Hello Everyone,

 Well I guess after a while I have to say something, because I work with Spokane Home Buyers, Spokane Home Sellers, and Spokane For Sale By Owners (FSBOs). Year after year I have to educate people to the dangers of Buying and Selling Real Estate in Spokane and nationwide. That goes for when you use a Realtor and double if you are not using one.

We have seen it all before. Home Buyers go looking, you give them lists of homes, but they want to drive around and go to other websites, most of which are advertising sold homes and outdated information. Then you get the call, we found a (FSBO) For sale by owner and we put an offer on it.

Why do people do this? They don't understand the mess they can be getting themselves into. There are countless reasons not to buy a For sale by owner for both the Buyer and seller trying FSBO: they are usually overpriced, you may not get the same repairs taken care of as when working with Realtors, You don't know if things are being truthfully disclosed to you, the contracts may be slanted for the seller or you may loose outs you could of had or just plain not know the ones in the contract, missed deadlines, no experience, no defense or negotiation against dishonesty or misuse of the contracts, times, repairs, or anything else, Every thing you need you won't know and the person your dealing with will not tell you because almost every issue would cost them money or the deal. It's not just if they are being dishonest, they also might not know and can make mistakes that cost you time and money. That's just the buyer side, there are many reasons for sellers to reconsider Selling FSBO also. The liability is much larger and the time, marketing, negotiating, and coordinating take a full time professional.

I could write pages of reasons that should cause you to pause when seeing that little red sign. The fact is that even well intentioned sellers can cause you a lot of harm by not knowing what they are doing. Rarely and I mean rarely is a For sale by owner a better deal than what is on the market in the MLS. But just like the people selling For sale by owner, they wander down that road unprepared and undereducated at how it really works and when things go bad, like they do many times, no one tells their story. The neighbors don't talk about Bob who went FSBO and got sued, or Jill who went FSBO and ended up selling for less than a Realtor could have got her, but she saved that commission, too bad she got 9% less for the home. Sorry to burst the bubble but I have worked with FSBOs for seven years and it isn't all it's worked up to be. Buyer beware when looking at For Sale By Owners. There are countless pitfalls in real estate transactions and buying a For Sale By Owner is like running the obstacle couse blindfolded.