|
Information for FSBOs (For Sale By Owners)
Selling your home as a For Sale By Owner (also called Fizbo or Unrepresented Seller) is very challenging. If you are trying to sell your home on your own, I wish you the best of luck. I would like to give you some free advice as I tried to sell my house FSBO before I received my real estate license, and I want to share with you some information from inside the business.
Real estate agents expect to make 3% commission when they represent a buyer in a real estate transaction, so agents usually steer clear of bringing their buyers through FSBOs. Even if you offer 3% to a buyer's agent, the buyer's agent is concerned that they will have to spend extra time and run into challenges when trying to close the transaction because they have to deal with someone who doesn't buy, sell, and close homes as a full-time job. They would rather their buyer purchase a home listed by another real estate professional who is working hard to earn their side of the commission representing the seller.
Buyers looking at your home also know that you are not represented by a real estate professional and will consider that when making an offer on your house. So while you may think you are saving commission, you may be accepting less than what you home is really worth had it been marketed by a real estate professional.
What Discount Brokers are not telling you! You may consider listing your house with a discount or "limited services" broker, who will put your house in MLS for a flat-fee. What these discount brokers don't tell you is that buyer agents explicitly exclude their listings from search results by using the Limited Service Listing field in MLS. The reason is because buyer agents don't want to hassle scheduling, showing, presenting offers to, and negotiating directly with home owners. They know they will have to spend extra time and run into challenges when trying to close the transaction because they have to deal with a discount broker who is already paid and has no additional incentive to get your home sold. You should also prepare yourself to sign this form that specifies what duties you waive your discount broker to perform for you. The Ohio Division of Real Estate and Professional Licensing created this form in response to the number of complaints they were receiving from consumers that used discount brokers. You are about to sell the most valuable possession you own, so read that form carefully!
Discount brokers also won't tell you that they have the most expired listings in MLS, which is proof that they are not that successful in selling homes. With discount brokers, you usually end up getting what you paid for, money down the drain and house that still isn't sold.
|
|
