How to Sell your House by Yourself in Chicago: A Short Guide

Selling your house is something you’ll have to do maybe just a few times in your life.  And unless you know a local Chicago real estate agent who will sell your house for free or a hugely discounted commission… it can be a real pain in the rear and an expensive process for you as well.

So… you landed on this page about “How to sell your house by yourself in Chicago Illinois” because of a few reasons I’m guessing…

• You have no or very little equity in your house so you can’t afford to pay a real estate agents commissions
• You have equity but want to try to save money selling the house yourself before you resort to hiring an agent
• You’re in foreclosure (or heading that way) and just need to sell fast without incurring thousands in agent commissions
• You can’t wait the months and months it sometimes takes to sell a house in the Chicago area in this market so you want to try to sell it more quickly

Whatever one you land in… there are ways to sell your house yourself here in the local Chicago real estate market.

Since 2013, the housing sector has been experiencing a major recovery. Selling your house at this time will definitely be profitable if you do it right. In most cases, it is about using smart marketing strategies and being realistic about your expectations on what you want to achieve with this sale.

This article will provide some guidelines to help you sell your Chicago area house yourself.

How To Sell Your House By Yourself In Chicago Illinois – Let’s Dive In

Know The Chicago Real Estate Market Well 

The first and most important step is doing a market research on your neighborhood in the Chicago Illinois area. This step involves visiting various home marketing sites (Zillow, Eppraisal the Chase home value estimator, etc), calling a real estate agent or two to see what your home is worth, or reading about the various market pricing techniques.Proper homework on these issues will allow you to come up with a right price for your house and also helps you to avoid making certain selling mistakes.

If you don’t want to hassle with trying to come up with a home value yourself… give us a call at (708) 401-8647 and we’ll give you an honest fair valuation of what your house is worth on the retail market (if you’re going to wait the 3-6+ months to find the perfect retail buyer). And if you want to… we’ll make you a fair all-cash offer on your house to give you that option of selling quickly (we can close in as little as 7 days if you want to).

Assess the market

This step is almost similar to conducting market research, only that in this case, you are bound to your neighborhood and similar houses. Are there lots of houses for sale in your neighborhood here in Chicago? If so, what is the average that they are listing for?  Are there lots of foreclosures in your neighborhood? That may drag your house price down.

Assess the house

As a seller, your house should be in top condition or shape in order to sell at a good price. Identify certain unique characteristics about it and emphasize them during the marketing. For example, in a Chicago, a house with a drive way parking may be more attractive to buyers compared with one with a garage parking.

Also, does your house require repairs?  Does it need to be repainted inside or out?  How is the condition of the roof?  Is the landscaping in good shape? Is the house outdated at all? (you know, those popcorn ceilings ;-).  All of these things can make the house more attractive or less attractive depending on the buyer… which changes the price they’re willing to pay.

After all of this… come up with an asking price for your Chicago home that is fair… isn’t so high it’ll take you 12 months to sell the house… but is attractive so you get a frenzy of buyers who are ready to buy it quickly.

Use Photos or Videos

Chicago buyers are obsessed with media. Taking walk-through videos of the house and using the videos to advertise will enable you to reach a wider market. In fact, these videos are considered more transparent than taking photos.  However, this should not stop you from using the latter option since it is more affordable compared to the video.

So take some great pictures. Take a picture of every room in the house that helps show it off. Take a picture of the house from the outside in a few different angles… people want to see the house before they ever show up to see it. So having great pictures of your house online could be the difference between getting the right buyer quickly… and waiting months and months to sell.

Get Your House “Listed” On The Local Chicago MLS And Market It

You can find no or low fee real estate brokers these days who will charge you a few hundred bucks to put your house on the local Chicago MLS.  This gets your house in front of all of the real estate agents quickly (so be prepared to pay those “buyers” agents a 2-3% buyers broker fee if you plan to have their support in helping you find a buyer.

Place ads in the local newspaper, signs on the roads, and hold an open house.

All Of This Sound Like A Lot Of Work To Sell Your Chicago House Fast Yourself?

It can be.

And in the end, many Chicago house sellers think they’re saving money and time by marketing the house themselves… when in the end it costs them more money to go that route.

