I appreciate the opportunity to once again work with writer Laura Agadoni on the recent Trulia.com article, "For Sale By Owner: 8 Costly Mistakes Sellers Make."
It is my hope the article will be valuable to many home sellers, whether they sell on their own or with an agent. I'd also like to share a bit more related to this article and, more importantly, its responses.
In the interest of full disclosure, while I operate a multi-state brokerage operation and have many licensed Realtors on our team, I'm not universally opposed to For Sale By Owner.
In fact, I believe that while there are many great real estate agents who add tremendous value in their services, there are many other agents who have driven home owners to sell (or at least attempt to sell) on their own. Our industry (real estate) as a whole may be its own worst enemy.
Even NAR recognized this real estate industry issue in last year's D.A.NG.E.R. Report. (I've you have not read it and are in the real estate industry, I strongly recommend you take the time to read this report.)
All that said, what I'm thinking about today are all the comments that were made below Laura's article (in the comment section).
The comments (and rants) were both predictable and, at the same time, insightful. But not insightful because of some unexpected brilliance. No, it was because the comments were so 100% black-and-white. Both homeowners and agents expressed little middle ground about FSBO.
I may be an exception but I do not believe reality is ever so clear cut.
Sure there are homeowners who had great success with FSBO. And agents who have rescued FSBO sellers. And failures by selllers and agents.
What is often left out of these firm declarative statements are all the other variables that influence a real estate transaction.
When you exclude all the other conditions (market, location, people, condition, value, etc), the conclusion that FSBO is always a great idea or never a great idea is clouded. With very heavy clouds.
For home sellers considering FSBO or working with a real estate agent, don't get hung up on single facts. Know your own personal specific goals, consider many factors of a broad situation, remember this is a business decision, and choose accordingly.
For agents, including those I work with, we must always earn business and add value for our clients. Always.
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