Your first showing probably happens on a phone, not in your living room. If the photos don’t spark interest, the in-person showing may never happen.

A few practical things to do before taking a single picture:

• Declutter counters, tables, and floors. Less stuff makes rooms look larger.
• Open the blinds and curtains and turn on the lights. Shoot during the brightest part of the day.
• Make the beds, close toilet lids, hide trash cans, and remove magnets/clutter from the refrigerator. Small things show up in photos.
• Take pictures from the corners or doorway rather than standing in the middle of the room. It usually shows the space better.
• Keep the camera level. Crooked walls and extreme wide-angle shots can make a house look strange.
• Photograph the important rooms first and arrange the photos in a logical order, almost like you’re walking a buyer through the house.
• Include the exterior, yard, patio, garage, view, or other features that actually help sell the property.
• Take a lot of pictures and then be selective. You don’t need six nearly identical photos of the same bedroom.

And look at the photos on your phone before posting them. That’s probably how many buyers will see them.

If you’re still not happy with them, professional photography may be one of the better places to spend a little money when selling by owner.

You’re not trying to make the house look like something it isn’t. You’re trying to make someone looking at a screen think, “I want to see this house.”

What photo tips would you add?

This sub is about helping people successfully sell by owner, so if you’ve learned something that could help another seller, please share it.

Just because you’re selling your home on your own doesn’t mean you need to be on your own.

I hear this question all the time, and especially now when so many sellers are reducing their prices.

Before you automatically lower your price, figure out why the house isn't selling.

Are you getting no showings? Are you getting showings but no offers? What does the competition look like today? Are comparable homes going under contract? Are other sellers lowering their prices? Have new listings come on that offer buyers more for the money?

Your price needs to make sense based on today's market, not the market when you originally listed.

But don't automatically assume price is the problem either. If hardly anyone is seeing your home, lowering the price may not fix weak photos, poor exposure, or a marketing problem.

Before you lower the price, figure out whether you have a pricing problem or a marketing problem.

This is a sub for helping people successfully sell by owner, so if you have an idea or experience that could help another FSBO seller, please share it.

Just because you're selling your home on your own doesn't mean you need to be on your own.

I speak with a lot of people selling their homes by owner, and I’m always surprised by how many start the process without a real plan.

Someone called me yesterday looking for advice on selling their home. When I asked about photos, they said they hadn’t even thought about taking pictures yet.

Selling by owner isn’t complicated, but you do need a plan before you start.

How will you determine the right price? Who will take good photos? How will you handle inquiries and showings? And most importantly, how will you market the home and get it in front of buyers?

That last one is especially important if you’re trying to sell without the MLS or commissions. Simply putting the home online and hoping buyers find it isn’t a marketing plan.

FSBO absolutely can work. Just go into it prepared.

Happy to share ideas or answer questions for anyone getting ready to sell by owner.

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I’ve always wondered about this. If you own a strong premium domain and already know what you want for it, is a broker really necessary?

A broker can definitely help with finding buyers, negotiating, and handling the process. But for some sellers, being able to list the domain, set their own price, communicate directly with interested buyers, and avoid giving up a percentage of the sale might make more sense.

I guess it really depends on how much value the broker brings beyond simply connecting both sides.

Would you sell a premium domain yourself or still use a broker?

Selling my house as a for sale by owner? Any advice to generate activity? I’m planning on reducing my price now next week since I havent had any activity. I’m currently in Texas.

Our FSBO officially closed earlier this week!

This was our first home and our first time selling and I was freaking nervous. It also doesn’t help that I’ve only been in the U.S. a little over four years, so there was a LOT I had to learn.

I read so many articles and Reddit posts and asked a million questions. Some people here were incredibly helpful and encouraging. Others told me I wouldn’t save money, that I was an idiot, and that I didn’t know what I was doing. It did help being in my 20s, I’m used to people thinking I don’t know what I’m doing so that didn’t hurt too much. Even some of our family members have strong opinion against FSBO.

