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. When a buyer makes an offer, there's not all that frustrating back-and-forth telephone tag between agents to reach an agreement. Your negotiating can be done in minutes, and end with a contract acceptable to both buyer and seller.
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 ARE IN CONTROL
Nobody is going to tell you what to do. You can advertise where and how you want to, schedule showings when it is convenient for you, talk directly with prospective buyers yourself and even take your house off the market for a while if you can't find your next home. You are not obligated to a 3, 6, or 12 month contract... you make your own rules.
4. MORE MONEY IN YOUR POCKET
Obviously, this is the main reason that most FSBO home sellers are selling their home. You can save up to 7% commission by doing it yourself. On a $200,000 home you may save up to $14,000. Here is another way of looking at it. Let’s say your home will sell for $200,000 and you owe $144,000 on the mortgage, leaving $56,000 in equity. If you pay $14,000 in real estate commissions, you have lost 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 will probably inflate the asking price to cover the cost of the commission. Four to five months later you will 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 time frame and situation is. The direct feedback is easier to live with instead of wondering how things are going, or worse, why no one has made an offer yet.
7. EASY TO DO
"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 is right, once you find a buyer... lenders, lawyers or title companies take over guiding you through the process.