How to Sell a House By Owner in Mississippi

Why sell a house by owner in Mississippi?

Among FSBO sellers who didn’t know the buyer, 50% chose the FSBO option because they didn’t want to pay commission rates. Of the sellers who sold to a buyer they knew, 12% went the FSBO route to avoid fees. Other reasons for selling without an agent include knowing the buyer personally and the buyer contacting the seller directly.

To get a firsthand perspective on selling homes in Mississippi, we spoke with Sarah Renken, a Pass Christian, Mississippi agent with over eight years of experience.

Renken says the Mississippi FSBO sellers she encounters often misunderstand what they’re saving vs. losing out on because “based on the national average, even though they won’t be paying 3% to 6% in commission, [as a result of selling FSBO] they’re losing out on 10% to 20% of what they could have gotten on their house because they don’t know the exact market value of what they could be getting.”

Statistically, the difference in proceeds can be even higher.

The 2023 NAR report shows that FSBO homes sold for a median of $310,000, significantly lower than the median of agent-assisted homes, which was $405,000. While FSBO sellers may have avoided $9,000 to $12,000 in agent fees, they forfeited $95,000 in profits last year.

As you can see, FSBO is a mixed bag. So, before we share our selling tips, let’s lay out some pros and cons to help you decide if this is the route for you.

Despite the cons, we’ll help you navigate the challenges of FSBO if you’re committed to selling your Mississippi house without agent assistance. For some, selling a home FSBO is a challenge worth accepting, and success can be measured in more ways than one.

Steps to sell a house by owner

Let’s review the FSBO process step by step.

1. Prepare your house for sale

Whether you’re selling with an agent or FSBO, at a minimum, you’ll want to get your Mississippi home into respectable shape before any showings to increase your chances of receiving a fair price. Here are a few standard tasks to add to the list.

Indoors

These efforts will go a long way toward impressing buyers looking for a home in Mississippi:

• Declutter floors, shelves, and surfaces throughout the home.
• Make small fixes and repairs, like a leaky faucet or broken door handle.
• Lightly update with new light fixtures, faucets, or cabinet hardware.
• Refinish hardwood floors.
• Repaint bold walls (or those that look dingy) in a neutral color.
• Cover scuffs on floors or walls and remove stains from fabrics.
• Reduce furniture in crowded rooms — consider a temporary storage unit.
• Stage the home with final touches like fresh-cut flowers or a basket of fresh produce.
• Use rugs to define spaces and place them strategically.
• Deep clean until the house is sparkling.
• Open blinds or drapes to show off a great view and add natural lighting. Replace any dim, blown, or missing bulbs with bright bulbs.

Outdoors

Data from HomeLight’s Top Agents Insight Report shows that improved outdoor areas are among the top three biggest selling points of a house in the market. Outdoor improvements are the second most popular upgrades agents recommend to sellers to make the property appealing.

Meanwhile, the data from NAR’s Remodeling Impact Report shows that 92% of realtors suggested improving curb appeal before sellers list a home for sale. In addition, 97% believe curb appeal is essential in attracting a buyer.

Some important curb appeal upgrades can include:

• Mow the lawn and pull weeds.
• Apply fresh mulch liberally.
• Upgrade your landscaping. Consider a new walkway, flowerbed, or shrubs.
• Add a fresh coat of exterior paint or pressure wash it to make it look new.
• Install a new garage door if yours looks old or is not working properly.

Renken advises sellers, “Don’t do anything major because you don’t know if that’s going to be your potential buyers like. They may come in and change it anyway.”

2. Do the homework necessary to set a competitive price

You’ve arrived at a critical moment in your FSBO process: setting a listing price. You don’t want to leave money on the table, yet you want to encourage activity on your listing.

Before listing a home, an agent usually conducts a comparative market analysis (CMA). This is a highly detailed study of “comps”— similar homes nearby that have recently sold, are pending, are on the market, or were previously listed but taken off the market. Some may even have been pulled off the market without a sale.

