For Sale By Owner?

Are You A For Sale by Owner?

If so, you are a brave soul. Surely, by now you realize your endeavor to sell your own home was not just taking on one job but a whole set of them! You have been (or will soon be) a handyman, inspector, price analyst, copy writer, marketer, staging professional, receptionist, host/hostess, sales person, mortgage consultant and bookkeeper all in one!

For Sale By Owners certainly deserve credit for giving it a good try, but if you didn't succeed, you can still pat yourself on the back because you are not alone. Statistics show For Sale By Owner sales are dropping, despite ever-expanding access to internet listings, classified ads, etc.

Hiring a Realtor saves both time and money

According to the 2003 National Association of Realtors' “Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers”, accross the U.S., the typical FSBO home sold for $145,000, compared to an average $175,000 for a salesperson-assisted sale. This means even if a FSBO pays a 6% commission, they will realize $164,500.

Who are you letting in your home?

Life is full of all-too-easy conveniences with them comes a new set of worries. As a Realtor® I always confirm the identity of who I'm working with. If they don‘t share with me, I don‘t work with them. Period. Many FSBOs don‘t think of these issues when they open their door to any stranger who calls them claiming interest in buying their home. Though it's true that not all home shoppers are folks to be wary of, but then how can one tell who is and who isn't?

Filtering out the dreamers and time wasters

Buyers are not always buyers; sometimes they are wishfully thinking without any consideration for you or your time. FSBO's are easy prey for these Wishful Thinkers, because they don't ask the right questions. As a professional, I don't put people in my cars (nor do most other good Realtors) until they have proven themselves to be qualified, ready, willing and able to purchase a home. Even then, I would only show them homes that I think they could realistically consider.

It takes a whole company to do this job...

As any experienced FSBO will atest, it's not easy to sell your own home. After keeping accurate track of the time (away from doing the things you want to do) and the amount of money it takes to get the home ready to market, plus considering any false starts and anxious days on end waiting for a phone call or visit, an FSBO would be better off delegating the job to those who do it full time. Putting your home into “the system” is much more cost effective and safer.