How to Put Your House Up For Sale By Owner (FSBO) in Georgia

A lot of Georgia homeowners choose to offload their homes on a For Sale By Owner basis (abbreviated as FSBO) in order to avoid paying real estate agent commissions, but that choice can lead to a lot of work: it will be up to you, the seller, to fulfill the job of an agent and handle things like marketing the property, arranging showings, and negotiating offers. Because you will be trying to sell your house without the professional guidance of a realtor, it’s important to learn as much as possible about the process of FSBO so that you can make a clear plan for the journey ahead. To help you out, we’ve complied 9 easy steps for you to follow before selling your house on a for sale by owner basis in Georgia.

1 – Make a plan

The first thing to remember when putting your house up for sale by owner instead of listing with a local Georgia agent is that you won’t have the guidance of a real estate professional, so it is smart to make a game plan before you get started. Luckily, of you’re reading this, you have already taken this first step.

FSBO can be a long and complicated process, so it’s best to know exactly how you want to handle it. Here are a few questions to ask yourself before you jump in. (And don’t worry, we’ll go over several of these in later steps!)

• Do you have a buyer lined up? If not, how do you plan on finding potential buyers?
• What research do you need to do to ensure that your FSBO property is priced appropriately?
• What repairs or updates need to be done to the property to make it market-ready? Can you consider selling your house as-is?
• Will you hire a professional photographer to take listing photos of the property?
• Will you list the property, and if so, where?
• How will you handle working with showings and open houses on top of your everyday schedule?
• In Georgia, you have to hire a real estate attorney when closing on your house, so what are your options for your partnership, and how much responsibility for the FSBO sale do you want to delegate to them?
• How will you deal with any roadblocks that come up before the closing, such as financial or inspection contingencies?

In short, you need to think about how to take on a realtor’s responsibilities in the best way for your own situation. With FSBO, you likely won’t be able to do everything that a realtor does, so you need to set clear priorities: which items are the most important to completing a successful sale in Georgia, what tasks can you handle yourself, and what will you have to delegate to others?

2 – Educate yourself

After you have a rough idea of all the tasks you will have to take on during your FSBO process, you need to research your local housing market, meaning both in your specific city and in Georgia as a whole. This knowledge is hugely important because, in an FSBO situation, it is your responsibility to decide when it will be the best time to sell and what the most reasonable listing price will be for your property. Both of these factors can have a big effect on your pool of potential buyers.

When to Sell

The housing market fluctuates seasonally, so you may find selling your house to be a lot easier during high-demand months in the year. In Georgia, houses spend less time on the market in spring and summer months (April through August), whereas houses sell more slowly in winter and fall months (September through March). Homes also sell for higher prices during high-demand months because more buyers means more competitive offers. If you can manage to list your FSBO property in the spring or summer, you will likely sell it more quickly and easily.

Deciding on a Listing Price

Georgia is a seller’s market, so you have an advantage as an For Sale By Owner seller simply because there is a high demand for properties, so offers can get more competitive. This makes it much easier to price your FSBO listing, but there is still a lot of research you need to do when putting your house up for sale by owner in order to make sure you have the best chance of getting as many offers as possible as quickly as possible.

You’ll need to make what is called a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA), which involves looking at other comparable listings in your area that have sold recently. These properties should ideally be within a mile from your FSBO property, listed within the last 3 months, and around the same age and square footage as your property. (These criteria may be a little hard to fill if you live in a less populated area in Georgia, so you can widen your search to within a few miles if necessary.) You’ll want to look at what these properties listed for, what they sold for, what condition they were in, how long they were on the market. This will help you get a good idea of the expected value for your FSBO listing.

An agent would usually handle this in the traditional selling method, but when putting you property up for sale by owner, it’s up to you to handle this yourself. However, you can also commission a professional to help. Some Georgia realtors may offer comparative listings for you to look at for free, or you can simply pay a few hundred dollars to have your property professionally appraised in order to learn its fair market value. Both of these options may alleviate the pressure placed on you when creating your FSBO listing, and you’ll be able to make sure your Georgia property has a good price.

3 – Get the property ready

Much like in a traditional sale, an FSBO listing will require you to prepare your property to be put on the market. Getting your Georgia house market-ready first involves and looking at the conditions of comparable properties, which you probably did when pricing your home. This will help you figure out what condition your property needs to be in and what kind of repairs and updates will be the most likely to draw in buyers. For example, if all of the comparable properties sold recently had renovated kitchens, you might consider updating the kitchen of your FSBO property to make it more marketable.

Not all of the work you have to do on your FSBO property has to be this large-scale. The house might need bigger fixes, like replaced HVAC systems or updating plumbing and electrical, but you can also take on smaller, less expensive projects, like fresh paint and new hardware. Regardless of how you decide to get your property market-ready, there are a few things that you absolutely need to do before making your FSBO listing:

• Tidy the yard to increase curb appeal. The yard is the first impression that buyers get of the property when they pull up, so you want to make sure you mow the lawn, rake any leaves, clean the sidewalk, and tidy up any flower beds.
• Clear out clutter. This makes the property look tidier and roomier. Do the same inside of cabinets and closets: buyers will probably want to see what kind of storage space is available, so make sure those areas are tidied as well.
• Depersonalize the house. You want to make your FSBO property a blank slate so that buyers can imagine themselves living there. If the property isn’t saturated with personal belongings and knick-knacks, this will be much easier for buyers to do.
• Clean, clean, clean! You want the house to be in pristine condition when buyers come to see it, so scrub bathrooms, mop floors, wash windows, etc.