“We pull the comps from the immediate area and let the seller know what it could be worth. Over the last few years, people were just consistently listing higher and higher and higher because people were getting outbid, but we’ve gotten back to normal,” explains Renken.

Without an agent, you’ll miss out on the complexity of a complete CMA and the know-how to interpret it.

However, with a little time and money, you can set a competitive price yourself.

Conduct your own “CMA Lite”

It’s time to roll up your sleeves and research.

Start with an online home value estimate

As a starting point, look at several online estimators for your home’s value. HomeLight’s Home Value Estimator aggregates publicly available data such as tax records and assessments, your home’s last sale price, and recent sales records for other properties in the same neighborhood.

We also add a new layer of information to our estimates using a short questionnaire. Tell us a few details about your Mississippi home, such as:

• How much work does it need?
• What type of home is it (single-family, condo, townhouse, or other)?
• Roughly when was your house built?
• Are you planning to sell soon?

Using these insights, we’ll provide you with a preliminary estimate of home value in under two minutes.

Whether you use Zillow, Chase, Realtor, or Redfin to get a home value estimate, think of any online home price tool as a first step (not your only source of truth) — and recognize that the data used may be limited.

Narrowly filter your search for comps

When you’re ready to find comps, you can choose from sites like Zillow, Trulia, Redfin, or Realtor.

You’ll want to filter your searches to the area very near your house (within blocks if possible) and with similar characteristics. If you’re not finding any comps, expand your search map.

You’ll also want to filter results by details like:

• Listing status (look at recently sold, pending, and active)
• Number of bedrooms
• Number of bathrooms
• Square footage
• Home type (single-family, condo, etc.)

Beyond the above criteria, the more houses you find with floor plans and an age similar to yours, the better.

Use a site like Zillow to collect your data

As an example, let’s take a look at how to filter your search for comps on Zillow.

• Navigate to Zillow.
• Type in your New Mexico address. If a pop-up with your home’s specs appears, close it with the “X” on the top right (or sometimes you must click “Back to search” on the top left).
• Filter by “sold.” Yellow dots should appear on the map surrounding your house, and you will see all the recently sold homes on the right.

• Now, filter by the number of bedrooms and bathrooms and check the box “Use exact match.”

• Next, filter by home type.

• Next, select the “More” box. Here, you can specify square footage, lot size, year built, and — crucially — the “sold in last” (time period) category.

• While still in the “More” filter box, scroll down and select to view houses that sold in the last 30 days. If you find there are not many results in your area, try expanding to 90 days. However, the further back you go, the less relevant the comps.
• If necessary, click the plus or minus buttons to widen the search area.
• Once you’ve collected data for sold houses, revise or restart the search to view active and pending listings, as well.

Invest in an appraisal

If you want to further reduce guesswork, top agents recommend paying an appraiser to provide a professional opinion of value for your home. An appraiser will combine recent property data, research of the surrounding market, and information collected from a walkthrough of your home to determine an appraised value. For a single-family home, an appraisal will likely cost $500 to $599, according to NAR’s 2023 Appraisal Survey — well worth it to avoid possibly over- or underpricing your house by thousands.

Make sense of the research

Compare your home’s features against the nearby comps you collected. Hopefully, the houses you studied will indicate an appropriate price range for your home. From there, you can make dollar adjustments based on characteristics that add value (patios, curb appeal, an extra bedroom) versus detracting from it (a busy street, deferred maintenance, less square footage).

Consider the differences and similarities of comps with the appraised value of your home to choose a price that will encourage activity (too high, and it may seem out of reach to many buyers) but will also maximize your profit.

3. Photograph your home

Listing photos are powerful, either pulling in buyers for showings or keeping them away.

To give your listing an edge, consider hiring an experienced real estate photographer. While they may charge as much as $110 to $300 per session, good photos are key to selling your home for a good price.

Renken emphasized that sellers should always “Use professional photos because people are moving to Mississippi from all over now and start with the photos. You want your online photos to be best because nine times out of 10, that’s where your buyer is checking first.”

