How To Sell House Online?
Are you wondering how to sell your house online?
By using the Internet to market your home, you drastically increase how many people see your property versus other traditional methods. More offers are possible for your home through online avenues, giving more leverage and options when it comes to time to sell the home.
Of course, there are limitless ways that homeowners can sell their home online. In this article, we’ll be taking a look at a variety of methods you can use to sell your home to give you options that work..
Work with a Realtor
The most popular method to sell your home is by working with a realtor. Real estate agents have an intimate knowledge of how to entice customers through the Internet, so they can take care of the grunt work that comes with selling your physical property in a digital world.
Typically, most realtors put your home on something called an MLS (Multiple Listing Service). Like its name implies, an MLS distributes a profile of your property for sale across a wide variety of websites and advertisers to drum up leads.
Real estate agents that are hired take care of the digital advertising often use a variety of media to bring your home to life online. Most commonly, realtors use high-quality photographs of every feature of your home. Virtual 3D tours are also common, enabling an online user to explore your home in a facsimile of your home to see if it suits their needs. Recently, drone tours are becoming the norm, enabling potential buyers to see your home and its various features from above. Last, realtors take time to create compelling text that accompanies this media to not only describe the basics of the home/property, but also guide users toward their desired property based on keywords through SEO techniques (Search Engine Optimization).
In exchange for this work, realtors charge a commission for the sale - typically 6%. For a $250,000 house, this is $15,000, but enables homeowners to save time on not only advertising digitally, but also showing the property to prospective buyers.
Create an FSBO on Zillow
Zillow is one of the most popular websites online to sell your property fast. When a house is listed on Zillow, you’ll be able to automatically access thousands of potential buyers that can compare your property to others.
Realtors that use a MLS service automatically create a Zillow listing, as well as listings on other online platforms. However, for homeowners that want to sell their home without the assistance of a realtor (known as a “For Sale By Owner” or FSBO), Zillow offers a free service to list your home that enables you all of the controls of a realtor.
Just as described as with a realtor, homeowners have to do everything to list their home. This includes photography, accurate descriptions of their property, and setting a price that sells the home in a reasonable timeframe.
List Your Home on Craigslist
Despite its simple design and less-than-stellar reputation, Craigslist is one of the best ways to sell your home online. Craigslist enables homeowners to sell their property through simple, no-nonsense posts that include a handful of images and a description.
Despite its simplicity, Craigslist is a great option to sell your home to local motivated buyers - particularly for as-is homes and below-market deals. And like Zillow, it is a free service. Create a Unique Website for Your Home If you really want to stand out and show off your property, creating a unique website for your home is a great way to drive up the price through a compelling presentation and capture a wider audience than other methods.
Of course, creating a website does take some online savvy and knowhow, but there are many guides and templates that can make the process simple. Just like selling your home as a FSBO on Zillow, you are still responsible for all of the media. However, you can hire professional real estate photographers that can work with you to capture your home’s beauty and features.
Other Ideas to Sell Your House Online
Besides the ideas listed above, there are plenty of other ways to sell your house online that are only limited to your creativity:
- Post your house on Facebook (especially neighborhood groups in your town)
- Contacting investor networks and contracting companies by email
- Send out an email to your contacts about your house for sale
- List the home on your local newspaper’s online “For Sale” section
Explore these options and more to reach potential buyers wherever they may be found online.