In a post from a FSBO company here on active/rain they made the claim that 25% Of Residential Real Estate In Canada Is Sold Privately. The wording of their post seems to imply that part of that 25% were builders. Well as a former real estate person the poster is either misleading you or had no personal real estate dealings with builders, when they claimed that builders do not use real estate professionals, when I know for a fact that that they have and do.

It would appear that the poster is attempting to discount the services that Real Estate Professionals who work full time and who make a living at selling real estate offer. This is not the first time they have made claims that attempt to discount the services provided by the real estate industry. I can't help wondering if they are actually a former high producing real estate person as they claim is there some reason they no longer practice. You have to ask yourself if you are making a lot of money, as a top producer would be, why would you leave the industry and then attempt to discount the services you used to provide. Is it all marketing hype? 

They also claimed that the number of FSBO's would double and represent 50% of the market in 3 to 5 years. If this is true, and I doubt it is,then your source of accurate information to assist you in pricing your home just dried up as only well seasoned veterans will likely remain in the business and they will certainly be less forthcoming with the information at no cost to you.

While I do not doubt that at times there is a very good chance you may well be able to sell your home yourself. Just a couple of the things you need to consider before going this route are how much time and effort you are willing to put into it and your level of expertise in negotiations. You can always take your offer to a lawyer for legal advice and as this same poster states in another post you might even get some pricing advice from your local real estate professional.

But do you need a FSBO company to help you?

Not if you are knowledgeable enough to handle the sale by yourself in the first place. You can place your add on the Internet and in the paper just as easily as they can. You can post your add to most of the sites they use yourself along with many others they do not use. You can buy professional signs from the same sign company they use heck your local real estate professional may even tell you where they get their signs while they are giving you free Comparative Market Analysis information. You can pick up offer forms from your lawyer and the list goes on.

Or you can pay them their fee throw their sign on your lawn and sit back and wait as you watch most of the buyers look at and buy your competition through their Friendly Neighbourhood Real Estate Professional .