When you sell your own house here are some things you need to consider…

• If you’re not a good marketer or aren’t ready to spend a bunch of time marketing your house right… selling it yourself may not be your best bet
• If you don’t do a good job preparing the house and the marketing materials… and working with buyers to really build the value of your house in their minds… you may actually sell the house for 3-8% less than you may get for the same house an experienced person marketed the house for you
• Too many sellers never think about holding costs or opportunity costs… every month that your house doesn’t sell means another mortgage payment, tax payment, insurance, utilities, etc.  If your mortgage payment is $1,500/mo… and $1,300 of that is interest… if it takes you 7 months to sell your house… that cost you an extra $9,100 (not to mention taxes and insurance you paid during that time).  So, if you were able to sell that house more quickly… would it make sense for you to provide a buyer a discounted price today so you can close quickly and move on? Something to think about.

If you’d rather not put up the hassle of trying to sell your Chicago house yourself… and would rather just sell it quickly for a fair price without paying any commissions or fees…

… here at SellYourChicagoHomeFast.com we actually buy local Chicago Illinois houses.

We’d love to make you a fair, NO OBLIGATION and NO HASSLE cash offer on your house.

We can close quickly (in as little as 7 days if you wanted to)… which would save you thousands of dollars vs. trying to sell the house yourself and waiting for months.

Also, when we buy local Chicago houses we do all repairs that are needed (we pay for it ourselves) so you don’t have to worry about that.

If you want to see what we can pay for your house, give us a call today at (708) 401-8647 or just fill out the quick simple form through the link below.

Selling Your Chicago House Yourself? –
Get A Cash Offer From Us First Before You Waste
Time, Money, And Energy Selling It Yourself >>

How to sell your House Quickly in Chicago

Are you worried on how to sell your house quickly in Chicago without any hassle?

In this article I’ll dive into some ways you can start to look at to sell your local house more quickly.

There are lots of reasons people need to sell their house fast.

For instance, some of these reasons may include:

• need to relocate to another city because of a job change
• vacant property is being a burden on you
• divorce
• financial hardship
• you inherited a house that you don’t want to keep
• …among other reasons for needing to sell your house

So, if you’re looking to sell your local house fast (which who wants to sell their house slowly anyway?)… check out some of my tips below in this quick article.

Leverage The Web To Get The Word Out

Stats have shown that over 80% of house buyers go to the web first to research and find houses.

So if your house isn’t on the web… how are buyers going to find out about your house?

There are lots of ways to get your house online. You can list it on websites like Zillow, redfin,Craigslist… or even setup your own website for the property.

Then, take that property listing and get it everywhere online that you can. List it on all of the classifieds websites (again, Craigslist, Backpage, etc.).

Total Cost: FREE – Cheap (most routes are free, but some of these sites have paid versions)

Use Facebook To Spread The Word About Your Chicago House For Sale

One of the best ways to sell a house is through word of mouth.

Tell all of your friends and family that you’re selling… and have them tell everyone they know.

Also, hop on your Facebook account and share the property listing with your friends and ask them to spread the word for you to all of their friends who may be interested. What you need to do is simply send your link to your Facebook friends.

There may be a person in dire need of a house. Besides, you may also get a friend who may link you up with a buyer. The importance of using Facebook over other social networks is that it is free and you only need to be connected to the internet in your computer.

Total Cost:  FREE

Use of Local Dailies (Newspapers, Magazines, etc.)

One of the things we’ll do whenever we need to sell a house fast is also get our property in the local newspaper. It gets your house in front of lots of people… and one place lots of buyers look for houses is in the “homes for sale” section of the paper.  Put your phone number… a link to your online listing if you have one… a picture (ads with pictures get many many more responses than ads without the picture of the house).

Add in a few of the best parts about your house… the price… and end with a clear call to action on how they can setup a time to come check your house out.

Total Cost: Under $100

Get Your House On The Local Chicago Illinois MLS

The number one place buyers look for a house is the “multiple listing service”. That’s the fancy name for where houses go when real estate agents “list” a house.

A listing for your house will go into a central database that all local Chicago real estate agents in our area will have access to… so they can bring their buyers to the houses on the MLS that fit what they’re looking for.

You can get your house on the MLS without hiring a real estate agent to sell your house.  Some agents will let you pay a few hundred bucks to just list your house on the MLS for you and take no commission on the sale.

