Can You Sell Your Own Home?

 The Upsides Of Selling Your Home

Many homeowners are often seen placing “For Sale by Owner” (FSBO) signs on their homes in an effort to sell their properties by themselves. The major reason for doing this is to avoid paying the real estate agent’s commission. You will learn from this post, the upsides and downsides of selling your own home. Additionally, you will be able to understand the differences that exist between selling a home by owner and using the services of a licensed professional real estate agent.

    1. It Enables You To Save Money

One of the upsides of selling your own home by yourself is that it helps you to save money, by avoiding real estate commission. This amount of money could be used to pay off your credit card debt or spend it on your home improvement projects. In short, selling your own home will help you to save the real estate commission.

    2. You Are In Control of The Entire Selling Process

By selling your home by yourself, you have control over the entire selling process. This is a big advantage because you single-handedly decide how and when your property will be sold. Furthermore, the decision of when open houses will be scheduled and who to be invited for showings depends on you. Besides, preparation of the contract and determining the selling price is performed by you and your net will be higher because you are no longer paying the commission of a real estate agent.

     3. You Work At Your Own Pace

As the manager of your own business, you work at your own pace. You can fix convenient times for your home sale and have time to attend to other pressing issues. In view of this, you will be able to properly screen prospective buyers and determine those that are eligible. Besides, being unlimited by time will also give you the opportunity to identify unqualified buyers who may want to frustrate your home selling process.

What Is The Value Of Your Home? Get An Instant Home Value! 

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Downsides Of Selling Your Own Home

 1. Lack Of Professional Experience

Among the major downsides of selling your own home is lack of professional experience. Many FSBOs lack the expertise and negotiating skills to handle their home sale. They can never beat the experience of real estate agents who are professional experts in this area. A Realtor is highly knowledgeable about the market and can price your home based on comparable sales in your area.   They also have established a network among other agents who have clients that may express interest in your property. Having decided to sell your home by yourself, ensure that you consult an independent real estate appraiser. The approximate cost of an appraiser at this writing is $400. Another option is to survey houses in your neighborhood that are like yours and compare prices before you decide on an asking price. The asking price is very important for buyers to enable them to negotiate the property. Be aware of the differences in the homes square footage, age, #bedrooms, #bathrooms, lot size and more.

    2. You Will Spend More Money and Time

By selling your home by yourself, you will spend more money and time on marketing it since the services of a Realtor will not be required. You are expected to provide a sale sign, open house sign, and fliers that will be given to potential buyers. In addition, you will hire a professional photographer to produce pictures of your home. The home will also be listed on local websites and newspapers. These activities involve money. You will also have to sacrifice your leisure time, especially evenings and weekends for showings. Besides, various appointments will be scheduled via phone or email. One major consideration is the safety factor. If you are showing your home by yourself, be aware that you are letting strangers into your home that may not have your best interest at heart. They may be there to steal your possessions or worse to do you harm. Always have at least two people present during a showing.

   3.   You May Be Required To Pay The Buyer’s Agent

The listing real estate agent and their broker makes an offer to pay the buyer’s broker at the close of the transaction. This occurs in situations where the buyer works with a real estate agent and the buyer broker agrees to accept the published split on the MLS. Since you are taking over the responsibility of a seller’s real estate agent, you will be required to pay the buyer brokers commission.

This Might Be Helpful: 10 Steps To A Successful Open House

Is The Timing Right?

What is the old saying "it's better to be lucky than good"? Some say its all about timing when you buy and sell a house. Every month I publish the Grand Rapids Real Estate Market Update Report. This report will tell you what house prices (sold, pending and current) are doing, the number of houses on the market and much more. These statistics will show you what the housing market is doing month over month. If you go back 6 months it will show how the prices rose substantially, often getting multiple offers on the property.

Hear What They Say About Doug Hansen

Here is a small sampling of Doug Hansen's past clients, both buyers and sellers. It's better to hear it straight from them vs a written Recommendation on Zillow or another web platform.

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Conclusion

In conclusion, by opting to sell your own home, you think you will save money in the process. However, much time and effort are required. You are expected to do your own research, to determine if this option is the best for you or not.  The National Association of Realtors does a survey of buyers and sellers every year. The 2017 survey showed the FSBO’s sold their house at a median sales price of $190,000 while an agent-assisted home sale, the median sales price was $250,000. So yes, you can save the real estate commission and you can also lose money by doing so.

Questions For You?

It makes all the sense in the world to try and sell your largest asset on your own.

Actually, research says people who try to sell their largest asset on their own do it for one reason - they are trying to save money.

Yet research also shows that 95% of the people who try to represent themselves in the sale of their largest asset will try it only for a certain period of time. As a matter of fact, most people have a predetermined amount of time they will try it

and ...

"I was curious, how long do you feel you are going to try before you consider having full-time professional representation on behalf of your largest asset?"

If you desire to buy or sell your home quickly without any problem, talk to a seasoned, experienced and professional Realtor with over 26 years of real estate knowledge and experience. Doug Hansen and his team will provide you with an efficient and exciting experience throughout the home selling or home buying process. Contact Doug Hansen at Doug Hansen Real Estate now at 616-485-8955 or at doughansen@grar.com. Texts are welcomed.

You can also visit his website at https://doughansenrealestate.com/ for more information. He will be more than happy to be of help to you.