For Sale By Owner Tips: 4 Ways to Boost Exposure and Get Noticed By Buyers

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When it comes to advertising your home for sale, there's no such thing as too much exposure: You want your listing to show up every place that a buyer might look. While 93 percent of today's house hunters start their search online, don't underestimate the power of traditional marketing techniques. Here are four for sale by owner tips to boost your listing's exposure and get your home noticed by buyers.

1. Get more eyes on it. Put your listing in front of as many people as possible by posting it to Craigslist and your social networks (specifically: Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest). Ask your friends to share your listing on their social profiles, too. This is one of the simplest ways to increase your listing's exposure (and as a bonus: it's free!).

2. Invest in a high-quality yard sign. You'd be surprised at how many people buy houses they discover while taking a drive or a walk. A visible yard sign is essential for capturing the interest of casual passers-by. Make sure the sign includes at least two ways buyers can get more information: your phone number, email address or listing number on ForSaleByOwner.com.

3. Make your listing sheet shine. Refresh your marketing materials, particularly your online and paper listings, every few months to highlight the season or the most recent changes you've made. Emphasize the best features of your house, and use photos that are well lit to showcase rooms that are spacious and uncluttered.

4. Enlist help. Hold an Open House for your friends, family and neighbors so they can boast about your home to people they know. To entice your circle to spread the word, consider offering a finder's fee to anyone who brings you the person who buys your property. It doesn't have to be much, but a finder's fee of few hundred dollars can be very motivating.

What are your tips for attracting buyer attention?

5 Most Popular Homes For Sale By Owner in April

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Looks like more great news about the housing market for those of you who are selling a home or soon will be: According to CNN Money, in the past year, home prices have increased in 92 of the country's 100 largest metro areas. The U.S. Census Bureau is also reporting that sales of new single-family homes in March were up 18.5 percent compared to last year. Need more proof that we might be experiencing a return to a seller's market? Two of our five most popular homes in last month are already sold or under contract!

1. 200 Copper Hill Drive, Youngsville, LA 70592
Price: $186,500
Highlights: Up to $2,000 in closing assistance offered from preferred lender; neighborhood includes stocked ponds and a park.

2. 490 Bryan Trail, New Lenox, IL 60451
Price: $459,000
Highlights: Features a finished basement, bar, Jacuzzi, and wrap-around porch. Currently under contract.

3. 417 Sherwood Drive, Beaver, PA 15009
Price: $248,400
Highlights: Two-story foyer, walk-in pantry and finished basement. Great school district with a bus stop directly in front of the house.

4. 40 Rainbow Ave., Staten Island, NY 10302
Price: $424,999
Highlights: Move-in ready and newly built (2007), features include in-ground heated pool, new appliances and a master bedroom suite. Recently sold!

5. 1218 Oakhill Drive, Freeport, IL 61032
Price: $153,500
Highlights: Features include large, multilevel deck, new master bath, new kitchen counters and flooring and new paint.








Which of these homes is your favorite?

7 Tips to Help You Store Extra Furniture when Staging

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One tenant of successful staging is that it's best to rid your home of personal items and create as much open space as possible. Placing extra furniture in storage is a great way to free up space while you're showing your home, but before you drive off to your local self-storage facility, you'll want to exercise a little care first. Our guest blogger Jenn Young has provided us with seven tips to help you protect and store extra furniture so it's ready for you when you're ready to move into your new house.

1. Cover your furniture with a drop cloth or canvas to keep dust and debris off. Bags designed especially for furniture may be available at the storage facility or from a local furniture store.
2. Keep furniture off the ground using furniture blocks or wood pallets, and for cloth-covered items, make sure that no portion of the fabric touches the ground.
3. Disassemble tables, chairs and beds before storing. If they cannot break apart, stack the chairs on top of tables. Keep mattresses and sofas upright or on end to save space.
4. Use cardboard to protect art frames and mirrors during storage. Take special considerations for the corners, as these are easily damaged.
5. When storing a dresser, stack lightweight items on top and fragile, awkward or small items inside the drawers. Use a cotton drop cloth to protect the top of the dresser if damage is a concern.
6. Use a protective, storage-safe furniture spray (as directed) on all furniture before placing it in storage to protect the finish and integrity of wood or fabrics.
7. Don't seal anything inside of a plastic bag. If plastic is used, leave at least one end open for ventilation. Condensation or "sealed in" moisture may lead to mold or mildew growth.

Read more about how to store your extra furniture when staging.

