How to Sell a House by Owner (FSBO)

In this blog I will tell you about how to sell a house by owner.  This means you will sell your house as a For Sale By Owner (FSBO).  So without a realtor or real estate agent and sell your house by yourself.  

We do this all the time, selling our investment properties for sale by the owner (FSBO). Me and Paul will go into a new real estate market and we will have zero cash home buyers in that real estate market.   

Once we have the property under contract and the lockbox code, we will start our marking system. Sometimes we find a cash home buyer in a few days, where we could do a back-to-back closing for a virtual wholesale deal to minimize our holding cost.   

Here is a high-level of the online and offline marketing that are utilized when we sell our houses for sale by the owner.  FSBO is the way we sell most of our investment properties. We don’t use real estate agents to list our properties often. 

First I will cover the offline marketing.   

Offline Marketing
•Call real estate investors from your database
•Find & Call new real estate investors
•Local REIAs
•Newspaper classified Ad
•Mail to target list
•Wholesalers & real estate agent with buyers
•Follow up

First if you are already established in your real estate market, then call real estate investors from your database.  I have my virtual assistant, if we are new to a real estate market, use Google search keywords on “buy house city”, “sell house fast city”, etc. It is a way to find local wholesalers and real estate investors. The virtual assistant gathers the contact info and they email and call the real estate investor about my property for sale by owner (FSBO). 

It is another way to add cash buyers to your database for future properties that you want to sell. 

We also go to the local REIAs in person to network. Or you can get contact information of the people in the REIA whether they're advertising in the REIA newsletter or a board member.  See if they're interested in purchasing your property.  

Another great example is I post newspaper classified ads in certain markets.  For example, we sold a few properties for sale by owner this year in Wyoming, Montana, and Pennsylvania using newspaper classified ads.  Newspapers are a great marketing resource, especially in rural real estate markets.  People still get the newspaper and find properties for sale through their local newspaper. 

We also mail to a targeted list called landlord list.  Owners that do not live in the house (separate mailing address from property address).  We also get a cash buyers list that we will mail  to as well.   

Talk to other local wholesalers and real estate agents. For example, you can email several real estate agents in the local area.  Tell them that you will pay 2 or 3% commission, if the real estate agent has a home buyer for your house.  

Finally, follow up is important. Not everyone will call you back as they are busy. So after someone visits the house, call them to see if they visited and want to make an offer on your property. Another example is do not mail just one round of postcards. I have sold many houses  on my second or third round of mailing postcards.   

That covers offline marketing, now I will shift to online marketing to sell your property by owner.  

Online Marketing
•Your Website
•Zillow / Trulia (FSBO)
•Craigslist
•Facebook Marketplace
•Post on your social media accounts
•Join and post to REI groups and house for sale groups
•Email real estate investors from your database
•Find & Email new real estate investors
•Post on REI forms (BiggerPockets)
•Follow up

I post my properties for sale by owner (FSBO) on our own website,  www.HouseDealsAmerica.com.  

Other great sources are Zillow and Trulia, where you can post it as a for sale by owner (FSBO). 

Craigslist works great for certain real estate markets.  Many people will go to Craigslist to find property for sale.  Something that is coming up and becoming more and more effective is Facebook Marketplace.  Like Craigslist, it doesn't work in all real estate markets but it's coming on par with Craigslist.  We sold several this year through Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist.  

Post your house for sale by owner on all your social media accounts.  

You can join local groups on Facebook.  If there's a local real estate investor group go join it and then post your property for sale. You can find cash buyers here as well that you can add to your database for future properties for sale.  There are also real estate for sale groups that you can join and post your properties for sale.   

You should email cash buyers in your database about your property for sale. 

This is kind of offline and online marketing. As mentioned earlier, I have my virtual assistant pull new potential investors Google searching and looking online for real estate investors. I will email them and call them about my property for sale. 

If your pro member on certain real estate forums (like BiggerPockets), you can post your properties for sale.  

The key to online marketing is follow up and being persistent.  Don’t just send one email, don't just make one post on Craigslist or Facebook.  Renew your online ads, and constantly follow up with people.  

To learn more visit https://youtu.be/oTBj-yuoKIQ