What could you give to a For Sale By Owner that would help their cause?

Please note “give to” instead of “do for.” Nice Ned will hold an open house for the For Sale By Owner, cook them dinner, and offer to discount his commission. That’s doing for.

Smart Sally will give the For Sale By Owner information, advice, and answers to questions that educate and ultimately prove the value of hiring her to sell their house. Big difference. 

Last year less than 10% of all real estate transactions were completed by the owner without a Realtor assisting, and half of those were non-arms' length to a friend or relative. The successful sale closed by an owner accounts for less than 5% of the real estate market.

They need and deserve our help, and that is why we created the For Sale By Owner ‘HelpKit,’ one of the Hot Buttons from The Floyd Wickman Program.

Quick review. A Hot Button begins with an idea that is converted into a visual aid and given a catchy name. In other words, a Hot Button is a sales tool we use to persuade, to handle hesitation.

The “idea” behind the For Sale By Owner ‘HelpKit’ is to help the owner with the information they will need while educating them at the same time. The following are suggestions you can include in your For Sale By Owner ‘HelpKit.’

• A packet of sample forms, including a purchase agreement, earnest money deposit receipt, escalation clause, personal property rider, appraisal request, title request, Fair Housing pamphlet, seller disclosures, etc. (Remember to have the word SAMPLE stamped on all forms to avoid the appearance of giving legal advice.)
• Tips on getting your home market ready, staging, photographs, drone views, 3-D tours, and using AI to write property descriptions and advertising copy
• Suggested dialogue for converting inquiries into showings
• Pricing strategy
• Guest registry options
• The Fall-Through Prevention Checklist to get from contract to closing
• A list of certified and recommended vendor partners

• Legal and security caveats
• Fair Housing and Anti-Discrimination Compliance
• Multiple Offer Comparison Worksheet
• Negotiating Strategies with represented buyers; with unrepresented buyers; with multiple buyers

Many of these ingredients will be market specific, and some will evolve over time, so it’s important to keep your content up-to-date. We also believe this ‘HelpKit’ is best offered one ingredient at a time depending on what stage of the sale the owner is at.

Just like when producing one of our most-used HOT BUTTONS, The Comparison Shopping Analysis, we recommend getting a group of agents together to do your research and fill out each of the ingredients.

For an editable copy of the ‘HelpKit’ in Student Resources, sign up for the Vault at just $17.75/mo.

The Get By Giving philosophy applies to the For Sale By Owner ‘HelpKit.’; when you are willing to give them unselfish help, you will, at the very least, get recognition of the value you bring to a real estate transaction.

Do you use this Hot Button?

How has it worked for you?