For Sale by Owner or use a Real Estate Agent? When you are thinking of selling you ask yourself this question. So what are the pros and cons of selling Real property without an agent?
Number one reason to do it yourself is avoiding the Real Estate commissions. There are many tools available to sell your own house if you are willing to take on this project, and you have the right to do it. You can buy ads, get your own signs printed and post on the web. You may know how to stage your house to sell and have a smart marketing strategy. A blog I read on the web encouraged the FSBO (For Sale by Owner) seller to place ads on Craigslist as a marketing strategy. It is a great place to sell your lightly used sofa, but your house? You may have already identified individuals interested in your house as a pool of potential buyers. You may also be prepared to do the paperwork necessary to sell the house and protect your liability.
Sites like Zillow are now offering space to advertise FSBOs , and that is a tool with which the do-it-yourself seller could take advantage. Saving on Real Estate commissions by selling yourself can work to bolster your net sale profits.
But what about the cantankerous buyer? Are you able to handle a buyer that does not play nice? What if they have representation and you don’t? Realtors adhere to a code of ethics. Does your buyer?
When a buyer sees a For Sale by Owner sign in the yard, the first thing that pops into their mind is “that seller is not using a realtor to save money and keep their costs to sell low. I can negotiate with that seller to go lower than market since they are saving sooo much money”. When the buyer calls the seller and finds out the price is not lower at all, and the buyer typically does not have to pay an agent (the seller does) there is no real motivation for that buyer.
Missing pricing can cost you tens of thousands of dollars, and tough buyer can cost you more. Add to that the missing element of attracting outside Realtors and their buyers to your home sale. I pulled closed sales information off ARMLS and looked for closed transactions where the listing agent and the buyer’s agent were the same person. This is what a FSBO seller is trying to do: put the house on the market (like a listing agent) and find a buyer and close with that buyer. The percentage of closed transactions where the listing agent brought a buyer would surprise you. Hint: It’s low. An overwhelming percentage of sales were with the listing agent and another agent. Our Verdes Lifestyle team marketing plan includes selling to not only the public, but to other professionals in the Real Estate business.
If you are thinking of selling, contact the Verdes Lifestyle Team to explore all of your options.
