For Sale By Owner

Posted at 12:26 PM, Aug. 21, 2007

Of late I have been making a major effort to market my services to those who are attempting to sell their home "by owner" or without the representation of a Realtor.  Of course, they can sell their home on their own, anyone can. Anyone can also represent themselves in court, but would you want to?  No Realtors don't go through the rigorous schooling that lawyers do but in the end you are paying us for the same thing - our expertise and our knowledge. 

Anyone can go online to one of many services that for a flat fee will allow you to have your home listed in our local MLS, in turn you also set your own comission rate that you will pay a buyers agent should they bring you a buyer, but that's all you get.  You get to pay someone to bring you a buyer.  As a listing agent, I do a lot more than list your home in the MLS and  bring you a buyer (or even get another agent to bring you a buyer).

What you get when you use flat-fee services.  You pay a flat fee to have your home listed in the MLS, sometimes for upgraded charges they will provide extras like a lockbox or a sign in your yard, or for an additional charge they may even help you negotiate any contracts that come in on your home.  In addition to the flat-fee, you will also pay a % to the agent that brings the buyer.  You still get to continue to sell your home FSBO style; you are responsible for all marketing, showing your own home, fielding all calls regarding your home (questions from both buyers and agents), open houses, negotiating contracts, arranging the closing, termite inspection, coordinating with the buyers for the home inspection and any follow-up visits they may want to make, etc.  How much time would all of those things take? A lot depends on how long your house is on the market, how hot your particular market is and how many calls/showings your house gets.

On average a home is on the market for 90 days.  In that 90 days you may field 60 calls, and show your home 30 times.  Let's say you spend an average of 10 minutes on the phone for each call, that's 10 hours of your time on the phone. Every time your home is shown, you have to be home to show it. You spend time preparing it to show and you rush home from work to make sure you are there before your prospective buyer.  Each showing may only take an average of 20 minutes and you'd have to make sure your house was ready to show even if an agent was showing it, so we won't count the prep time... but that's still another 10 hours spent.  You will spend time marketing your home.  You'll want to go out and find all of the FSBO websites that will list your home (because you never know which one people might be looking at), as well as list it in the local paper and any other option that might be available to you.  So we'll say you spent another 10 hours on marketing your home.  That's 30 hours spent and you haven't even gotten to working on an offer yet.  So much for enjoying your weekends with your family, you have to stay home so you can show your home!  So much for coming home from work and relaxing, because there's a buyer on the way!  That doesn't even get into the hours it may

When you work with me (a full service agent), it goes a little differently.  We decide on a % upfront that you will agree to pay. This is a total that is divided between myself and any agent who brings in a buyer that purchases your home.  From my % I pay for all marketing expenses. I've already done the research to know the top places where buyers look when they are buying a home, so I know right where to go to market your home. I come to your house and do a visual tour of your home (taking a couple hundred pictures that will be put together using a software program to create a virtual tour of your home, so that buyers can really see your home from the internet, no matter where they are).  I field any calls from buyers or other agents with questions on your home.  And you never have to be home for a showing.  In fact, we prefer it if you aren't there because when you are home, the buyers don't quite feel like they can "make themselves at home" and feel comfortable.  They need to feel comfortable, they need to feel like this could be THEIR home so that they can buy it.  Sure you still have to keep your home clean and yes you may have to run out of the house on occasion when you'd rather be watching tv so that someone can come view it, but showings can now be scheduled when you are at work or even out of town, allowing for even more potential buyers to see your home.

Buyers can be fickle people.  Most buyers look at a home that is "for sale by owner" as a house they can get a deal on.  They figure they can get it for less than market, because since you aren't working with a Realtor, you probably aren't informed.

That only covers the time when the home is on the market.... let's talk about everything that goes into a home sale once you actually get an offer.  And, keep in mind you may not want to take the first offer that comes in.  As your listing agent, I will present every offer to you, but I will also tell you honestly if I think it's a good offer, or if I think you should counter.  I will be looking for your best interest.  It's too easy for a seller sometimes to get so excited about getting an offer that they don't look at the fine print (or the contingencies) and they end up costing themselves even more in the long-run.  I will help you negotiate each offer to ensure that you get the best net results in the end.  I will help you ensure that the offer you accept is from a qualified buyer who can actually buy your home - BEFORE YOU ACCEPT THE OFFER!  The last thing you want is to accept an offer only to find out 3 weeks later that the buyer wasn't even qualified... and what about those 10 people who called in the meantime? 

Once the offer is accepted I will make arrangements for closing, I will coordinate things like termite inspections, home inspections and appraisals, so that you never have to stop doing what you want or need to do. I will schedule the closing with a local closing attorney and ensure that they have all of the contracts and other information they will need to properly do the closing.  I will also follow-up withthe buyers mortgage company to ensure that the mortgage is moving at a proper pace so that we can close on time.  I will be with you every step of the way.

You may feel like that's not worth the % you will pay and if that's the case, OK. Honestly, if you can sell it on your own and make just as much or more $ then I'm happy for you!  If you want to just give it a try on your own before listing it with an agent, by all means do. I believe that in the end you will find that I'm worth the money.