Why Sell For Sale By Owner?
1. LESS HASSLE AND FRUSTRATION: When selling by owner, you don't have to leave the house because an agent wants to show it, or clean it every morning before leaving "just in case". You know when people are coming, and can prepare accordingly. And when a buyer makes an offer, there's not all that frustrating back-and-forth telephone tag between agents to reach an agreement. It can be done in minutes, and end with a friendly handshake and smile between owner & buyer.
2. YOU CAN "SELL" YOUR HOME BETTER THAN ANYONE ELSE: You know your home best. The schools, the neighborhood, what is special about the area and the house, as well as other details about the property. A well-maintained, fairly priced home virtually sells itself; your role is simply to provide additional information.
3. YOU'RE IN CONTROL: Nobody is going to tell you what to do. You can advertise where and how you want to, schedule showings when it's convenient for you, talk directly with prospective buyers yourself, even take your house off the market for a while if you can't find the right house for you. You aren't obligated to a 3, 6, or 12 month contract... you make your own rules.
4. MORE $$$ IN YOUR POCKET: Obviously, this is the main reason that most FSBO home sellers are selling their home themselves. You can save up to 7% commission by doing it yourself. On a $200,000 home you may save up to $14,000. Here’s another way of looking at it. Let’s say that your home will sell for $200,000 and you owe $144,000 on the mortgage… so you have $56,000 in equity. If you pay $14,000 in sales commissions, that’s 25% of your equity! Sell it yourself… and you'll save a very large portion of your equity!
5. YOU CAN SELL FASTER: If you list your home at a full commission with a real estate agent, you'll probably inflate the asking price to cover the cost of the commission. Two to four months later you'll come to the painful realization that no one is going to buy your home at that price, and you'll end up reducing the price (or accepting an offer) equal to the original amount you would have asked if selling by owner. Do it right the first time, and avoid taking the loss.
6. LESS UNCERTAINTY: Because you meet the prospective buyers, you have a much better idea how interested people are, what they like about the home, how serious they are about buying and what their timeframe and situation is. The direct feedback is easier to live with than wondering how things are going, or worse, why no one has made an offer yet.
7. IT'S EASY: "If you can sell your own car, you can sell your own home... it's that simple" said one of our home sellers. And he's right, once you find a buyer... lenders, lawyers or title companies take over (depending on your area of the country).
BUT....What's the downside? Buyers work with agents at NO charge and your property probably won't be seen by the best, most qualified buyers. The ones that do see your property will likely offer LESS because they want to "save" the same commission fee that you're trying to "save". You may actually end up with LESS money and you do all the work - that's why over 80% of "By Owner" sellers end up listing with a broker like Collier and Associates.
Call them at (239) 214-2333 with all of your real estate questions.
* Less than 1% includes $629.00 at sign up plus 1/2 of 1% at closing.