According to Ohio Realtors, the year-on-year growth for Ohio’s Average Sale Price for all homes between 2020 and 2021 increased by 15.8%. And this upwards trajectory isn’t going away any time soon.
If you can, there’s never been a better moment to cash in on the real estate market.
While many will call their local realtor to assist in selling a home, you might want to sell a house by owner in Ohio (FSBO). But why would anyone take this route, and what are the steps to selling your home yourself? Read on to find out.
Avoiding Large Realtor Costs
A survey conducted by Clever of around 915 Ohioan real estate agents found that the average commission fee in the state is 5.81%. That’s higher than the national average of 5.37%.
This cost does not include the closing costs of the deal, which can be around 1.2%, and provides title services and transfer of taxes. This means you’re paying more than 7% in Ohio for using a realtor when selling a home.
If you’re unsure whether you’d like to sell a house by owner in Ohio yet, let’s put this into an actual costing.
According to Zillow, if the home’s sale price is the median listing in your state, you’ll be listing it at $208,800 (at most). Paying for a local realtor will cost roughly $12,130.
With the additional closing costs of $2,506, you, as the seller, must pay around $14,636 to sell your home via professionals.
When taking the For Sale By Owner (FSBO) route, you must prepare yourself for the time-consuming selling process of the house. Next, let’s talk about the key benefits of selling your house in Ohio.
Benefits of Selling Your Home FSBO in Ohio
As we’ve covered, selling your home via the FSBO route means avoiding paying commission fees, which is a significant plus in a state like Ohio.
Selling a home requiring renovation work will always cut into your earnings. But by doing it via FSBO, you will save some capital.
Where You List Matters
When listing your home, you must be sure you can access a multiple listing service (MLS). When trying to sell their home, most will first try to utilize Facebook Marketplace, or even Craig’s List, but the simple truth is, if you are selling your home, you’ll want to use an MLS.
Real estate experts and eager, knowledgeable home buyers tend to use MLS. By implementing this tool, you can cut out those who are just browsing.
A Faster Process
The final benefit of selling a home on your own in Ohio is that, on average, it will sell faster – this is because you’re involved in all the operations.
According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), in 2020, 77% of FSBO homes sold in under two weeks. This speed is due to the fact that the homeowners already knew who would purchase their house.
Finding the right buyer is the real estate game’s most significant hurdle. But if you find and sell your house via a cash-buying service, such as Selling.House, they can purchase it within five days.
Cons of Selling Your Home FSBO in Ohio
Selling and marketing your home is difficult; that’s the main reason why there is a realtor industry in the first place.
Selling for Less
The first issue is that FSBOs, on average, sell for less than those sold by real estate agents. According to the same NAR research, a typical FSBO home sold for $260,000 compared to the $318,000 agent-assisted homes sold in 2020.
This can occur for several reasons. Regardless, it comes down to these main issues:
- The buyer’s agents are professional negotiators and out-negotiate the FSBO seller.
- A FSBO property is listed for too low or too high a price, the latter causing the property to sit on the market for too long.
- A home inspection report reveals hidden issues, and the seller isn’t able to effectively address these problems.
These elements can quickly drive your asking price down, even in a seller’s market.
Time-Consuming
Listing a FSBO property is time-consuming; you’ll need to be in charge of marketing and communication. And, when planning a strategy for reaching your core demographic, it can quickly become overwhelming, especially when planning to create signage for the home’s front and online listing.
But, before you think of uploading material to market your home in Ohio, you must stage a photography session. This means finding an affordable photographer, and organizing your home appropriately.
These are all elements that real estate agents are well acquainted with, and they have a list of individuals who will assist them.
Safety
Hosting a viewing day can be dangerous, as vetting who will walk through the door is impossible. A real estate agent will have experience here as well.
Another important safety hazard is the potential of becoming a victim of a scammer. Again, a real estate agent has the expertise available to prevent such a situation from happening.
Bad Negotiator
As we’ve mentioned, negotiating on your behalf against real estate industry veterans will be tricky. But, if you still need to take the FBSO route, especially to pay off debts, the best method requires all the capital from selling your home.
Steps of Selling an Ohioan Home FSBO
The steps of selling your home in Ohio, or any part of the country, are similar. But with all endeavors, information is the key to success.
To begin, let’s start with discussing property information –
Real Estate Research
When researching information about the Ohioan real estate market, you want to be able to tap into the Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) document. A CMA will list the surrounding benefits of the property’s location. For example, if you live in Columbus, Ohio, a major drawcard is the Ohio State University and the schooling system.
Also, a CMA will have a 90-day breakdown of all the properties sold in your neighborhood, and the length of time that the average home has been listed for sale on the market.
Next, it is imperative to call in an independent appraiser whose sole role is to inspect the state of the home and give you a value they think a third-party financial institution would be willing to provide as a loan.
To put it bluntly, unless you’re positive that you can find a cash buyer, you will need an appraiser.
