If you are planning to sell your home on your own it can be a frightening experience. There are plenty of things you need to know how to do that you normally could have avoided if you hired a real estate professional to represent you. One of the most important things you will need to do to get your home sold is handle your own home advertising.

You won’t need to spend thousands of dollars, but you will want to make sure you are expanding the visibility of your home in order to attract potential buyers. A little money in three or four areas should do the trick to get your home out there. These areas have been listed below for your consideration.

A High Quality Yard Sign:
This is the first thing people consider when they are planning to sell their own home. When you look into getting a yard sign for your home you want to make sure you are getting the right one. Do not place up a sign that is flimsy and found in a discount store for mere pennies. Spend the money necessary to get the right sign, and attach a tube, where you can add flyers with information about your home. Always keep a good supply of flyers in the tube. Remember, everything you do to advertise your home is going to leave a lasting impression on the potential buyers and you don’t want to leave an impression that your home may be worth anything less than what it truly is.

Flyers and Brochures:
These simple pieces of paper actually gives potential buyers a peek at what your home has to offer before getting to see it. When designing the flyers and brochures you need to make sure you include the right information to draw the right crowd to your home.

You need to place at least one high quality photo of your house on the front of the flyer of the brochure. If you use only one, then you should make sure it is larger than if you were planning to use two. Below the photo(s), provide the information about your home in simple, bullet style, one line sentences. Make sure that you add any contact information where potential buyers can reach you. This information should include: your name, address, and phone number. If you have a website address you are using to advertise your home online, be sure you include it on all your advertising. People are online at all hours of the day and night so you never know when someone could see your home and contact you via email about setting up an appointment.

Classified/Newspaper Ads:
When you attempt to write your classified ad you will want it to be short and sweet. You want something to grab the reader’s attention and you won’t be able to do that if you are using a lot of words. Use catchy phrases in bold type letters, such as “We must sell” or “Immediate Possession!”

Real Estate Professionals use the classified ads for various reasons. Obviously they want to get your home noticed but they also want to use these ads to direct people to your home, and to make them take action in a certain way. For example, your ad could mention that interested parties should call you, or visit a webpage that contains information about your home. With this information, the potential buyer has a good idea of how to get ahold of you or how to find out more about your home (if you send them to a web page).

Internet:
There are many resources that will allow you to advertise your home on the Internet. The best thing we can suggest is to build a page that can be found and indexed by the search engine. If you pay for space, which is recommended, you pay a flat fee for the page. Your page will need to stand out and make your home shine! You will also want to make sure your page has its own unique Internet address. This is important when you advertise on sites that specialize in “For Sale by Owner” properties. There are many sites out there that offer this service. You want to look for a reputable site that is listed high on the search engine and that has a high Google Page Ranking.

If you are planning to do internet advertising you will want to make sure that you are listing in sites that are showcasing your particular area. You want to see that every site you list on has a picture of your home, information that will allow potential buyers to contact you, and some brief information about your home.

Some things to mention:

Buyers often search by specifics when seeking out the home of their dreams. By listing these things you are weeding out all potential buyers that may need a bigger or smaller home or who may not be interested in what your home has to offer. It also will target the buyers who know what they want. When they find the right home, if they know that your home suits their aesthetic needs, they will be more likely to schedule an appointment to view your home. Here is a list of things you should include in your listing:

• Number of bedrooms
• Number of bathrooms
• New items to your home (furnace, windows, carpet, roof, etc.)
• Square Feet
• Year the home was built
• Any special amenities (pool, spa, guest house, etc.)

If you have any questions or need any guidance when it comes to selling your home, please feel free to let me know. I will be more than willing to help you out in any way that I can.