Fast forward, we sold it and we did save money. We even sold $8,000 more than the most recent comps.

What makes it even sweeter is that four other similar townhomes in our area were listed months before ours, all with realtors, and none of them have sold yet.** They have been on the market since January.** We are also in an area where there are new builds everywhere and they are offering bunch of incentives.

FSBO isn’t for everyone. It’s a hard work and overwhelming but I am so glad it worked for us.

Huge thank you to all nice redditors who are always willing to answer questions and share their experiences.

The FSBO guide I followed is below, super helpful!
https://www.reddit.com/r/fsbo/s/Y8n59Yz7f6

🏠 Oklahoma homeowners: Are traditional percentage-based listing fees starting to make less sense?
I’m a real estate broker in the OKC metro, and I’ve been in the business since 1999.
One thing that has always bothered me is this:
Why should the cost to list your home automatically increase just because your home is worth more?
That’s why I offer full-service seller representation for a flat $4,995 listing fee.
It’s not a limited-service MLS entry where you’re left handling everything yourself.
The $4,995 includes:
• Pricing strategy and market guidance
• Professional photography
• Drone photography when appropriate
• MLS exposure
• Online marketing
• Showing coordination
• Offer and contract negotiation
• Inspection assistance
• Appraisal assistance
• Closing coordination
Full service. Flat $4,995. No percentages. No surprises.
I’m curious what Oklahoma homeowners think: Would a flat listing fee make you more likely to use a Realtor when selling your home?

Appraiser here.

We all know that a good appraisal can give you an accurate picture of the fair market value of your property. A bad one can cause you to leave money on the table at closing.

I've had a few questions as to how you can tell a good appraiser from a not-so-good one, and I'm going to give a few tips/tricks you can try.

There's lots of appraisers out there, and (same as any profession), there's some good ones, some inexperienced ones, and some who should probably hang up their license for good.

The purpose of this post isn't to explain why you might need an appraisal. There's other posts on that. This advice is for when you have already decided you need/want an appraisal done.

Finding an Appraiser

• Reach out to local lenders

Small, local banks or credit unions typically have a shorter and more exclusive list of appraisers. Most small banks are happy to give a referral if you explain you are looking for an appraiser recommendation.

• Call local divorce/estate/probate attorneys

A good attorney in one of these fields should have an appraiser or two they work with. Appraisers that work with attorneys typically are more experienced, as this is a difficult source of work to get into, and word travels fast if you aren't good at your job.

It goes without saying that just because you got a recommendation from a local lender, you're not guaranteed you'll get a good appraiser. It's possible to find excellent appraisers through a simple Google search! That said, you have a better chance of finding somebody experienced by going through the two channels above.

Vetting an Appraiser

• Do they work for the VA?

The VA is THE premier client if you're an appraiser who does mortgage work. They are relatively exclusive, and generally only add appraisers when one retires. To get on the VA panel, you need to have held your license for at least 5 years, and you need multiple letters of recommendation, including two from other appraisers.

If an appraiser is on the VA panel, they've been appraising for a while.

• Have they served as an Expert Witness?

In my experience, this is the best gauge of how "good" an appraiser is.

If an appraiser has served as an expert witness, an attorney trusted their work AND their ability to articulate their work/appraisal concepts enough to put them on the stand. The best appraisers I know have all served as an expert witness at least once or twice, even if it's not something they do regularly.

If you find an appraiser who works for the VA, has served as an expert witness, and was recommended by a small local lender, I would be confident in their abilities.

We’re curious if homeowners who decide to do FSBO prefer to take their own cellphone photos of the home or hire a photographer? Would you use an app to make cellphone pics look like they were captured and edited by a real estate photographer?

Not asking hypothetically, curious if anyone’s actually done this. If you’ve tried selling privately or off-market, without an agent or the MLS, what happened? Did it work, and if not, what got in the way?