Sell Your House To A Reputable Local Property Buyer Like SellYourChicagoHomeFast.com

Last, as another option to sell your house… if you really need to sell your Chicago.

We buy houses in and around Chicago Illinois, and can close quickly.

If you want to sell your house and are curious on how the process works… and want to see what we can pay you for your house… you can get that ball rolling in a couple ways.

1. Give us a call today at (708) 401-8647: We’ll ask a few basic questions about your house… and within 24 hours we’ll make you an offer on your house. No Obligation at all. If the price works for you. Great! We can close on your timeline… in as little as 7 days.
2. Go fill out this really short and simple form with your basic house info: We’ll evaluate the property as soon as we get it today… then we’ll call you with a formal offer on your house in less than 24 hours.

It’s really simple.  You pay no fees. No commissions.

We just agree on a price that works for both of us and that’s it.

Let us make you an offer on your Chicago area house (we buy in other parts of Illinois as well). You don’t have anything to lose.  And you can have your house sold by this time next week (if you wanted us to close that fast) rather than having to wait months and months to market your house yourself the traditional way.

Tips on How to sell your House Quickly in Chicago without any Hassle

Are you worried on how to sell your house quickly in Chicago without any hassle?

In this article I’ll dive into some ways you can start to look at to sell your local house more quickly.

There are lots of reasons people need to sell their house fast.

For instance, some of these reasons may include:

• need to relocate to another city because of a job change
• vacant property is being a burden on you
• divorce
• financial hardship
• you inherited a house that you don’t want to keep
• …among other reasons for needing to sell your house

So, if you’re looking to sell your local house fast (which who wants to sell their house slowly anyway?)… check out some of my tips below in this quick article.

Leverage The Web To Get The Word Out 

Stats have shown that over 80% of house buyers go to the web first to research and find houses.

So if your house isn’t on the web… how are buyers going to find out about your house?

There are lots of ways to get your house online. You can list it on websites like Zillow, redfin, Craigslist… or even setup your own website for the property.

Then, take that property listing and get it everywhere online that you can. List it on all of the classifieds websites (again, Craigslist, Backpage, etc.).

Total Cost: FREE – Cheap (most routes are free, but some of these sites have paid versions)

Use Facebook To Spread The Word About Your Chicago House For Sale

One of the best ways to sell a house is through word of mouth.

Tell all of your friends and family that you’re selling… and have them tell everyone they know.

Also, hop on your Facebook account and share the property listing with your friends and ask them to spread the word for you to all of their friends who may be interested. What you need to do is simply send your link to your Facebook friends.

There may be a person in dire need of a house. Besides, you may also get a friend who may link you up with a buyer. The importance of using Facebook over other social networks is that it is free and you only need to be connected to the internet in your computer.

Total Cost:  FREE

Use of Local Dailies (Newspapers, Magazines, etc.)

One of the things we’ll do whenever we need to sell a house fast is also get our property in thelocal newspaper. It gets your house in front of lots of people… and one place lots of buyers look for houses is in the “homes for sale” section of the paper.  Put your phone number… a link to your online listing if you have one… a picture (ads with pictures get many many more responses than ads without the picture of the house).

Add in a few of the best parts about your house… the price… and end with a clear call to action on how they can setup a time to come check your house out.

Total Cost: Under $100

Get Your House On The Local Chicago Illinois MLS

The number one place buyers look for a house is the “multiple listing service”. That’s the fancy name for where houses go when real estate agents “list” a house.

A listing for your house will go into a central database that all local Chicago real estate agents in our area will have access to… so they can bring their buyers to the houses on the MLS that fit what they’re looking for.

You can get your house on the MLS without hiring a real estate agent to sell your house.  Some agents will let you pay a few hundred bucks to just list your house on the MLS for you and take no commission on the sale.

Sell Your House To A Reputable Local Property Buyer Like SellYourChicagoHomeFast.com

Last, as another option to sell your house… if you really need to sell your Chicago.

We buy houses in and around Chicago Illinois, and can close quickly.

If you want to sell your house and are curious on how the process works… and want to see what we can pay you for your house… you can get that ball rolling in a couple ways.