Jenn Young is a freelance writer working with Uncle Bob's. She is passionate about beautifying her home, and she currently writes about anything and everything related to storage units.

17 Simple Green Cleaning Solutions

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It's time to tackle those spring cleaning projects you've been avoiding and celebrate Earth Day by using eco-friendly cleaning products when you prepare your home for a showing. We've shared green cleaning solutions on our blog before and were pleased to get so many comments with your go-to alternatives, like this tip from Seymour: "I use toothpaste to keep brass and metal fixtures sparkling clean. Toothpaste is really cheap compared to other metal polishers." Here are our favorite all-natural cleaning solutions and recipes (and some of yours!).

Vinegar. Because vinegar is acidic, it's a great cleaning agent. Here are five places you can use it in your home:

• Make chrome sink and bath fixtures shine by removing lime buildup with a paste made from 2 tablespoons salt and 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar.
• Deodorize your kitchen drain by pouring down 1 cup of baking soda; then, pour down 1 cup of hot white distilled vinegar. Wait five minutes, then run hot water to rinse the drain.
• Clean and deodorize a microwave by placing a mixture (in a microwave-safe bowl) of 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar and 1/2 cup water in the microwave and heating it until the mixture is boiling. Crusty food will come loose, and odors will be removed. Finish by wiping the microwave down with a clean, dry towel.
• Get a clean, spotless shower by pouring vinegar into a spray bottle and spraying it all over your tub and tiles. Allow this to sit for 15 minutes, then wipe down the tub and rinse. For stubborn stains, try a mix of lemon juice, baking soda and vinegar. Work the paste over the stains with a sponge, then rinse.
• To clean and rejuvenate wood cabinets, try a solution of equal parts vinegar and water. Use a sponge to remove grease and buildup. (Avoid using steel wool or scrub brushes since they can damage the wood finish.) A paste of water and baking soda can be applied to remove any stubborn stains. To restore shine, try a mix of 1/4 cup olive oil and 1 cup vinegar. Using a spray bottle, spray your cabinets with the solution and buff with a soft cloth.

"You just can't go past white vinegar on stainless steel — it cleans and shines beautifully and will help to leave a great impression on prospective buyers." —Jonathan

Baking soda. Baking soda is another great natural product that is probably in products you already use, like kitty litter, deodorant and laundry detergent. Here are four new tips for using baking soda to keep your home  clean and smelling fresh:

• Sprinkle the bottom of your garbage can with baking soda to deodorize it. You can also sprinkle it in the bottom of every new bag you put in to keep each new load of garbage from getting too smelly.
• Clean silver using a paste made from three parts baking soda and one part water. Rub the paste onto each piece of silver, then rinse with warm water and dry with a clean, soft cloth.
• Clean kids' toys with a mixture of 1/4 cup baking soda and 1 quart warm water. Submerge the toys in this mixture, then rinse them with clean water and dry with a clean cloth.
• To clean and deodorize your microwavable food containers, rinse them out with a solution of one part water and one part baking soda.

"My bathroom must-haves for cleaning are baking soda and vinegar. They're cheap, readily available and they do the work." —Melanie

Lemon juice. High in citric acid and low in pH, lemon juice is one of the best natural cleaners around. As an added bonus, lemon juice smells fresh. Here are four wonderful ways lemon juice can clean and brighten your home.

• Use diluted lemon juice to cleans stains from, and kill bacteria on, cutting boards. Rub the lemon juice into the stains and watch as they disappear. Tough stains might need to sit overnight.
• Make an even more powerful degreaser out of your dish soap with the addition of few drops of lemon juice.
• Put a mixture of water and 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice into a spray bottle, and use it to wash windows and clean mirrors.
• Rub half of a cut lemon on shower doors to get rid of hard water stains.

4. Salt. Not only is salt an excellent scouring agent, but it also works as a catalyst that improves and accelerates the effectiveness of other cleaning agents (like vinegar). We've compiled four unusual places salt can work for you:

• Get a slow drain moving again by pouring down 1/2 cup salt and following with a quart of hot water. Repeat if necessary.
• Clean cast iron pans by sprinkling salt in the bottom and scrubbing with a clean, dry cloth.
• Rub down white wicker furniture with a saltwater solution, and let it dry in the sun to keep the wicker from yellowing.
• Remove ring stains left by beverage glasses on tables by making a paste of vegetable oil and salt and rubbing the stains gently with the paste. Let the paste sit for an hour or so, then wipe it off.

What green/eco-friendly cleaning solutions do you use and love? We want tips!

