The Cons Of Listing Your Home For Sale By Owner
Despite all the marketing hype surrounding FSBOs, most of it is simply that…hype. Granted we’ve probably all met or heard about someone who has sold their home without the services of a real estate agent, but these cases are the exception, not the norm. Here are seven reasons why.
Only licensed real estate brokers and agents are permitted to list homes on the Multiple Listing Service, or MLS for short. Therefore, the primary source of referrals in the real estate industry is unavailable to you as a FSBO. Furthermore, FSBOs are also locked out of many home portals and search engines, such as Homes.com and Realtor.com. Admittedly, a determined FSBO can put a for sale sign in the front yard, run adverts in the local newspapers, and create a website advertising their home, but none of these actions will bring the home anywhere near as much exposure as it would if listed on the MLS.
There is a very real risk that you will overprice your home. If we’re honest, most of us genuinely believe that our home is worth more than similar homes in our neighborhood. More often than not, we’re wrong. This is definitely one area where the advice of a real estate agent can make all the difference between selling your home or not.
As a FSBO you will receive many low ball offers. Nowadays, many people assume that if a home is listed as a FSBO, that the owner is desperate to sell and will therefore be prepared to accept any price for their home. You may not know this but, a number of the foreclosure listing services on the internet, such as RealtyTrac.com, include FSBO’s on their websites!
It is a generally accepted fact that potential buyers feel intimidated if the owner is present during the showing, and will therefore spend less time in that home. It is also fair to say that some buyers will feel decidedly uncomfortable at the prospect of negotiating directly with the seller. Therefore, as a FSBO you will almost certainly receive fewer offers.
Selling your home yourself is time consuming and can be emotionally upsetting. In order to sell your home yourself, you will need to spend time marketing your home, such as creating a website, producing and distributing flyers, and so on. You will also need to advertise and be available to hold Open Houses, handle time wasters, ignore unfair comments about your home, deal with complicated paperwork, and deal with the stress if you don’t sell your home as quickly as you would like.
Real estate transactions are potential legal minefields for the misinformed or unwary; particularly in states that have extensive disclosure requirements. Overlook one required form or legally required disclosure and you, as the seller, could face a protracted and expensive lawsuit.
Finally, listing your home yourself could actually end up costing you more money than you originally planned to save. This really depends on how quickly or slowly your home sells. If the market is slow, you will incur on-going marketing costs which can quickly mount up and if the pressure to sell becomes so great, you might either accept a less than desirable offer or turn to a realtor to help you sell your home and end up paying the commission anyway.
