Selling with an agent vs. FSBO (For Sale by Owner)

Some people are trying to sell their homes by themselves in order to save on agent’s commission. If you do decide to do it by yourself you need to be ready to deal with advertising costs, risk of selling your property bellow market value, handling of contracts, and negotiations.

Working with a Realtor® like me can help you to avoid the headaches. You need to know that 5% commission is split between buying and selling agent. Allow me to explain in more details what problems you might encounter and how a Realtor® can help:

Marketing problems

When you sign an agreement with a Realtor® he or she is responsible for all the marketing expenses. Furthermore, Realtor® will list you home in MLS (Multiply Listing Services) and expose it to a lot of other Realtors. Realtors also have built clientele and network of colleagues to whom they can recommend the house. Gaining such an exposure individually is not only very expensive, but merely impossible. Some agents will offer you a low flat rate fee to list your house in MLS, in my opinion this tactic is not very helpful read here why.

Risk of wrong pricing

Appraising your house can be single most important activity in the whole process of the sale. Under pricing will caution buyers that there is something wrong with the home and the sale will take a long time. Overpricing will result in a longer sale price. Furthermore, if the house is overpriced most likely it would not be sold and you will have to lower the price. Again lowering the price and the length of the property on the market will caution you buyers, which can cause you to lower prices again. That’s why it is crucial to price home at a correct market value. Check out my free home evaluation link to get help. Take a look on a next graph that explains consequences of overpricing your property.

You also have to be very careful while choosing an agent. Regrettably, some agents engage in practice called “buying a listing.” What that means is that agent will appraise your house higher than anybody else in order just to get you to sign a listing with him or her. In reality it is doubtful that your home will sell at this price, and most likely it will sell lower that other agents suggested.

Dealing with contracts

Contracts can be very complicated and the amount of paperwork is incredible. The average home price is around $300,000 and dealing with such sum of the money requires perfect accuracy. Realtors deal with these contracts everyday for living, and that’s why a help of one can eliminate some serious troubles.

Negotiations

Asking price is just asking prices. Most of the times the buyer’s agent will be negotiating for a lower one. It can be a very stressful experience especially if the agent operate with some industry trends and historical prices. Realtor® on your side will serve as emotional buffer and will make sure he or she has necessary research also.

The bottom line is that while selling home by yourself can save you some money, it can possibly lead you to loose more than you would pay to a Realtor®. Working with a Realtor® will enable you to sell your home in a timely manner, for the fair price, and without hassles.

If you would like me to help you in evaluating your home please check my free evaluation tool or contact me.