Don't Miss Open House Weekend on April 20-21

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Here's your chance to be a part of something big this month: Join realtors across the country as they participate in the 2013 Nationwide Open House Weekend on April 20-21. This event couldn't come at a better time. Now that tax season is over, buyers will be exploring your neighborhood with their tax refunds in their pockets. Take advantage of this house-hunting momentum, and invite them in!

"By owner" open houses will benefit from traffic—online and on foot—generated by this nationwide campaign. The National Association of Realtors 2012 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers reports that 45 percent of all buyers use open houses as a source in their home-search process. And 46 percent of buyers who went to open houses found them during internet searches.

This weekend full of open houses offers buyers a stress-free way to tour homes for sale; for sellers, the weekend provides extra visibility with little effort. And there's still time for you to take part in this open house event that brings buyers and sellers together.

Three Ways to Advertise Your Open House Next Week

• Advertise your open house on your ForSaleByOwner.com listing
• Promote your open house using flyers, email and word of mouth—ask your neighbors to help spread the word
• Use social media to create buzz before and during your open house

Open houses open doors to home sales. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more open house tips all week long.

Will there be snacks and beverages at your open house? Share your favorite tips below.

5 Steps to Prep Your Home for the Selling Season

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The National Association of Realtors' Research Department recently released their Confidence Index based on home selling data from February. Among the latest information about the state of the real estate market, it was found that the national average for the number of days a home sits on the market is 74 days. The selling season is heating up! Get your home ready to list for sale by owner, and prepare for home-selling success with these five steps.



1. Determine your game plan. Set up a realistic timeline, and allocate sufficient funds for necessary renovations, your future sale and potential move. Use our start-to-finish timeline to help with the planning.

2. Decide what to DIY. Get a professional home inspection done early so you can identify problem areas and decide what you'll repair yourself and what you'll hire professionals to remedy. If you can't fix everything, you can incorporate the knowledge of those problems into your asking price. Tackle these five most-overlooked home inspection problems.

3. Set the stage. Did you know that staged properties generate an 8-10% higher return on the sale price? Staged homes tend to sell in a shorter period of time, which increases your odds of selling at a higher price. Find out which staging strategies will make the most impact.

4. Polish your listing. Review your marketing materials, and consider asking a friend to lend his or her opinion, too. Are you emphasizing the best and most appealing features of your house? Include well-lit photos of every room that make the rooms appear spacious and uncluttered. Use these practical photo-taking tips to create professional-looking listing photos.

5. Assemble your team. You're not alone when you sell by owner. You'll still need to rely on the expertise of these three key experts: appraiser, mortgage lender and attorney or title company.

What tips do you have for getting a home ready to list?

5 Last-Minute Tax Tips for Home Sellers

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With just two weeks left until April 15 (that's the deadline to file your 2012 taxes*), it's crunch time for all of us taxpayers out there. If you've sold a home in the past year, or if you're planning to sell a home in 2013, these tax tips will help you understand what tax benefits you're eligible for and which ones to be aware of when you're filing.

1. If you make money from sale of your primary residence (the one you live in most of the time), you may qualify to exclude up to $250,000 of that gain from your income. And if you file a joint return with your spouse, you may exclude up to $500,000 of that gain. You can't deduct a loss from the sale of your home.

2. You're eligible for that exclusion if you've owned and used your home as your main home for a period amounting to least two years out of the five years prior to its sale.

3. For complete eligibility requirements, limitations on the exclusion amount and exceptions to the two-year rule, visit IRS.gov and search for Publication 523 PDF. This document will help you figure the net cost of the home you sold, the gain/loss on the sale and any gain that's eligible for exclusion from your income.

4. If you received the first-time homebuyer credit and put it towards buying the home that you sold or will be selling, you're required to repay the credit if you're no longer using that as your principal residence (and it's within three years of the date purchase). Repayment of the credit will be due with your tax return for the year the home stopped being your principle residence, using Form 5405 from IRS.gov.

5. When you move, don't forget to update your address with the IRS and the U.S. Postal Service to ensure you receive any refunds or tax-related mail. Use Form 8822 from IRS.gov to notify the IRS, and to notify the USPS, just go online and fill out a Change of Address Form.

*Note: If you can't file your taxes by the April 15 deadline, you still have time to file an extension, which will give you until October 15, 2013.

Want more tips on making filing less taxing? The IRS put together a list of the top 10 tax tips.

Tell us: Where are you planning to spend your tax refund?