Now that you know all you need to know, it’s time to prepare the house.
Preparing Your Home
When owning a home in Ohio, or anywhere, we often become accustomed to a home’s “quirks.”
These quirks may not sway potential buyers, so, to make sure your house sells for the price you have in mind, you must hire an appraiser to research the property, and compile a list (aka., their CMA document) of what they would flag as problems. Their CMA will encapsulate information gathered from surrounding properties within a three-mile radius.
An appraiser is usually looking for general issues, including the following:
- Whether the home has cracks, damage, and leaks
- Size of the house and the property lot
- Landscaping
- Condition of the foundation and roofing
- Number of rooms
- Lighting and plumbing
- Number of fireplaces
- State of the swimming pool or sprinkler systems
- Basement
- Finishing details around the home
An appraiser can take up to an hour to complete their investigation, then they’ll compile a report, offsite. You’ll receive this report within several days, but once received, you must address the reported issues, and work through them.
Unfortunately, the cost of these repairs can vary widely, and you’ll only know the real financial damage once you’ve contacted a contractor.
However, you could bypass this process with a cash buyer; selling your home as-is.
Once you’ve completed the renovations, it’s time to start listing your home.
Listing Your Home
As we’ve mentioned, as an FSBO, paying for an MLS is in your best interest. Once you’ve purchased your packaged deal on the MLS, it’s time to create the write-up.
Your listing’s write-up must be solid and informative about the property and surrounding area. Sometimes you will need to edit out some facts, but most buyers want to know the following:
- Closest public schools
- Size of the property
- Shops and amenities
- Does your property have a backyard with a pool?
- Is it a condo, single-family home, or a homestead?
- Can you access nightlife and attractions easily? Or is it a sleepy neighborhood?
- Where’s the closest public transport hub?
- Closest public parks and outdoor spaces
- Is it a family, young adult, or student neighborhood?
- Is it part of a homeowners association? If so, what is the monthly fee?
This is a comprehensive list, but providing as much information as possible will help attract potential buyers.
Now, let’s focus on photos.
For this, we recommend hiring a qualified photographer. However, if you take the photos on your own, make sure you do the following:
- Use a wide-angle lens for pictures
- Take broad, mid, and close-up pictures; make sure to tell the whole tale of the house
- Locate the room’s focal point
- Use a tripod at all times
Although you can engage other experts to shoot 3D pictures of the house for an internet tour (think Google Maps), good photography says volumes.
After finishing your photoshoot, you will need to show the house.
Showing the Home
When showing a home, you’ll want to tend to a few more details to ensure that any potential buyers will think your home looks gorgeous.
The first step is to increase curb appeal. Your home’s curb is the first thing prospective buyers see when arriving.
Additionally, great curb appeal will accelerate selling your home.
De-clutter every room of your house to make it simple to move around, and distraction-free. Potential buyers are more likely to purchase your property if they can picture their belongings there.
The least expensive method to change space is a fresh coat of paint. In addition, installing additional lighting is a big bonus, as it will allow buyers to view all the details.
Now that you’ve ensured your Ohio home is ready to list, you will get offers within days. But what paperwork do you need to sell a home?
Documents Required for Selling a Home in Ohio
We’d recommend hiring a real estate lawyer because selling a home becomes very tricky with all the required documents.
To move the process along faster, you’ll need the following:
- A property survey
- The property deed
- Upgrade records with warranties
- Certification of occupancy
- Loan documents
- The latest bills and taxes
You will need all these documents before you consider entering a deal, then you can move onto the next step; negotiations.
Negotiations
When selling it yourself, getting an offer on your home is a big deal. However, you will need to know how to negotiate effectively.
Depending on the market, some offers will come in well below the asking price, but as it stands in Ohio, the market is leaning toward the seller.
That being said, buyers can still come in with certain conditions that must be met. And, as the seller, you must be aware that when buyers outline certain requirements, it can be difficult to gauge whether or not they will follow through.
So, without the expertise of a real estate agent, it is crucial to exercise caution, as buyers might put you into a situation where they are inflexible.
But, if all goes smoothly, and all these elements have been met, it’s time to close the deal!
Closing
Congrats! You’ve almost accomplished your goal of selling your home on your own! Once both parties have agreed on the conditions of the sale, you and the buyer will need to sign the sales contract.
Still, even at this stage, you could encounter issues if your buyer requires financial support from a lender. On the other hand, finding a cash buyer will help you avoid all these steps. But who will buy your property for cash in Ohio?
FSBO in Ohio for Cash
If you require capital quickly, listing your property FSBO is a great method! By choosing to sell with a cash buyer, you can take all the fuss out of putting your Ohio house up for sale on the market.
Conclusion
At Selling.House, we guarantee to offer you a fair deal for your home without any pressure to sell. Our streamlined selling process is there to make the selling process as quick and stress-free as possible, so that you can easily move on to another milestone in your life. Contact our friendly team today!