1. Give us a call today at (708) 401-8647: We’ll ask a few basic questions about your house… and within 24 hours we’ll make you an offer on your house. No Obligation at all. If the price works for you. Great! We can close on your timeline… in as little as 7 days.
2. Go fill out this really short and simple form with your basic house info: We’ll evaluate the property as soon as we get it today… then we’ll call you with a formal offer on your house in less than 24 hours.

It’s really simple. You pay no fees. No commissions.

We just agree on a price that works for both of us and that’s it.

Let us make you an offer on your Chicago area house (we buy in other parts of Illinois as well). You don’t have anything to lose.  And you can have your house sold by this time next week (if you wanted us to close that fast) rather than having to wait months and months to market your house yourself the traditional way.

How to Avoid Foreclosure in Chicago

While the housing market is rebounding, many people in Chicago] are still struggling to make their mortgage payments.

If you’re underwater on your home, or having trouble keeping up with your monthly mortgage payments, you could be fearful that your mortgage provider is going to foreclose.

Thankfully, there are a number of things that you can do to avoid foreclosure in Chicago. It’s important to remember that moving quickly is absolutely paramount, and could save your credit rating and your home.

So lets dive in on a couple quick tips on possibly how to avoid foreclosure in Chicago with your home.

The Keys of How To Avoid Foreclosure in Chicago Don’t Abandon Ship

Many people simply give up and walk away from their home. There are even areas of Chicago have begun to resemble ghost towns, as the economy has impacted residents significantly.

Detroit is a prime example of what can happen when people abandon their homes.

This can be stressful situation, but it’s extremely important to keep your wits about you. A foreclosure will have a huge negative impact on your credit score, and likely prevent you from purchasing a home for years to come. If you sell your home, you could leave a portion of the loan unpaid, and the lender could pursue legal action against your for the unpaid portion.

While it’s extremely stressful, you do have options:

• Negotiate with your mortgage lender. Banks and other financial institutions are well aware that citizens of Chicago are struggling. If you haven’t missed a payment yet, you may have some leverage to renegotiate the terms of your loan. Banks don’t like foreclosing on homes, and many will work with you if you aren’t too far behind. You may be offered forbearance, or even a full loan modification.

• Ask for help from Uncle Sam. Over the last five years, the federal government has implemented a number of programs to help struggling homeowners. The Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) allows struggling homeowners to modify their loans, reducing monthly payments. The Home Affordable Refinance Program allows homeowners who are current on their mortgage payments refinance an adjustable rate mortgage into a low-interest, fixed rate loan. Both of these programs are subject to eligibility requirements.

We understand that the possibility of losing your home can be stressful. You aren’t alone. Citizens all over Chicago are going through the same troubles. Foreclosure can have a lasting effect on your financial life, and it’s important to move quickly and take advantage of any options available. You could save both your credit rating and remain in your home.

We may be able to help you avoid foreclosure… connect with us today and lets discuss your situation. We don’t charge any fees… we’ll evaluate your situation… and present you your options so you can move forward and get this foreclosure behind you.

Give us a call anytime at (708) 401-8647 or
fill out the form on this website today! >>

How to stay in my home after foreclosure in Chicago

A recent study estimates that 47% of foreclosed properties are still occupied.

When you first see that stat you may be surprised… but we’re not.

What most people don’t realize is that banks aren’t in the business to own homes.

They are in the business to loan people money. But when they have to foreclose on a house… the bank is forced to own the home until they’re able to sell it to get all or most of their money back.

But, what they had found is that when a Chicago foreclosed house goes vacant… there is a much greater chance that the house will fall into disrepair.  Often times the bank would rather have you in the property even after you stop paying your payments and the foreclosure is started because it wards of vandals and keeps the house in good working order.

There’s been a lot of talk in the media about people living for free after foreclosure – and even many stories about banks “abandoning” properties.

In those stories, people are avoiding house payments for months, even years.

Man, that sounds great! Let’s all live for free. (wink)

Wait… it can’t be that simple, right?

Right.

No bank would purposely neglect collecting payments. The only way that you get to live without making any payments is when some major mistakes were made.

But you might get lucky! It’s possible, and it’s happened before. However, it’s not exactly legal to avoid payments that you owe, and it can get you in serious trouble.

