Before you show your FISBO home to the public, it's time to prepare for potential buyers. (Click Here for a checklist of items to help you prepare for potential buyers.) Two things to remember when showing your property are "Silence is Golden" and whenever possible, let the real estate agent do the showing. As the owner of your home, it's often hard to be objective about the selling points of your home. After all you've invested a lot of time and energy, as well as love and life into the property.

During the Showing

To set the stage, always welcome buyers through the front door of your home. Introduce yourself, offer a few highlights about the home and get out of the way. At an Open House, make sure they sign your “Guest Book”. After they sign in, write down a brief description of the people, their license plate number. You’ll be surprised how soon you forget who showed interest and who didn’t after you’ve had a house full of people. This also protects you and gives you a way of following up with buyers for feedback.

Be courteous and friendly, but do not force communication. Let buyers get emotionally attached on their own. Don’t try to “over-sell” all of the features of your home, but be available if your buyers have questions. When showing your home to a buyer yourself, obviously you can’t disappear, but try to remain as unobtrusive as possible. Don’t walk them through the house pointing out the obvious, but reserve your comments to highlight special features of the home that may not be apparent upon initial inspection.

Give out copies of your FISBO Home Information Sheet and Financing Worksheet. If you have a Home Book (a 3 ring binder or photo album with various pictures of your home, map of the area, information about nearby schools, churches, shopping, interstates, etc) leave it out. Let the buyer peruse your Home Book for information about the home.

After the Showing

Keep a written log of who has been in your home. Write down the prospects name, contact information, descriptions of the conversations you’ve had and the date of the showing. Follow up with every buyer and agent and ask for feedback. Is there a common theme that keeps coming up for why they or their buyers didn’t buy? If so, it may be something that needs to be changed, if possible. Also as a FISBO For Sale By Owner ("fisbo"), it may be helpful to turn over the contact sheet to a Mortgage Loan Officer so they can pre-qualify and follow up with your prospects. Mortgage loan officers are often willing to assist with Open Houses in the hopes of obtaining customers for their mortgage programs. Having a professional with you or at least 'on call' can be a big help for the FISBO when working with potential home buyers.

Step 4

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