In this modern age, it is easy to do everything by yourself. Saving money is always great, and there are so many things today that we can do on our own after a simple Google search or a YouTube video. Sometimes doing it yourself saves you a few dollars, but is it the case when it comes to selling your home?
When looking at it from the outside, For Sale By Owner option, or FSBO, may likely be an ideal option. With a standard Realtor commission of 5-6%, wouldn’t it make sense to save yourself that money? Here are the Pro’s and Con’s when choosing the “for sale by owner“ route.
CONS
Selling is hard work. Your home needs to be inspected, repaired as necessary, photographed, filmed, listed, shown and more. If you want to do an effective job of selling your home, you will need to devote a considerable amount of time to the sale.
FSBO websites are not that effective. The for sale by owner sites only garner a fraction of the traffic sites do that market listed properties for sale. Unfortunately having your home on the most popular websites isn’t going to help you much.
Selling your home without established network will not be easy. You can list your home online without effort. But everyone can do it too. Good marketing strategy ensures that your house listing is noticed by buyers that are a good fit for what you have to offer.
PROS
You’ll have complete control. When you do it yourself, you are in complete control of the sales process. You do not have to listen to anyone’s opinions about how you will market the home, how you will price it, how you negotiate, how you prepare the home for sale or any other decisions. It’s all up to you. There is, of course, good and bad with this. While you are your own boss, you’re losing the valuable counseling and expertise of a potential professional.
You make more money from the sale. The trick, of course, is making the sale without a real estate agent a reality. When you sell the home yourself, you don’t have to pay for the help of a real estate. Since real estate agents can charge a percentage fee based on the sale price, you could save thousands of dollars by doing it yourself – maybe even tens of thousands, depending on the value of your home. Saving a commission is in fact, the biggest reason why homeowners attempt to sell for sale by owner.
You can devote your full attention to the sale of your home. If you have a real estate agent, he/she is going to have other clients besides you. That means that you will not be the only focus. With that being said, when you sell your own home, you can devote all your time and energy to the sale. You’ll have lots of free time to market the home, show up at any time of the day as well as in the evening, and be available to talk to buyers any time they call.
You’re more familiar - You know your home better than anyone else. You know first-hand what it’s like to be a resident in your neighborhood and a part of the community you live in. And you can share this insider knowledge with prospective buyers who are eager to know what it would be like to live in your home. It’s understandable that you want to make more money when you sell your home. Like any other situation, there will be cons. However, you may wind up making more money overall.