So why are so many foreclosed homes occupied? It’s important to remember that no one wants the house to be vacant. Vacant homes are targets for vandalism and crime.

Staying in the property can help the bank maintain the value of their investment, so it’s actually in their best interests to keep it occupied. Partly because of the ways that the foreclosure laws are structured in Illinois, banks may ask you to leave while wanting you to stay.

There are a few perfectly legal ways to remain in your home, even after foreclosure.

How To Stay In My Home After Foreclosure In Chicago

Not all these options are available (depending on your situation and your lenders), and you’ll need some expert advice along the way to help you get through.

1) Wait it out. Honestly, this is a pretty bad option, but it seems to be increasingly common. You definitely shouldn’t run away and abandon your house when the first notice of default shows up. Remember that the proceedings and the process takes months and sometimes years. It’s not over until it’s over, so don’t give up too early. On the other hand, don’t wait until the sheriff shows up to evict you to start packing up your stuff.

2) Go to court. In very rare cases, judges are granting stays and delaying evictions. This is really only a valid option if you (and your attorneys) can prove that the bank has neglected a legal requirement during the foreclosure process. During the past few years, a lot of fraudulent behavior at banks has been uncovered – so we may see an increasing trend of using the courts to stop foreclosure. Fighting banks with lawyers is very difficult, expensive and time-consuming, even if you’ve got a perfect case (most people don’t stand a chance).

3) Propose a move-out bonus. Often buyers of occupied foreclosure properties spend thousands of dollars on lawyers and other costs of eviction, so why not save everyone the time and expense by taking some of that money yourself? It’s known as “cash for keys”. It sounds a little greedy, but greasing the wheels does help everything to run smooth. Plus, you can help out the bank and the buyers by not abandoning the house to squatters before they’re ready to take possession.

4) Rent it back. It may sound crazy, but some banks are willing to take on previous homeowners as tenants in their property. That’s only a short-term fix, as they’ll want your agreement to vacate the premises as soon as they find someone to purchase the property. In some cases, we can even purchase the property and rent it back to you.

It’s really good that you’re reading this page and exploring your options. We help homeowners like you to find creative solutions.

We can’t help everyone, but we might be able to help you.

We buy local Chicago Illinois houses like yours from people who need to sell fast.s

Give us a call anytime at (708) 401-8647 or

fill out the form on this website today! >>

What happens when you inherit a house in Illinois?

Inheriting a house is one of the few big surprises that life brings us sometimes. But what happens when you inherit a house in Illinois? As much as you may want to keep an inherited house, sometimes you may be forced to consider putting it up for sale. Well, selling an inherited house can be a demanding task, but definitely not impossible! With the right information and assistance from SellYourChicagoHomeFast.com, you should have no problems selling your inherited house. So where does the difficulty come from selling an inherited house in Illinois?

Exactly what happens when you inherit a house in Illinois?There are a number of factors that should be taken into consideration when planning to sell an inherited house in Illinois. Some of these factors include…

• Dealing with the emotional aspect of selling a loved one’s home
• The financial cost of making the necessary updates intended to attract buyers
• Dealing with potential costly liens and other hidden challenges

First thing, get ready for a rollercoaster of emotions

Selling a loved one’s house can be such an emotionally draining activity… This really cannot be stressed enough. The activity may involve removing his or her stuff, depersonalizing everything even more.

When our emotions get carried away, we often don’t make the best business decisions. Times like that are when you need people with experience buying and selling probate homes in Illinois to help walk you calmly through the whole process.

Negotiating and managing the selling process

And other times, one might have to deal with expensive liens or other problems that don’t become apparent right away. Regarding these things, disagreements among your siblings might arise about the selling price of the house.

Apart from that, you will have to meet the financial cost needed for making the required updates to make potential buyers aware of and (hopefully) interested in your inherited house. There are also legal and taxation aspects of the sale that you must understand to make the sale successful.

These are the major problems that potential inherited house sellers have to deal with. Unless you are a professional in this area, the process can be tiring and daunting.

Now you know what happens when you inherit a house in Illinois. This explains why you need to seek the help of real estate professionals who have had experience helping people sell their inherited houses. If you are considering selling your Illinois inherited house now or in the next few days or months, then you are better off speaking to one of our real estate experts. He or she will come in handy extremely to help make the process as simplified as possible. Give SellYourChicagoHomeFast.com a call now at (708) 401-8647.

