There are many sellers out there today that are trying to sell their home on their own. There are many reasons a homeowner will do this: save on commission, hide faults in their home that need to be addressed, they need to be in control, they are their best realtor, and so on. At this time the main reason people go FSBO is to try and get the most money that they can for their home. Home values have dropped some 30% or more over the past three years, and the thought of paying a real estate company 6% of the sales price just doesn't sit well with some sellers. The truth is that we are in one of the most aggressive downward shifts the real estate market has ever seen. Selling a house today is as hard as it has ever been.
The fact is that there is a 12 months supply of houses out there in the Leon and Wakulla area right now. That means if another home was not listed in the next year, we would have enough supply out there to survive in home sales. It is foolish to think that this would ever occur. New homes are listed every day, and for the past three years more have been listed than what is selling. So if you are going to try and sell your home yourself you can see that there is plenty of competition out there. The vast majority of these homes for sale are also using a real estate company to advertise their house. These homes are on the Multiple Listing Service, and almost any other real estate home search website you can think of. This is how you get your home in front of the 95% of homebuyers that use the internet to look for homes.
Another fact is that 85% of buyers today are working with a realtor. Why not? It doesn't cost them a dime. Buying a home is a long and complex process. It would be silly for a buyer not to use an agent to help guide them through the home buying process. Typically a real estate agent will not take their buyers to a FSBO home. There is no commission check there for the agent. So when a seller decides to go FSBO they are taking away 85% of the buyer pool that is out there. The other 15% are either unqualified buyers that will waste time, or investors that will simply not pay asking prices on a FSBO house. An experienced investor is going to understand that a FSBO is not paying a listing commission, and more than likely will factor that into a lower offer.
So what we are left with here is almost no exposure, almost no qualified buyers, in a market that has proven to be very difficult to sell a house in. The chances of success here are very slim. It is time to do the math! You have got to think that if a mortgage is eating you up each month, and the value of the home is going down, than that is a double edge sword. Money out of your pocket each month, and an asset that has quickly become your biggest liability. The longer you stay in the house, the more money it will cost you. That is why going down the hopeless road of FSBO is so dangerous. In a market like today's if you absolutely need to sell your house than get it listed with the right real estate company (Century 21 Florida Coastal Properties) and get it sold. You may have to come up with thousands of dollars to close the sale, but if you absolutely need to sell your house than it is what you have to do. Trying to skimp and save money by not using a real estate company is only going to dig a deeper financial hole. If it is a question of tens of thousands of dollars than it is time to start thinking about a short-sale.
If you are currently trying to sell your home For Sale By Owner, think hard about what this article is saying. How much money are you really going to save? If you are a FSBO that has not had the kind of success you had envisioned than please give me a call 850-322-7875. I would be more than happy to sit down with you and find out what will be your best option. This is not the real estate market to go it alone.
Comments(3)