5 Spring Staging Tips with the Best ROI

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What if we told you there is a marketing technique that not only helps sell your home quickly, but also has the best return on investment (ROI)? Staging is one of the top five home improvements real estate professionals recommend to their clients because the average ROI is 196%, according to HomeGain's 2012 National Home Improvement Survey. Even though a small staging budget can increase the sale price of a home, staging is often the last thing sellers think of doing. Get your home ready to sell this spring with five staging tips that pay off big time.

1. Size Up the Situation
If you're like most people, you've probably accumulated quite a pile of things throughout the years – pictures, books, knickknacks, toys, pet gear, hobby materials. And if you're like us, contemplating packing those things for a move, or organizing them for a staging, can feel overwhelming. Before you stress yourself out, ask a friend whose decorating taste you admire to tour your house with you and give you constructive criticism about where you need to pare back for staging purposes and which things you should ditch altogether. Make sure to remove furniture or decor that might prevent buyers from seeing the best features of your house.

2. Assess Your Outdoor Space
Walk from the street to your front door and note what you need to clean and fix outdoors. Polish or replace worn door hardware or your mailbox, and make sure to fix winter damage to shrubs, porches and trim. Plant colorful annuals as early as you dare, and put in lots of them. Little starter plants won't pack the punch you need to attract a closer look from potential buyers driving past, so in this case, go big or go home.

3. Dress for Spring, Sparingly
If you don't have any allergies to flowers, keep fresh cut flowers in your home to make it look homey and lived-in. Beyond that, take note of your usual spring decor — if it includes four leaf clovers in your yard or Easter eggs on your kitchen counter, consider keeping it boxed up for another year. Remember, your goal is to create an environment that appeals to all types of buyers, so decor that's specific to your cultural or religious background might be off-putting to those who don't share your history.

4. Fix Your Flaws First
Chances are, buyers won't be fooled by clever staging that camouflages worn-out appliances and systems. Plus, these issues will come up in a closing home inspection. If you're not sure that all electric, plumbing and structural work complies with municipal codes, hire a home inspector to check things out. If you have to bring your house into code compliance, better to do so on your own terms with contractors you choose than to have to deal with it in the midst of negotiating a sale.

5. Focus on the Fundamentals
If your appliances are more than 10 years old, they might look outdated, even if they're perfectly functional. Tour a few open houses in your area to see what finishes and functions are commanding top price. Concentrate on the basics: a high quality stove, refrigerator, dishwasher and solid faucet. Don't get carried away with gimmicky add-ons such as built-in espresso makers, which are costly and have limited appeal, since you probably won't get your money back on those.

Have you ever staged your home before? We'd love to hear your tips!

Spring Into Selling Season

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We don't want to jinx it, but we could we be looking at a real seller's market. A limited number of homes for sale and rising home prices are driving more buyers to market early to take advantage of low mortgage interest rates. Before they pounce on your house, use these real estate insider tips to make sure you're prepared for spring selling season.

1. Good News! More Americans are signing contracts to purchase homes than they have in over two years. Check out last month's most popular listings, and see which homes caught the attention of house hunters. Once you're properly inspired, get our secrets to a great property listing, and refresh your listing and description so they appeal to springtime buyers.

2. Is Your Price Right? Setting the right price is critical. So is understanding how much buyers are likely to offer. Get a grip on both with our Interactive Pricing Guide. Loaded with estimators, lists and resources for gaining insight into today’s real estate market, this comprehensive guide will help you set an asking price that attracts buyers.

Print this: 9 ways to price your home right from the start » 

3. Read the Buyer's Mind. Conditions are aligning for a strong start to the spring home selling market. Anticipating what buyers want and knowing how to answer their questions will help you close the deal.

4. The Art of Staging: You only get one chance at a first impression, so make sure your home looks its best when potential buyers walk through the door. Avoid the most common staging mistakes with these tips on how to stage your home.

5. Don't Sell Yourself Short. From a higher sale price to the potential for monthly income, answer these questions and get as much out of seller financing as your buyer.

How are you getting ready for the spring selling season?

5 Most Popular Homes for Sale By Owner in February

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More great news for home sellers! The AP is reporting that more Americans signed contracts to purchase homes in January than they have in over two years. Now more than ever, it pays to take note of what types of homes buyers are interested in so you can make improvements, update your property listing, do a bit of staging and get your house ready for spring, when the prime selling season kicks off. Here are the five most popular homes for sale on our site in February.

