Selling Own Home

To email or not to email

My first response when asked this question when you are selling your home for sale by owner, is no.

I would definitely not include my email address on my printed ads. If you haven't been to the page on how to handle phone calls about your house, go from selling own home email to Handling Phone Calls

I know I'm always saying do everything possible when someone says I'm going to sell house myself, but the point here is;

• It is far better to talk to a person over the phone when selling a home, or face to face, than through the electronic media.

This is entirely up to you but lets look closer.

• Very impersonal.
• Too many "tire kickers".
• Low return on inquires vs viewings.
• Spam.

The potential buyer should have more than enough information to decide whether they would like to view your home. If they are sincerely interested, they will call you even if it means a long distance charge.

By the way, if you are looking for the crème de la crème when it comes to for sale by owner websites, you might want to check out For Sale by Owner Websites

This brings us to:

• Long distance buyer

The buyer might hesitate to call if they have to phone long distance but, they may send a quick message online to establish contact.

If you do decide to include your online address, here are a few rules that you may want to follow:

• I would strongly advise that you set up a separate e-mail address and/or account for inquires for selling own home.
You could simply create a seperate e-mail address with you present server, or create a whole new account from say Google Mail or Yahoo Mail or from any one of the million other e-mail providers.
• Check your email as often as possible to avoid the "I want an answer 10 minutes ago world" the Internet has created.
• Keep your replies short, sweet and to the point. Answer any questions and then suggest they call you, or better yet, ask for their phone number and you call them.
• Delete all the spam you may receive. I have excellent spam filters myself and you may as well, so this may not be a problem.
• Don't delay answering any mail you receive. People want answers now, not later.
• Lastly, after your house sells, take it off the web-site(s) you have advertised on and cancel your e-mail account set up for this one time event.

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