Thinking of Selling Your Home Yourself? Think Again!!

forsalebyowner.com founder sold using 6% full service Realtor.

Before you pay a "for sale by owner" company or a "do it yourself" company, you might be interested in investigating a little more.

The founder of forsalebyowner.com, Colby Sambrotto paid a Realtor the standard 6% commission to sell his two-bedroom Chelsea condominium in New York City.

After spending six months trying to sell his home himself online and with the use of classified advertisements. Colby hired a New York City broker who went on to list the property, secure a buyer and sell the property for $150,000 over list.

People who attempt to sell their home themselves, mainly in order to try and save the five or six percent real estate commission, on average (according to numerous surveys over many years) have netted less than have people who have sold their homes through real estate.

Private Home Selling companies have added the ability to put homes on MLS.  If that were all it took to sell a home, you would that every home on MLS would be sold, but that, like a lawn sign, is only one step in a complicated process.  Some people might get lucky and net as much (or more) than if they were to sell using professionals, but they are in the very small minority.  You have to ask yourself, if the chances are that the money and time I spend are going to produce a negative result, why would I decide to sell my home myself?

There is actually sound logic behind this. Rather than "re-invent the wheel", I have attached links to some well-written posts on the subject:

For Sale By Owner Myths

How to do a For Sale By Owner

Open Letter to For Sale By Owner Sellers

Four out of Five Buyers use a Realtor

Considering Selling Your Home By Yourself?

A friend of mine, Ottawa realtor, Valerie Zinger wrote a fictional series of posts on a fictional For Sale By Owner named Mark:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

In the last two years, I have helped numerous homeowners who have struggled, spent money up front, sat on open houses weekend after weekend, got a lot of tire kickers, but no offers, SELL their homes.

I work collaboratively with the Home Owner, to develop and execute a plan most likely to attract the type of buyer willing to pay for the features in their home.  Before you spend money trying to sell your home yourself, call me, Chris Smith @ 1.966.936.3500 and I will encourage you to speak to a number of people who tried to sell their homes themselves, and you can discuss with them, if they feel they netted more money with none of the inconveniences and aggravations they encountered by hiring me to represent them and market their home.