Selling Your Home Yourself - FSBO
Sounds great doesn’t it? Go to Home Depot, stick stab a sign in the lawn and viola! Someone comes by to beg to take that home off your hands. Right?
Unfortunately, the process of selling your home is not that easy. Your home is a huge investment with many different legal ramifications. When you go to sell it, there’s a zillion issues to consider and things can go wrong if left in the wrong hands.
Do You Really SAVE MONEY when you sell your home yourself?
According to the National Association of Realtors, “the typical FSBO home sold for $145,000, compared to $175,000 for agent-assisted home sales.”
Most Difficult Tasks for FSBO Sellers:
- Getting the right price 19%
- Understanding paperwork 30%
- Preparing / fixing up home for sale 26%
- Attracting potential buyers 7%
- Having enough time to devote to all aspects of the sale 14%
A Realtor can help in more ways than one:
While it may seem clever to pocket the commission fees of a Realtor and sell your home yourself, be aware that there are risks involved in doing so. Realtors are experts who know how to…
- Differentiate your home from other homes in your neighborhood.
- List your home in such a way that it will sell.
- Show your home to prospective buyers better than the average person.
- Market your home in a variety of ways available to licensed Realtors.
- Rely upon their license training to handle legal situations that may arise.
- Help you to avoid pitfalls that they’ve learned to avoid through experience.
- Serve as the middle-man during the negotiating process, which goes along way towards easing buyer - seller relations.
- Access network of professionals that are reliable for the home selling process such as painters, inspectors and plumbers.
- Help you overall make the process smooth.
And if that weren’t enough reason not to sell your home yourself, ask yourself the following questions:
Who will be completing the contract forms, negotiating the offer, and looking out for YOUR interests?
The eight-page contract (and many addenda attached thereto) contains the agreement of Buyer and Seller, stating representations and promises to be performed by each of the parties.
Do I need earnest money?
What happens to the earnest money?
What if the check does not clear?
What if the Buyer changes his mind, after signing?
. Why an option period?How much should be deposited?
How many and what kind of inspections?
What are the time limits for all inspections?
Once inspected, what are the parties’ choices?
How do I know what financing options there are?
As you can see, there is much that a Realtor can do to help you when it comes to selling your home. You may save money, but you will have to deal with many issues to make you lose time and potentially peace of mind when you sell your home by owner. Having an expert to handle the sale of your property makes economic sense and helps give you peace of mind.