But if you do go the DIY route, make sure to:

• Use a good camera with a wide-angle lens.
• Pay attention to lighting.
• Include a photo of every room.
• Take multiple pictures of living areas, kitchens, and bathrooms.
• Try shooting different angles.

Review our guide on how to take quality real estate photos for further guidance.

4. Create a detailed, compelling listing

Along with stellar photos, you’ll want to craft an informative and compelling listing. Leverage both the listing description (a paragraph or two highlighting key features) and the property details to show potential buyers all about your home and what makes it desirable.

Tell a story with your description

Draw in potential buyers with a powerful listing description that tells a story about your Mississippi house, including details like:

• Your home’s most unique and desirable features, like a breakfast nook or sunroom
• Recent upgrades like a kitchen or bathroom remodel, new roof, or HVAC system
• High-end appliances, materials, or finishes
• Outdoor features like a pool or patio
• Neighborhood features and amenities
• Nearby parks, walking trails, restaurants, and attractions
• Proximity to the beach or any lakes

Renken advises that sellers “talk about what you like about the house and what you like about the area because those will be some of the first questions buyers ask.”

Don’t skimp on the property details

Aside from writing the description, you may be prompted to enter information like:

• Age of the home
• Square footage
• Architectural style (i.e., split-level, rancher, craftsman)
• Appliances included
• Exterior building materials
• Flooring types
• HOA fees
• School zone information
• Lot size

Many real estate agents and potential buyers really do read this “fine print” on your listing, so include accurate details and plenty of them.

For sellers in southern Mississippi, listing proximity to the beach or other amenities is key to getting more interest and a better sales price. Renken advises her clients to prominently advertise their proximity to the beach. “It’s important for someone to include down here, even if you’re 20 or 30 minutes away. Some people like to know that they are within driving distance.”

5. List your home online

It’s finally time to post your Mississippi home online. While you can create FSBO listings for free on popular search sites, you’d have to painstakingly post site by site, and your listing wouldn’t reach the majority of buyers and agents.

To give your home the most exposure, pay to have your home put on your local MLS (multiple listing service) — a platform agents use to share properties with one another as well as major real estate sites. Posting there will feed your listing to buyers’ agent databases and common sites buyers use.

Only licensed real estate agents and brokers who are MLS members can post to the MLS. However, you have two options to gain access: paying an agent to post for you or using a FSBO platform online.

Pay an agent to list your home on the MLS

A local agent may be willing to list your house on the MLS for a flat fee without any other involvement in your real estate transaction. If you decide to go this route, ask whether the fee includes updating your listing if necessary.

Use a FSBO platform with an MLS option

You can use various paid websites to list your Mississippi house online as “for sale by owner.” These sites offer packages ranging from about $100 to $400 for just a listing or a larger flat fee of $3,000 to $5,000 that includes any number of additional professional marketing services.

Some of these companies display their rates on their websites, but others won’t quote a fee until you input your address or select an area of the country. A few examples include:

• Unreal Estate
• ISoldMyHouse.com
• FSBO.com
• Houzeo
• Houwzer
• Homie Real Estate

It’s important to note that most of these companies serve FSBO sellers nationwide, which can cause challenges if the assisting representatives don’t understand the local market trends in your Mississippi neighborhood.

Whatever you choose, read the fine print carefully: some sites may have hidden fees or even take a percentage off your sale — a detour you’d rather avoid on the FSBO route.

Not willing to pay for the MLS?

If you’re determined to save money by foregoing the MLS, creating a free FSBO listing on Zillow might be your top option. You can post a video and unlimited photos and get fairly wide exposure via Zillow and the Zillow-owned Trulia.

6. Market your home

Now, it’s time to spread the word about your Mississippi home.

Experienced agents like Renken know that posting a home on the MLS is just the beginning of the marketing phase. A successful home sale requires a deliberate and targeted marketing plan to reach the right buyers and attract the best offers.

