Selling For Sale By Owner?
Selling a home "For sale by owner" (FSBO) can be a daunting task. I have been on both sides. I have sold homes myself before I was in real estate and now as a realtor. Here were several of the key issues I had when I was a FSBO that you may relate to:
- Time-It is time consuming to be able to be available at the drop of a hat to show the property. Add to that, worrying about when to be available for and deal with inspectors, appraisers, termite people, repair men, you name it. You really have to be available for all of this stuff.
- Paying for advertising. Newspaper ads were expensive and did not seem to do anything other than give endless realtors a reason to call and schedule "fake" showings (I have a client who wants to see your home~Sound familiar). Knowing how, where, and to what degree to advertise was a pain. It is very expensive as well.
- Dealing with all the non stop calls from realtors wanting the listing.
- Qualifying Buyers-Do they have the money? Is their lender sound, or some fly by night broker who automatically pre-approves people before getting into the nuts and bolts of their background.
- Inspections-How do you know what inspections are necessary and what if any repairs should be done.
- Buyers responsibilty vs. Sellers responsibility
- Temite and moisture letters-What are they, whose responsibilty, what is going on here.
- Closing attorneys-Who decides? Who pays for what?
- Negotiating with buyers who automatically take off from the price what they feel you would have had to pay a realtor.
- Setting the price.
- What needs to be done to put the home in its best showing state.
- Again, all the harassing calls from realtors wanting your listing.
There are more headaches than imaginable that you as a FSBO will have to deal with. The bottom line is if Those Ingram's can list your home and sell it for more money than you can in a shorter amount of time with fewer headaches and more money in your pocket at closing, why would you possibly try to sell it yourself? We are consultants. Our goal is to help you make sound decisions.
We have a wonderful program for FSBO's that gives you the security of having us market and sell your home, with the opportunity for you to save half of the commission. It is a great program that a number of our sellers have used. Contact us and request more information about our For Sale By Owner program.
