The advantages of selling by owner when selling your home




When spring is in the air, it means that not only is summer around the corner, but the real estate market is about to rebound and a host of homes will be bought and sold in the coming months. The first question that often comes up when someone starts thinking about selling their home is whether they should go to a real estate agent or if they should try to sell it for the owner. In this article we will talk about what selling by owner really means and if it is the right choice for your situation.

What does FSBO mean?

A for sale by owner sale is any type of sale in which the owner will handle the process himself. The house is not being serviced by any type of real estate professional during the sale process. In the US it is not required to have a real estate agent during the home sale process, however some states do require a real estate attorney to be involved to make sure everything is done legally.

The FSBO route can be accomplished through a variety of methods. Most homeowners in the US use the traditional landlord sale process in which they mimic the process of an agent but become the agent for their own home. However, that is not the only method. FSBO sellers can sell their home during a home sale auction, trade the home with another owner, or sell it directly to an investor.

The advantages of FSBO

The most attractive advantage of FSBO is the saving of a real estate commission fee. When you work with a real estate professional, they typically charge 5 to 8 percent of a home purchase at closing. This can be quite a significant amount for many homeowners. For example, if your home was sold for $ 300,000 using a real estate agent, that would mean that you would give up $ 15,000 to a real estate agent at the conservative 5 percent percentage. That’s thousands of dollars – even tens of thousands for many homeowners – deducted from the profits from selling a home that could be used for vacations, college funds, and retirement savings. So why turn to a real estate agent if you don’t have to?

The downsides of FSBO

The reasons most people choose to sell through an agent is because the process of selling a home can be very complicated, time consuming, and tedious. If you sell privately, you are responsible for listing, marketing, displays, negotiations, and closing yourself. A buyer may ask you questions about the home or the home sale process and you are not sure of the answer.

Those who want to sell this way must put in the time and effort to be well versed in the real estate process and willing to do whatever it takes to sell their home. Sellers who can’t commit time can have a home that stays on the market for months before the owner breaks down and uses a real estate agent. So if you have a full-time job or business, a big family or a full life or are going through a big life change, it will be difficult to sell your home on your own, not impossible, just difficult.

What FSBO does not mean

Just because you are selling your home on your own doesn’t mean you have to go through every step of the process on your own. There is more to the real estate world than just buyers, sellers, and agents. For a flat fee, a listing agent can help you list your home. A home appraiser can evaluate your home to get the best sales price. A real estate attorney can guide you through the details of any offer until closing. Therefore, you can still have professional help in parts of the sale that you are not comfortable handling.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Post