“The more people that the house gets in front of, the more likely you are to find a buyer,” Renken explains, which is why she recommends all sellers invest time and energy into marketing. Agents will handle this for clients, but FSBO sellers need to make sure their houses are marketed correctly.

Here are some of the steps you can take to market your home:

Place a nice FSBO sign by the road

Consider getting a custom yard sign rather than purchasing a generic one you write on with a Sharpie. You can order a custom sign on a site like Vistaprint with your contact information, plus a stand, for as little as $25 plus shipping. Note that some MLS providers may have rules about whether you can post a FSBO yard sign while your home is on the MLS.

Share on social media

Share your home across social media — and ask your friends to share, too.

“In the last few years, it’s been easy, but now we’re having to get back to running ads on social media to get the property out there to get it seen,” Renken shared.

Hold an open house

Try these strategies for a successful open house event:

• Share details on Facebook and Nextdoor.
• Update your MLS listing with the open house details (if you can do so as part of paying the flat fee) or update your DIY FSBO listing.
• Place open house signs at nearby intersections.
• Tidy up the house before potential buyers come through.
• Pass out info sheets with the address, bullet points about the house, your contact info, and perhaps one photo.
• If you can, collect visitors’ info — then follow up later to ask if they have any questions.

Find more expert tips for how to hold an open house.

7. Manage showings

If your marketing is successful, your next step will be to show the home to prospective buyers. Welcome to the busiest phase of the home sale process. According to Renken, a major reason some FSBO sellers switch to an agent is that they underestimated the time, energy, and expertise needed to manage this crucial step.

A successful showing can be the most critical step in a successful home sale — the first impression that can make or break a deal.

To manage the logistics of showings:

• Respond to inquiries ASAP.
• Set end times if you need to fit many showings in one day. This will also create a sense of demand and urgency for buyers to place offers.
• Remove or secure valuables.
• Make sure the home is clean and tidy for showings.
• Follow up with buyers’ agents after showings to get their feedback.

Should you be present for showings?

If you’d rather not be present for every showing, consider using a lockbox with a code to let buyers’ agents enter the house. This is standard industry practice among agents. To ensure you’re working with someone legitimate, use Google or sites like arello.com to check their real estate license number.

With unrepresented buyers, plan to be on the property for the showing. During a showing, we recommend you:

• Point out a few highlights of the house.
• Let buyers look without hovering.
• Be prepared to answer questions.
• Avoid the temptation to tell all — let the house and listing do the talking.

8. Evaluate offers, negotiate a deal, and make disclosures

You’ve got your first offer — congratulations! Before signing anything, take a moment to consider whether this offer works for you.

Here are key considerations when considering an offer on your Mississippi home:

• Vet potential buyers by requiring a mortgage pre-approval letter or proof of funds.
• Require everything in writing.
• Remember, you can counter-offer and negotiate.
• Look for a good real estate attorney. (See the next step!)

Property condition disclosure

In Mississippi, a residential property seller is generally required to disclose the home’s condition to the buyer as soon as practicable and possible before the transfer of title.

Some sellers may prefer to provide the disclosures before an offer has even been presented so that a prospective buyer is more informed beforehand and less likely to withdraw from a deal later on.

In an agent-assisted sale, your listing agent would likely provide you with the required disclosure form(s). However, as a FSBO seller, you can find the form online.

What will you be asked? In Mississippi, you can expect to disclose any significant defects or issues you’re aware of concerning:

• Appliances (washer, dryer, refrigerator, range, disposal, jetted tubs, etc.)
• Electrical systems (light fixtures, garage door openers, smoke and burglar alarms, etc.)
• Water and sewer systems (plumbing, water heater, irrigation, well, septic, water source, etc.)
• Heating and cooling system (central air, furnace, fireplace, propane tank, etc.)
• Roof (age, leaks, number of shingle layers, etc.)
• Hazardous conditions (methane or radon gas, lead paint, mold, asbestos, etc.)
• Safety concerns around amenities (pools, fireplaces, etc.)
• Other disclosures (foundation problems, walls, soil history, land use, encroachments, zoning or code violations, moisture or water problems, damage from wind, termites, or rodents, history of infestations, flood zone or wetlands, etc.)
• Any warranties or permits associated with any improvements or changes made to the house during ownership

If in doubt about a problem with the home’s condition, most top real estate agents would recommend you disclose it. If you know of an issue and choose not to disclose a major problem, and that defect is later discovered, you could be held liable for damage or subsequent costs.

