Using the Internet to Sell Your Home

By Elizabeth Wasserman

Selling a home can be a stressful endeavor for any family -- and the up-and-down housing market certainly doesn't make it easier. However, enlisting the Internet as a selling tool can help.

The latest research from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) should be enough to convince any home seller that they need to use the web to showcase their property. Four out of five home buyers -- or 80 percent -- went online to search for a home in 2006. The NAR survey also found that a quarter of all house-hunters last year found their home on the Internet.

"If your home is not marketed properly online," says Mary Thyfault Clark, a web-savvy realtor in Virginia and Maryland, "you're not going to get people to look at it." For a commission, Thyfault Clark will stage a seller's home, which means clearing out the personal items and arranging the place for a magazine-style photo shoot. Then she creates a virtual tour of photos that highlights a home's strong points. She will also list the property on different real estate web sites, including the popular REALTOR, which features all homes in the multiple listing service (MLS) databases from coast to coast.

For home sellers, it's no longer a question of whether you'll use the web to advertise your home -- the question is how you'll use it. Following the lead of experts like Thyfault Clark, here are three options to explore:

1. Listing your home on your own  Most for-sale-by-owner web sites help mostly with allowing sellers to advertise their homes online and leading house-hunters to the listings. 

Do-it-yourself real estate listing sites include for sale BY owner, 4-salebyowner and ZeroBrokerFees, in addition to scores of regional sites. The fees vary. For instance, the site For Sale By Owner offers a range of packages -- from a one-time $199 fee to list your home on the site to an $899 package that also lists your home in MLS databases and on REALTOR. For the pricier package, you'll also get for sale signs, weatherproof brochure dispensers and how-to consultations.

If you've sold homes, been to the settlement table before and understand you may need to deal with difficult buyers or complicated deals, you could use the web to guide you in how to handle all or parts of the sales transaction, as well. Sites like For Sale By Owner and SOCRATES can help home-sellers draw up a real estate sale contract valid in your state, disclose all relevant issues (such as the existence of lead paint) and take steps to legally close the deal without an agent. Or if you want legal advice about real estate deals, check out FreeAdvice, which covers common issues sellers might face.

Still, even with help from the web, to oversee a real estate transaction on your own, "you need the time and the temperament and you need some business experience," advises Raynor James, who had been in real estate for more than a dozen years when she founded FOR SALE BY OWNER, a web site that allows sellers to post home listings with up to 15 photos for as little as $25 per month with the first month free.

2. Turning over part of the process to an agent  Deciding to go with an agent to price and advertise your home, negotiate with buyers and handle the assorted contracts and paperwork will usually cost you a commission of around six percent of the selling price (half to buyer's agent, half to seller's agent). For some people, it's well worth the money to hire a professional.

There is a way to get the best of both worlds. For starters, the web is a great resource for finding an agent. Check out ZIPREALTY to connect with a local agent who will help you set the price of your home and choose a selling plan. The agent then markets your home online and offline -- and for potential extra savings, you get to choose the commission you'll offer the buyer's agent.

If you pay to list your home on web sites or hire a consultant to create a virtual tour, you may have to pay only a partial commission if your buyer uses an agent or if you decide to ask an agent for help in drawing up contracts and other paperwork. Real estate agents can also add listings to the MLS databases and REALTOR -- the most popular ways that buyers find homes -- for you.

Some web sites also offer you and your agent help with valuing your property (House Values or Zillow) or with getting the necessary real estate contracts  (one good online source is U.S. Legal Forms). But experts warn that valuations are based on averages and may be off target, in addition to the fact that real estate contracts are constantly changing. Without an agent, you're on your own in dealing with buyers and complicated contract issues.

There also are some buyers who are not pleasant negotiators, James warns. "They will agree to something and ... every time you turn around they want something else." Adds Realtor Thyfault Clark: "When things go badly, it's nice to have someone holding your hand who's been there before."

3. Creating a virtual tour  Whether you contract with a realtor, or opt to advertise or sell your home on your own, digital photos are essential. These days, if an online listing doesn't have photos, buyers wonder what's wrong with the home, Thyfault Clark says.

The first step in photographing your home is in the staging. Realtors focus on reducing clutter while making sure the home has comfortable feel. Good lighting is important in order to effectively showcase your home's interior. Most for-sale-by-owner sites allow you to post several photos. Both realtor sites and, to a lesser degree, for-sale-by-owner sites, offer to create virtual tours. These are panoramic views of various rooms that you can sometimes manipulate to see into every corner.

Realty firms are more likely to have access to expensive cameras and software to create polished virtual tours. But a growing number of online consultants in various regions of the country, such as SF Home Tours in San Francisco, will allow you to build your own virtual tour for as little as $39.95 for online software and web hosting. For $300, the company will create a virtual tour for you.

In the end, selling your home is all about packaging. And these days, buyers expect to see the whole package online.