For Sale by Owner or Full Service Listing Service, As a seller looking to get the most out of your house, it's completely understandable to want to try your hand at selling the house on your own. Before you make your decision, consider these pros and cons about selling a home through a FSBO or through an agent. By the end of this article, you'll be able to
make a much more informed decision.
The reason sellers opt for FSBO sales is because working with a real estate agent can be seen as expensive because of the 6% commission. However, in reality it almost always costs more to not hire a real estate agent. The NAR has found that on average, sales done through a real estate agent sell for 16% higher than those listed by FSBOs.
Another reason why sellers may opt for FSBOs is the desire to control the entire selling process. While this could be great, it can also be a big pitfall. Why? Because sellers are often very attached to their homes, they have an emotionally attachment which keeps them from making unbiased judgments or negotiating in an unattached manner. Also have you seen the number of forms and addendum that you will need in a real estate deal? There are so many, Inspection addendum, disclosures, lead base paint, well, septic, short sale addendum (and with short sales you will need to negotiate with banks), title report, title insurance. That's why it's so important that if you work with an agent, you work with an agent you trust so that you can share the responsibility while knowing your agent is taking care of what needs to be taken care of.
Finding Buyers
It's hard for FSBOs to find good buyers. Why? Let's put some numbers here: As a FSBO ask yourself this question "How many people do you know that are looking for a new home?" well did you answer more that 15 people? Then ask if those 15 people have been pre-qualified? That number will drop way down. Now the average real estate agent works with more than 15 people at a time, then think about the number of agents in that office, in my case we have over 250 agents that would equal 3750 buyers, as a FSBO do you have access to that many buyers? Then let me help you a little further in Clark County WA we have about 1500 agents (OK, YOU CAN DO THE MATH) that is a lot of buyers that are not looking at your home because we typically do not know about the home. Then you have some agents that don't show FSBOs. Instead, they show properties listed by other agents.
I work with a lot of FSBO's and they typically market their home once or twice a week on Craigslist or possibly one or two other websites, they might even be savvy enough to purchase a website for the home. But that is not enough over 80% of buyers are looking online first before they do anything with real estate, I have my homes on over 300 websites and post all my homes on craigslist everyday! So, here is my question "will a buyer see my listings or the FSBO first?"
Who is the majority of the people that purchase FSBO's? Answer investors or buyers that are looking to lowball a deal end up coming to look at FSBOs, resulting in lower sale prices.
Although there are some positives to listing your home as a FSBO, it's usually not worth the headache and the time and money you'll likely lose as a result.
To see if a real estate agent is good for you, it's important to talk to someone who's been local to the Vancouver area for some time. To see if we'd be a match, please give me a call at 360.609.0226 or email me at Ken@kenshometeam.com
For Sale by Owner or Full Service Listing Service
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