Selling your house is something you’ll have to do maybe just a few times in your life. And unless you know a local Chicago real estate agent who will sell your house for free or a hugely discounted commission… it can be a real pain in the rear and an expensive process for you as well.
So… you landed on this page about “How to sell your house by yourself in Chicago IL” because of a few reasons I’m guessing…
- You have no or very little equity in your house so you can’t afford to pay a real estate agents commissions
- You have equity but want to try to save money selling the house yourself before you resort to hiring an agent
- You’re in foreclosure (or heading that way) and just need to sell fast without incurring thousands in agent commissions
- You can’t wait the months and months it sometimes takes to sell a house in the Chicago area in this market so you want to try to sell it more quickly
Whatever one you land in… there are ways to sell your house yourself here in the local Chicago real estate market.
Since 2013, the housing sector has been experiencing a major recovery. Selling your house at this time will definitely be profitable if you do it right. In most cases, it is about using smart marketing strategies and being realistic about your expectations on what you want to achieve with this sale.
This article will provide some guidelines to help you sell your Chicago area house yourself.
How To Sell Your House By Yourself In Chicago IL – Let’s Dive In
Know The Chicago Real Estate Market Well
The first and most important step is doing a market research on your neighborhood in the Chicago IL area. This step involves visiting various home marketing sites (Zillow, Eppraisal the Chase home value estimator, etc), calling a real estate agent or two to see what your home is worth, or reading about the various market pricing techniques.Proper homework on these issues will allow you to come up with a right price for your house and also helps you to avoid making certain selling mistakes.
If you don’t want to hassle with trying to come up with a home value yourself… give us a call at 630-387-6861 and we’ll give you an honest fair valuation of what your house is worth on the retail market (if you’re going to wait the 3-6+ months to find the perfect retail buyer). And if you want to… we’ll make you a fair all-cash offer on your house to give you that option of selling quickly (we can close in as little as 7 days if you want to).
Asses the market
This step is almost similar to conducting market research, only that in this case, you are bound to your neighborhood and similar houses. Are there lots of houses for sale in your neighborhood here in Chicago? If so, what is the average that they are listing for? Are there lots of foreclosures in your neighborhood? That may drag your house price down.
Asses the house
The expectations of todays buyers are more stringent than ever so the overall condition of your property is the most important factor in determining its value. You’ll need to have your house in perfect condition to get the best price.
Be sure that the listing you put together to market the house has a detailed description of the key features your house has to offer. Does your house sit on the biggest lot in the neighborhood? Awesome make sure you highlight that in your description of the property and make it easy for potential buyers to understand the best parts of the property. Don’t rely on the them to try and figure it out themselves.
Now that you’ve taken note of all the great features of your property it is time to look at what is not so great about the house. It may be difficult to be honest with about the shortcomings of the house but it is important part of the process in preparing for selling your property. Make note of any repairs that need to be done on the house as well any areas that are dated.
Take into consideration all of the desirable/undesirable features of the property to come up with the appropriate asking price. You are looking for the right number that will attract a lot of potential buyers and avoid having the property sitting on the market for 6 months or more.
Use Photos or Videos
High resolution photos will give potential buyers the best first impression of your house. To really make your property stand out online you may even consider doing a 3D virtual tour. This will help buyers envision how they would live in the house.
Quantity also counts when it comes to the photos for marketing your house. You are going to want to take a lot of pictures throughout the house to make sure you capture every room as well as the entire exterior of the home. Be sure to take several shots from different angles and vantage points of each room and pick out the best of them when you are getting ready to post your listing. Be sure the pictures you take highlight the best features of the house and minimize the worst features of the house that you had written down while doing your assessment of the house.
Get Your House “Listed” On The Local Chicago MLS And Market It
You can find no or low fee real estate brokers these days who will charge you a few hundred bucks to put your house on the local Chicago MLS. This gets your house in front of all of the real estate agents quickly (so be prepared to pay those “buyers” agents a 2-3% buyers broker fee if you plan to have their support in helping you find a buyer.
Place ads in the local newspaper, signs on the roads, and hold an open house.
All Of This Sound Like A Lot Of Work To Sell Your Chicago House Fast Yourself?
It can be.
And in the end, many Chicago house sellers think they’re saving money and time by marketing the house themselves… when in the end it costs them more money to go that route.
When you sell your own house here are some things you need to consider…
- If you’re not a good marketer or aren’t ready to spend a bunch of time marketing your house right… selling it yourself may not be your best bet
- If you don’t do a good job preparing the house and the marketing materials… and working with buyers to really build the value of your house in their minds… you may actually sell the house for 3-8% less than you may get for the same house an experienced person marketed the house for you
- Too many sellers never think about holding costs or opportunity costs… every month that your house doesn’t sell means another mortgage payment, tax payment, insurance, utilities, etc. If your mortgage payment is $1,500/mo… and $1,300 of that is interest… if it takes you 7 months to sell your house… that cost you an extra $9,100 (not to mention taxes and insurance you paid during that time). So, if you were able to sell that house more quickly… would it make sense for you to provide a buyer a discounted price today so you can close quickly and move on? Something to think about.
If you’d rather not put up the hassle of trying to sell your Chicago house yourself… and would rather just sell it quickly for a fair price without paying any commissions or fees…
… here at Blue Ladder Development we actually buy local Chicago IL houses.
We’d love to make you a fair, NO OBLIGATION and NO HASSLE cash offer on your house.
We can close quickly (in as little as 7 days if you wanted to)… which would save you thousands of dollars vs. trying to sell the house yourself and waiting for months.
Also, when we buy local Chicago houses we do all repairs that are needed (we pay for it ourselves) so you don’t have to worry about that.
If you want to see what we can pay for your house, give us a call today at 630-387-6861 or just fill out the quick simple form through the link below.