4 – Put up a sign

This one is easy: put a For Sale By Owner sign out in the yard of your property. This lets everyone who sees your house know that the property is on the market, which is super helpful in an FSBO situation when you don’t have the marketing aid of a real estate agent. On the sign, you should include contact information for prospective buyers to contact if they are interested. You can also affix to the sign a printed listing or real estate brochures for interested parties to look at. Make it as easy as possible for interested buyers to learn about your FSBO property.

5 – To list or not to list?

Much like in the traditional selling method, when selling an FSBO property, you can always choose not to list. You have to option to sell your property off-market, but this presents a few problems. It can be difficult to find buyers if your FSBO listing is not publicly available on listing sites. However, you can always market locally in your Georgia cities and the surrounding areas to find potential buyers, though this may take longer.

If you do choose to list your property, it will be up to you to get listing photos of the property and write a listing description. You’ll also need to post the listing on social media and home listing sites as an FSBO Georgia property; you can pay a flat fee to get your FSBO listing on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service, where realtors usually list properties), or you can post your FSBO listing on a real estate site. Unlike selling off-market, this option allows you to reach a wider pool of Georgia buyers with your FSBO listing, and this can expedite the selling process.

6 – Market the property

Whether or not you list your FSBO property, you’ll need to make sure that buyers know about it. After putting out a For Sale By Owner sign and/or posting your FSBO listing, you may have to do some additional marketing to get attention from potential buyers. Like we mentioned in the last step, you can make real estate brochures or flyers to put on in your Georgia area. You can also post on social media sites to spread the word, and you can even pay a few bucks to boost an ad on Facebook. Word of mouth can also be a big help: tell family, coworkers, friends and community members that you are selling

You can also decide to have an open house, which is another great way to draw in potential buyers. That kind of event can be marketed in the same way as the FSBO listing itself: flyers, social media posts, and word of mouth.

7 – Arrange showings

Once buyers show interest in your FSBO property, it’s up to you to schedule showings with them and their buying agents. You’ll want to prioritize speed and convenience for the buyer as much as possible. Making it as easy as possible to schedule a showing with you makes a good first impression, and it makes it a lot easier to get more buyers to see the house.

The best way to do this is by communicating clearly: set specific and consistent times that you can have showings, and try to keep those hours available for interested buyers to choose from. When buyers or agents reach out to ask for a showing, provide these hours for them to choose from. Make sure to keep track of showings that you schedule! The last thing you want is to forget about a showing until the last minute, and you also want to remember to clean and tidy the property before these showings.

Also keep in mind that, even in a FSBO situation, there are still a lot of different kinds of showings and different ways to handle them, so be equipped for any of the options.

8 – Negotiate offers

Once you start getting offers on your FSBO property, it will up to you to negotiate if necessary. It’s possible that the perfect offer will roll in and negotiation will be a moot point, but if that’s not the case, here are some tips when negotiating with potential Georgia buyers:

• If there is no advantage to be had, then don’t negotiate. Simply take the offer that was made.
• Remain reasonable in your pricing. Don’t ask for more money simply because you think your prospective buyer will pay it.
• Keep in mind what you are willing to compromise on. When you negotiate, it’s unlikely that you’ll walk away with everything you want, so be mindful about concessions that you can make.
• Be upfront about any damages or problems with the property. If necessary, offer to reduce your asking price if extensive repairs are needed.
• Consider asking buyers if they are pre-approved by a lender. This means the offer would be much less likely to fall through due to financing issues.

9 – Handle closing

The end to you FSBO journey is in sight, but there is still work to be done. Your first step here is to seek out a real estate attorney. Georgia requires that real estate attorneys to prepare legal documents and be present at closings, even in FSBO sales. Your buyer may already have a real estate attorney working with them, but even if they do, we recommend that you commission a Georgia attorney on your own behalf when handling everything on a For Sale By Owner basis; this ensures that you have a professional to represent your interests in the sale and to handle the pages of legal paperwork that come with property transactions. Real estate attorneys handle contract preparation, closings, and even negotiations in certain situations, so this has the potential to alleviate a lot of stress for you, the FSBO seller.

Once you work with your attorney to handle all of the paperwork and preparations for the closing, it will be up to you to work with your buyer for inspections and appraisals, both of which will likely be necessary before the deal can move forward. Depending on how these go, you may have to renegotiate pricing or invest in repairs, so be prepared for any potential delays or expenses.

Once all of those hurdles are cleared, it’s time for your For Sale By Owner closing. Find a time and place to close that is agreeable for all parties, have your photo ID, checkbook, and paperwork ready, and get ready to close the deal. Once you sign any necessary paperwork and pay any closing costs, you’re finally done with your FSBO experience!

Alternatives to For Sale By Owner

If you are looking to avoid listing with an agent and the process of putting your house up for sale by owner seems too daunting, there are other options for selling your Georgia property, especially if you want to prioritize convenience.

An increasingly common option for home-selling is to make a direct sale to a local Georgia real estate investor or professional homebuyer. These companies and individuals make market-value cash offers on homes as-is, which provides homeowners with a way to avoid both listing and the entire FSBO process if they so choose. This method allows you to arrange a showing with the buyer and close within a week, without being delayed by any of the steps involved with FSBO or other selling options. This is incredibly convenient if you are looking for a quick, no-hassle sale.

However, this convenience does come at the expense of a higher selling price. Because you will not follow the usual steps of FSBO and invest in repairs, updates, or closing costs, the offer you receive from one of these buyers will likely be at the lower end of your home’s market value. Because of this, if you are in a situation where final profit comes second to speed and convenience, then selling to a professional homebuyer could be a serious consideration as opposed to putting your Georgia house up for sale by owner.

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