1. 1613 Dandelion Lane, West Bend, WI 53090
Price: $229,000
Highlights: 4 beds, 3 full baths, completely finished basement with built-in wet-bar

 

2. 5986 Porter Lane, Noblesville, IN 46062
Price: $279,900
Highlights: 4 beds, 2.5 baths, custom walk-in closet in master bedroom, two-level deck with sunken hot tub

  
3. 301 Wills Way, Bossier City, LA 71112
Price: $369,900
Highlights: 5 beds, 4 baths, large open floor plan with 12-ft. ceilings, built-in sound system indoors and out

4. 14123 Ridgewood Drive, Little Rock, AR 72211
Price: $175,000
Highlights: 4 beds, 2.5 baths, master suite with walk-in closet, 10 minutes from downtown Little Rock

5. 216 Fernwood Drive, Evansville, IN 47711
Price: $180,000
Highlights: 3 beds, 2.5 baths, 3.5 car garage; master bath features his and hers sinks and shower with a built-in steam unit
  




Which home is your favorite?

How to Use Social Media to Sell Your Home: Pinterest Marketing

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Pinterest is one of the fastest growing social networks around and drives more referral traffic than Google, LinkedIn and YouTube combined. According to the Search Engine Journal, Americans on Pinterest spend an average of 1 hour and 17 minutes on it every day, and the highly visible nature of the site makes it the perfect place for you to market your home. Here are four winning Pinterest marketing ideas to help you sell your home fast.

1. Give your listing 'pin power.' Pin your listing to one of your existing boards, or pin it to a new board that you create just with photos of your listing. The site that you pin from is where your pin will direct users, so make sure to pin photos directly from your listing so that anyone who clicks on your images will be taken straight there.

2. Create boards to show off your home. Make sure to stage your home first, or at least clean it up and make it look pretty so that people will want to re-pin your pics.

3. Get creative! Use Instagram, Photoshop or another photo-editing program to add filters or borders to your pictures before you pin them. You can also get creative with your boards—make a board showing your home all dressed up for the holidays, or create a board that showcases all the special memories you've had in your house.

4. Share your boards. Post your boards to your Facebook and Twitter pages, and tell your friends to repin your images. Check out our Home of the Week board, and find out how you could be featured next!

Have you ever used Pinterest to showcase your home? Tell us what type of pins got you the most notice.

How to Use Social Media to Sell Your Home: 4 Twitter Marketing Tips

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Like Facebook, Twitter is free and super-easy to use, so it's the perfect site to use to give your listing more page views. In December 2012, the social networking site surpassed 200 million active monthly users, and it's ranked in the top 10 most-visited websites in the world; so, if you're on Twitter, your listing should be, too. Here are four basic tips to help you get the most out of your Twitter experience.

1. Make your listing re-tweetable. Click the "Tweet" icon on your ForSaleByOwner.com listing to share it with your Twitter followers. Feel free to edit the text that's automatically generated so that the tweet sounds more natural, and make sure to tag any friends who may be looking to buy (or who may know people looking to buy). You're only allowed 140 characters per tweet, though we recommend that you keep it even shorter so that people can retweet your message without having to cut any text.

2. Tweet photos. A 2012 Buddy Media study found that tweets with images get twice as much engagement as tweets without. While this cuts down your character count, it's nice to be able to provide people with a visual. Make sure to include the link to your listing. Since you might be low on available space within your tweet, use abbreviations to cut down on your character count. LendingTree.com has a great article on commonly used real estate abbreviations, so check it out if you need some help making your tweets shorter.

3. Use hashtags. Hashtags are searchable terms with a pound sign (#) placed before them to help Twitter categorize and make them more easily searchable. Hashtags like #FSBO, #forsalebyowner, #realestate and #homeforsale are common for by-owner sellers, so include one or more of them in your tweets to help buyers find your listing.

4. Talk about the process every day. Just think about how many minutes a day you spend on social media—why not spend a few of those minutes talking about your home? Twitter, especially, is a fast-paced story-telling medium, and people there snack on bite-sized pieces of news and glimpses into the lives of others. Unlike Facebook, where your newsfeed might show you a status update or photo that a friend posted several days ago, your Twitter post from yesterday (or even this morning) probably isn't still going to appear in your friends' newsfeeds when they log in. So, it's important to post about your listing every day, whether you're updating people about an open house or talking about new paint colors you're considering for the kitchen, to keep it fresh in your friends' minds (and fresh in front of their eyes).

Have any Twitter marketing tips to share with us? We'd love to hear them @ForSaleByOwner!