As a matter of fact, some of our real estate investors will be more than willing to buy your house if it meets their expectations.

We’ll Buy Your Inherited House In 7 Days Or Less:
Fill out the short form OVER HERE to see if your house qualifies.

Cash for houses in Chicago – how to sell your Illinois house for fast cash

Yes, Local house sellers are still getting cash for houses in Chicago Illinois even in this real estate market.  Years back, selling a Chicago house for cash was quite easy and fun.

All you had to do was hang a “For Sale” tag on your front yard and wait for potential buyers to call you… and sometimes you’d get 5 above asking price offers before dinner time.

However, in today’s tough economy,coupled with an unstable (but stabilizing) housing market, just about everyone from homeowners to real estate investors and agents are having trouble when it comes to selling houses fast in some parts of the local market.

Throughout the country, more and more homeowners are seeking to sell their homes fast thus creating stiff competition in the market.

However, if you are trying to figure out how to you can get cash for houses in Chicago Illinois, then you should not lose hope, especially if you know what you can control; and there is a lot that you can control.

Here are a few tips that can help you sell your Chicago Illinois house for cash in the shortest time possible…

Getting Cash For Houses in The Chicago Illinois Area

There are a few viable options when you’re selling your Chicago Illinois house for cash in today’s market… and I’ll walk through some options here in this article. Hopefully by the time you get to the bottom of this article you’ll have a pretty darn clear picture for the options you can go after to sell your house fast without hassling with a buyer who has to get a loan from a bank… that may take weeks or months.

Do not be carried away with emotions

When you are trying to sell your Chicago house fast, you must start off by taking complete charge of your emotions. When your life and money, or both, are tied up in the house, it is quite easy to succumb to the power of emotions when selling your house. However, you need to know that you will be able to make a wise decision and get the best deal when selling your house fast if you take a logical approach to the task at hand.

Know your competition here in Chicago and your neighborhood

While trying to sell their Illinois houses fast, most homeowners place a “For Sale” tag in their front yards blindly without doing a prior research of the prevailing market prices. Remember, every buyer wants to get the best value for his money… but some house sellers can wait the 3-6 months to sell that it may take for a full price buyer to come along… while other sellers need to sell immediately.

So if you need to sell immediately… see what the other houses in your neighborhood that are similar to yours are listed for (or just sold for)… then look and see how long they took to sell.  If you can’t wait that long… how much of a discount are you willing to give the cash buyer in order to attract them to buy your house quickly?

As such, potential buyers will be doing a thorough research in order to find the best house that suits their budget and needs. To help you out, you need to know what the other sellers are offering in order to know how to quote your house competitively.

Objectively asses your situation and property

It is important that you establish whether your house can compete effectively with what other sellers are offering. It if cannot, then find out if you can make a few repairs to make it competitive in the marketplace. If this is necessary, you need to create a budget and timeline during which you will renovate your house before putting it up for sale if you’re going to try to sell it to a “retail” buyer (someone who plans on living in the house).

However, if you do not have the finances or time to repair the house, you can still sell it fast in “as is” state. That’s actually what we do here at SellYourChicagoHomeFast.com. We buy Chicago houses… we pay cash… we can close quickly… and you won’t have to do any repairs at all.

Get the pricing right

Most local Chicago Illinois home sellers fail to sell their houses fast because they are asking for too much.

Be sure to talk with an experienced real estate agent in order to give your house the right valuation so you know what you may be able to sell it for if you list it with an agent.  If you can wait the 3-6 months to sell to a full priced buyer… awesome! Price it high and see what you can get!

If you have to sell your house fast… you’ll need to price your house more attractively and be willing to negotiate on price.

There are several reasons why you may want to get cash for houses in Chicago. It could be due to a pending foreclosure, a recent divorce or death in the family or the need to downsize to save money. Regardless of your reasons, these simple tips can help you sell house fast at a competitive price.

Give us a call at (708) 401-8647 if you need to sell fast... we can make you a fair all-cash offer within 24 hours. No obligation or hassle at all. Take the offer, chew on it and decide if it’s right for you. If your Chicago Illinois house qualifies, we can you make a quick and fair cash offer.