9. Close the sale — with professional help

It’s time to button up that deal.

Mississippi is one of several states that require FSBO sellers to hire a real estate lawyer to help close their sale.

Even if Mississippi didn’t require it, it would be a good idea to invest in the services of an experienced attorney as you close one of the biggest and most complex deals of your life. Having a real estate attorney on your side will ensure you’ll minimize your legal and financial risk, plus simplify the process for yourself.

Real estate attorney fees can vary depending on location and how much help you want or need. In Mississippi, the average rate for a real estate attorney is $266 per hour — well worth it for professional guidance in closing one of life’s largest legal transactions.

FSBO mistakes to avoid in Mississippi

On your FSBO journey, watch out for these major pitfalls:

• Missing out on the MLS.
• Over- or under-pricing.
• Letting your house sit on the market too long.
• Being too fixated on any one detail, especially the price.

Renken explains, “One of the most common errors FSBO sellers make when selling a home in Mississippi is not being flexible, which can delay or even kill a deal.”

As the market is recalibrating, demand is dropping, and there isn’t a line of buyers rushing to snap up the next available house. Renken has encountered several sellers who either aren’t working with an agent or aren’t listening to their agent. These sellers often expect a super high sales price and refuse to be flexible and negotiate, killing deals and delaying their home sale.

Alternatives to selling by owner in Mississippi

If you don’t want the hassle or pressure of FSBO, you’ve got other solid options.

Enlist the help of a top-rated real estate agent

Ultimately, the services and price gains you can get with an experienced real estate agent may put more money in your pocket than FSBO. A proven agent is better equipped to help you achieve your selling and moving timelines.

Interested in such expertise? HomeLight can connect you to top-performing agents in your Mississippi market. Our free tool analyzes over 27 million transactions and thousands of reviews to determine which agent is best for you based on your needs. It takes only two minutes to receive your matches.

Request a cash offer to buy your Mississippi home

If you’d like to skip the sale prep altogether — plus avoid paying agent commissions — you can opt to sell your home “as-is” to an all-cash buyer instead.

For a low-stress experience, consider requesting a cash offer from HomeLight’s Simple Sale platform. Tell us a few details about your home, and within 24 hours, we’ll send a no-obligation all-cash offer your way. If you decide to accept the offer, Simple Sale sellers can close in as little as 10 days.

Without leaving the Simple Sale platform, you can also compare your cash offer to an estimation of what your home would sell for on the open market so you can make an informed decision.

Ready to sell your Mississippi home?

Unless you already have a buyer lined up, selling a house by owner in Mississippi requires a significant investment of time and effort. You’ll need to pull your own comps, capture excellent pictures, create a listing, market the house online, field inquiries, host showings, negotiate, and close the deal. And that’s after preparing the house itself.

You also have to consider that FSBO listings tend to sell for less than agent-assisted sales. An experienced agent who knows the area can make recommendations for targeted upgrades to help you maximize your sale price and get a premium offer. This can help to offset or, in some cases, more than make up for the cost of commission — while saving you time and headaches.

If you choose to go FSBO, you should have a good idea now of what to expect from the process. Otherwise, our internal transaction data at HomeLight shows that the top 5% of real estate agents sell homes for as much as 10% more than average, and we’d be happy to introduce you to some of the best agents in your Mississippi market.

Writer Hayley Abernathy contributed to this story.

Header Image Source: (Scott Lorsch / Unsplash)