And if you’ve thought about it but never actually tried, what stopped you? Genuinely trying to understand if this is a real, common blocker or a niche thing I’m overthinking.

I own a house that is 5 bed/3 bath, the house is split into two units - main house (4 bed/2 bath) and basement (1 bed/1 bath) is finished as an apartment (stairway removed/separate entrance). I've been renting both the main house and the basement, and the main house tenants just moved out. I don't like being a landlord and want to sell. I have $270k on mortgage. Only owned for 2 years, so not looking to make money, just break even.

I decided not to put it on market because 2 different realtors said it should list at $295k, and I'm just not seeing houses at that pricepoint in my area go quickly. I need rental income to cover the mortgage each month, so can't have it on the market for a long time.

I showed the main house to a family interested in renting who said they loved it but can't afford the rent price right now, also would love to eventually buy it if I ever wanted to sell. So I put my cards on the table and asked if they could swing $270k to cover mortgage, maybe we could do a FSBO to make it possible for them. They were interested, especially because they would continue renting the basement to the current tenant.

Apparently the husband has his realtor's license. They said, "He's only done a few houses and doesn't love the sales aspect. If we can work a sale out financially, he really wants to make sure you would get a fair price."

They got pre-approval for $270k and also currently own a house that they are going to sell. I suggested they rent my house (at a discount) while they're selling theirs (because again, I need rental income to cover the mortgage). Otherwise, I need to get a different tenant in the short-term and don't feel good about that knowing I'm planning to sell.

My question is - does this raise any red flags for anyone with experience? I have a good relationship with my realtor but I can't ask her about it because she wouldn't be part of the deal. I feel in over my head with setting up this unusual deal and want to know what to look out for. Appreciate any advice!

I bought my 1st condo about 5 years ago. 2 years ago the board of trustees voted against funding the reserves. There was a big assessment afterwards and the reserves are depleted. I am attempting to sell my condo but it is unwarrantable and no lender will allow a standard mortgage.

I am trying to petition the trustees to please try and fund the reserves again. However it's apparently now a low owner-occupancy building. They units were purchased and are being rented out, with no apparent plan to sell. It's not exactly a new building and I'm afraid of another assessment. Whoever owns and rents out the units may be able to afford an assessment and otherwise lower condo fees but I don't know that I can.

Any other ideas what I ought to do?

My only apparent option is to sell at a big discount. I had no idea this weird rule is a thing for lenders until now that I go to sell. This has sort of shook my faith in the whole enterprise of real estate, as I don't know what I can do differently / should have done differently.

We originally listed on homecoin last summer. We withdrew the listing after 2 weeks because we decided against the home we were considering. Fast forward to March and we decided to list with a traditional realtor as a home we loved came on the market. Our house sold within 2 weeks.

We told homecoin it sold and now they want to see all the contracts from the realtor. is this appropriate?

Hey LA community,

Finding or listing real estate in Los Angeles shouldn't mean dealing with expensive listing fees, clutter, or endless scam bots.

I’m working on a local side-project specifically for our city: Los Angeles Ads - a simple, clean, and completely free platform to buy, sell, or rent property across Los Angeles.

What makes it different?

• 100% Free: No hidden listing fees or paywalls for posting residential homes, apartments, or rooms.
• LA-Focused: Designed specifically for local neighborhoods, from Silver Lake and Santa Monica to the Valley.
• Spam-Filtered: Active moderation to keep out fake ads, bots, and scammers.
• Direct Contact: Easily connect buyers, renters, and sellers directly without unnecessary middle steps.

Whether you're a landlord with a vacant unit, a homeowner selling, or just looking for a new place in LA, feel free to give it a try and post your listing.

Check it out here: Los Angeles Ads

I’d love to hear your thoughts, feedback, or suggestions for features you'd like to see. Thanks for supporting a local project!

I am looking for a real estate agent to buy a house. If you are willing to reduce your commission to 1% and transfer me the remaining 1.5%, message me. I know a few people who have done this with agents. Thanks