For Sale By Owners
The funny thing about For Sale By Owners in Everett is that it's a great idea, but like many great ideas it's sound in theory but not quite in practice. For example working on your own car is great, but you can't provide a warranty, and if you're like me you'll probably end up with a car that doesn't work! It's the same with a For Sale By Owner property sale. The property owner means well but can potentially fall into a list of pitfalls and actually leave themselves open for potential litigation!
Many For Sale By Owners do not know about disclosures, or how to research the title of their homes. Many are not able to prescreen potential buyers, allowing all manner of lookie loo's to come in and preview their homes. It's scary to think about but don't the For Sale By Owners (FSBO's) remember that both Jeffrey Dahmer (spelling?) and Ted Bundy both spent time here in the lovely Pacific Northwest? I mean if I was a For Sale By Owner I would certainly want any potential murderer previewing my home to at the very least be pre-qualified by a mortgage broker or bank to buy my house!
The For Sale By Owner (FSBO) must be aware that not everyone that comes to preview their home is a potential buyer, in fact the larger percentage of folks that come by are not. Let's break it down: If 10 previewers show up to the For Sale By Owner's home then the approximate break down is as follows:
3 of the folks are simply lookie loo's (nosy neighbors that just want to come by to see the inside of a neighbor's home).
4 folks will be day trippers who simply go and see homes and open houses as an adventure (with or without an accompanying Realtor, so at least they're prequalified!)
That's seventy percent of folks that have just wasted the For Sale By Owner (FSBO's) time!
The three folks that are left are even more dangerous because they are the serious buyers who are looking for the FSBO specifically. These folks (buyers with and without realtors) will simply go for the For Sale By Owner knowing that the For Sale By Owner will not have a realtor and thus will ask for a price reduction off the bat! Knowing that there is no other realtor to be paid...3% is coming right off the price. Then knowing that the For Sale by Owner is on his/her own they will continue to negotiate more and more price reductions counting on the FSBO's inexperience at negotiating.
Furthermore a For Sale By Owner is in no position to dispassionately negotiate because this is HIS/HER home! It means a lot to them so they are in no position to rationally negotiate and by the time they actually meet a buyer they will fall right into their hands due to sheer exhaustion!
The NAR (National Association of Realtors) knows this and frequently presents studies stating that approximately 80% of FSBO's eventually list with a realtor anyway. (For More information about the NAR please log into http://www.raymondwilburn.com/ to view news and reports from the NAR!)
The Poor For Sale By Owner has other pitfalls that I will discuss in subsequent blogs, namely being that they do not have the marketing presence, education or information available to them to make a go of selling their home. Many spend a lot of time and money attempting to sell the home and most times end up signing with a Realtor anyway (a realtor sells/buys homes on a regular basis while the For Sale By Owner (FSBO) is only moonlighting).
Stay tuned for the next exciting blog from your friend:
Ray Wilburn
The People's Realtor!
For information and Resources check out http://www.raymondwilburn.com/ or follow the links attached to The People's Realtors MySpace account!
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