Selling My House Privately

Offer an Upgrade, or an extra "Goodie"

Selling my house privately when the real estate market is tough, sometimes needs a little extra thinking "outside the box."

On this page, we will look at some tips to sell your house by offering an upgrade, to entice a purchaser to buy.

Again, when I talk about offering upgrades, I'm not talking about offering something and then adding it to the price. What I'm saying here is this:

"Mr. and Mrs. Prospect, I'm selling my property privately for the appraised value of $275,000.00, and I'm going to have a 12 x 12 red cedar deck built off the family room at no extra costs."

In other words, this incentive is a "carrot" for the purchaser to buy your property, rather than the similar home down the street for the same price.


The idea is "selling my house privately" rather than "selling their house."

What Can I Offer?

So, what are some ideas to offer to sell my house privately? Well, you have to consider two things:

• How much will it costs?
• Will it attract a prospects?

A good idea when selling my house privately and offering an upgrade or an extra, is to set a maximum amount you want to invest.

You might say, no more than $2,000.00 or $5,000.00 or perhaps $10,000.00.

The amount will of course be up to you. What works? This will depend a lot on where your market is.

A first time buyer will probably be more interested in certain items than a seasoned home owner buying a high-end property.

If your target market is probably a young couple buying their first home here are a few examples of a selling enticement.

• A new hot-tub.
• A new 46 inch LCD wall mounted TV.
• A Home Theater in the family room.
• 4 new appliances of the buyers choice up to a cost of $2,500.00.

If your target market is probably a more seasoned home owner, a few ideas might be:

• A new garage.
• A new bathroom installed on the lower level.
• A kitchen remodel.

These are just a few ideas that would "pop" into my head when selling my house privately as I write this. One thing that is very important, is you set limits on costs. For example, you might state that the new bathroom must not exceed, $8,000.00.

I know, I know. An $8,000.00 bathroom in some homes would be more than efficient and in other homes, would just get you started. Remember, these are just ideas.

On the kitchen remodel, you could just suggest you replace the old plywood cabinet doors with solid oak and perhaps have the counter-top upgraded.

Some More Tips to Sell Your House

Sometimes when selling my house privately using incentives, you might want to just use a "buyer's choice."

Let's set the scene. A couple have just toured your property and have shown some "I love this property signals." They are obviously interested, but seem to be uncomfortable about something.

You: George and Martha, It seems like you really like our home but, I sense that it's missing something. Would you mind sharing the issue with me?

Buyer: Well, to tell you the truth, we were looking for a home with a bath and 1/2 and this one only has the one bathroom. I told George we would not buy a house with one bathroom again.

You: Other than the one bath issue, is there anything else that would stop you from offering on this property?

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Important: (Always try to isolate the issue to a single item) For more information on negotiation go to Real Estate Negotiation

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Buyer: Nope, other than the single bathroom, we both love the home.

You: I'll tell you what we can do. If this property has everything you want except the second 1/2 bath, we will have a 1/2 bath installed for you by professionals with your choice of fixtures etc., at no extra cost. This will be our gift to you.

If the purchaser agrees, then you set the limits on the costs and close the deal.

Be Careful How You Write the Contract

You do have purchase contracts on hand right? :)

If you are looking for, what is in my opinion the best source for contract forms, just click on the following link to get the where and why. Real Estate Contract Forms.

One of the potential problems with offering upgrades is, the Lender/Appraiser, might look at the "extras" as part of the purchase price.

In other words, when selling my house privately, you sell for $275,000.00, include a $8,000.00 upgrade and suddenly the appraisal comes in at $267,000.00.

This is just another reason to have an Appraisal on your property, before you place on the market.

If the appraisal is $275,000.00 before you throw out an incentive, then the extra $8,000.00 is obviously a "gift".

The other thing you could do, is write up a separate contract for the "extra" add-on, or upgrade. This can be done privately between you and the buyer that has nothing to do with the sale of the house. You may want to write up the separate contract "in exchange for $1.00."

Please check with your real estate lawyer on how to handle this, to make sure it is legal and above board in your area, before proceeding.

I would like to reiterate that these types of concessions are usually used during tough real estate markets when you offer extras to lead buyers to write a contract on your home, rather than a neighbor's.

When the real estate market is hot, or even balanced when selling my house privately, these types of incentives may not be necessary.

For More Information about Seller Incentives

Offer to Pay Buyer's First 3 to 6 Mortgage Payments

Offer a Mortgage Assumption

Offer Seller Financing

Offer to Pay Buyer Closing Costs

Offer a Mortgage Buy Down


Offer a Sellers Home Warranty

Seller Concessions Main Page



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