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FSBO What You Need to Know
For Sale By Owner: The Good and The Bad Lets face it, real estate agents get paid well for a sale and owners looking to sell will happily avoid the commission and pocket the difference if they can. And who could blame them? The commission on a $500,000 sale is $30,000. For that kind of money why not do it yourself, so here are some tips for the hardy FSBOs and to balance it a reality check by the National Association of Realtors.
FSBO
Know Your Product Too often people will not do their homework and when it comes time to sell and negotiate the other side has a list of things they want you to do or pay for. Dont find yourself in a weak negotiating position because you didnt make this your job. Get information on your property before you list so that you can take care of all the scary issues before a buyer sees the property. a. Hire and pay for a home inspector: If there are issues you can fix them before a buyer uses it to low ball you b. Go to a site like property shark and get a report on your property. This site is so comprehensive it would take a work week to get all that info on your own. This way, if there are any surprises, you can deal with them on your own. If there is something that needs repair and you have two bids, dont you think the buyer would want you to take the higher bid..after all if it costs more it must be better right? Nailing the Price Real Estate 2.0 has done wonders for search and for pricing markets, its like the MLS on steroids. We have wonderful new sites for an owner to use to compare properties. One of the biggest problems facing a FSBO is pricing the market realistically. In a slowing market like this one you dont have as much Gotta have It, buying so its more important to nail that number so that the home lists at an attractive price and gets good action quickly but doesnt give it away. 2.0 web sites are changing the industry by offering buyers and sellers more information than was ever available. Comps: Know the marketplace. Its necessary to be realistic and the best way to get comparables are: 1. Ask a broker for a Competitive Market Analysis. Some agents will say yes, because they know how hard it is to do a FSBO and would like to be the back up choice 2. Use the new listing sites and compare 3. use the MLS
Getting it Seen Sales is a function of the law of large numbers. The more people you can get to view the property, the more likely you are to have a quick sale. Without the services of a real estate agency and all the tools available to them, you have to be creative. 1. FSBO - One of the more popular web sites for owners going it alone. A popular listing service for those of you who want to sell. They also offer advertising services. 2. Put a sign up and be clever. Use balloons or other eye catching tricks. 3. Create a picture book of all the rooms 4. Create a blog and market your property on the net: consider active rain and blogger 5. Advertise it on craigslist, try ebay, trulia and others 6. Consider professional staging to have it show at its best 7. Tell everyone you know 8. Advertise it on the local neighborhood papers If you have done all these things you may find yourself in negotiations. If you get through that well enough then you must face a mountain of paperwork. What NAR has to say:
Sellers make more money when they use a real estate professional. According to the National Association of Realtors, the median for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) selling price in 2004 was 15.4 percent less than the median agent-assisted transaction price. It appears that sellers wanting to save money by not using an agent are losing money in lower sales prices. The median price of FSBO sales in 2004 was $163,800 compared with $189,000 for agent-assisted sales. Thirty-two percent of people who bought directly from sellers knew them in advance of the transaction, meaning that about one-third of FSBO transactions are not placed on the open market. NAR reports that National Association of Realtors, 87% of FSBOs list with a Realtor. This shouldnt discourage anyone from trying, because the money saved is compelling, just know that you will be earning that savings. And its not a bad idea to interview agents and have a backup plan. REsourced from www.yourpropertypath.com You may republish this article, as long as you do not edit and you agree to preserve all links to the author and www.yourpropertypath.com
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