executive jets to flats to let.  It means Attention, Interest, Desire and Action.

     Attention, and the first thing you must do to sell your house fast yourself it to get the attention of someone who can be interested in buying your house and has the ability to make the purchase.

      Frankly that is easy today and cheap.  Craigslist will put your house that is for sale in front of a gazillion people, many of which have the means to make the purchase and the cost of the ad is your time to put the listing on the site.  If you are scared of the technology involved in using Craigslist, simply look at how many people are doing it who don’t have a master’s degree from M.I.T.  It’s easy!

       Still scared? Go to elance.com and hire someone in a third world country who very well may have a masters degree in electrical engineering who will post your advertisements on Craigslist and fifty other sites you never heard of and do it all for $5 an hour.

         Combine that with the ultimate of high tech.  Put a sign in your yard. (My wife says I have to say “just kidding” cause someone will think, I think signs are high tech)  Let people know the house is for sale.  Make the sign so ugly you teenage kids are ashamed of the sign and a Realtor offers to give you a pretty sign for FREE.  Ugly is GOOD.  It makes it look like you are motivated and are approachable.

     Interest and Desire are, or can be, pretty closely related.  The house, unlike the sign, should be clean, neat, uncluttered.  The front yard and the front of the house—especially the front door—should be attractive and inviting.  This is your first impression as someone arrives to look at the house.

     If you have repair problems, you have to make a decision.  To repair or not to repair.  Generally, I would say do not repair and DO disclose.  If you REALLY need a new roof, I would say so in the advertisement.  Probably not the absolute first word in the ad.  Tell them that it is a house and tell them something good about it first.  Remember you do have to get their attention, FIRST.

     Neat, clean, uncluttered, spot paint here and there.  But do not fix things that need major repair.  Unless you are one of the pros, you will probably not be able to get out of the deal the extra money you put in to do the repairs.  And do not do  any serious redecorating.  Reason?  The next guy will NOT have your taste, no matter how good your taste may be.

      Know honestly what your house is worth.  Check zillow.com and other websites for an idea and realize it is no more than that.  Just an idea, but it is a place to start.  Have a couple of Realtors come to give you a presentation and see what they think it is worth and what cheap fix up ideas they suggest.  But I would not give them the exclusive right to sell the house (called a listing agreement).  Sign nothing.  At least not at this time.

      I would look at the houses around you that are for sale.  What condition are they in and what is the asking price?  In order for A.I.D.A. to work, you need to be  brutally aware of what you are trying to sell and what the competition has to offer.

     Then, you must gently nudge the prospective buyer from being interested over to desiring your house rather than the competition using a strategy we will discuss in the next installment of Selling House Fast to the We Buy Houses Guys Safely