Most homeowners would probably prefer to have a professional licensed Realtor work on their behalf to sell their home, but not everyone sees the value of paying a fee for an agent’s expertise. RICH PELUSO lays out 10 Common Difficulties That Come with FSBOs
- The ‘on sale’ vs. ‘for sale’ mentality – Buyers may look at FSBO homes as “on sale” instead of “for sale.” Homes with unrepresented sellers sell for nearly 33 percent less and take significantly longer to sell than homes sold through the Realtor network.
- Buyers get uncomfortable dealing directly with sellers – Some buyers would prefer to tour a home with the owner of the property absent.
- Emotional attachment to the home – Homeowners are emotionally attached to the home, which inhibits their ability to negotiate and depersonalize the space.
- Overspending during prep – Homeowners might not know what is necessary to fix or update in their home, so they might overspend when preparing their home for sale.
- Issues with commission – The vast majority of homes for sale find their buyers through other real estate agents who are helping them shop for a home. Realtors work with buyers for free with the understanding that when they purchase a home, the agent will receive a commission on the sale. It takes a lot of work and time touring homes and seeing a purchase of a home through to closing, so it is fair to expect compensation for your professional services.
- No access to the multiple listing service (MLS) – While it is true that many people start their home search on a public website, like Zillow, most agents never look at those sites — they search for homes through the MLS database. In other words, Realtors primarily market a home for sale to other Realtors.
More of the 10 Common Difficulties That Come with FSBOs
- Pricing – Pricing is a crucial component in selling a home. As Realtors, we will look at comparable home sales and neighborhood statistics, use a deep knowledge of every home available for sale in the area and a fundamental understanding of the current housing market to arrive at a value for a home.
- Marketing – In addition to placement on the MLS, there are many different ways a Realtor will advertise your property, and all of them cost money and take time to create. Realtors rely on efficient systems based on data and experience that they have put in place over time. From professional photography, personal websites and videos to targeted digital and print marketing, the expertise necessary to be successful is great, and the costs add up — but good agents absorb those costs because they believe in the value they have placed on the home.
- De-personalizing the home – De-personalizing a home for sale is imperative. Having a real estate agent partner with a seller to comb through the home and start packing up photos and unique items is a huge value-added service.
- Paperwork and legalities – The amount of paperwork and organization it takes to guide a home sale transaction from offer through closing is immense. Most unrepresented sellers are not familiar with the process or terminology, nor are they truly aware of all the potential pitfalls and legal protections necessary in a real estate transaction.
