The more things change the more they remain the same, except when it comes to selling your home without an agent. When I first entered the real estate business I did not have many clients. My manager advised me to go out and meet “For Sale by Owners” (FSBO’s).
These were home owners trying to sell their homes on their own, and the manager told me they were a great source of prospects.
That was more than 26 years ago. Today I rarely see FSBO signs on lawns or their ads in the newspapers. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) in the US has been conducting surveys of home buyers and sellers, including FSBO’s, for over 50 years. Every year NAR sends an 8 page questionnaire to 150,000 consumers. Last year they received just under 10,000 responses.
This is what the survey found about FSBO’s.
- 12 % of sellers sold their home without the assistance of an agent.
- Among all sellers, 3% were FSBO sellers who knew the buyer.
- 92% of FSBO sellers sold a detached single-family home.
- For 9% of FSBO sellers, the most difficult task in selling their home was understanding and performing the necessary paperwork to complete the transaction, for 27% it was preparing the home for sale and for 9% the most difficult task was getting the price right.
- “The median home price for sellers who used an agent was $247,000; the median price for a FSBO-sold home was $187,200.”
When we look at the last bullet we see that even when the FSBO is successful, they net on average 24% less than real estate agents.
Clearly this would not be the case in every instance, but knowing these results I can only wonder why some home owners will still attempt to sell their homes without hiring a professional.
Looking at home buyers attitudes, the same survey found that:
- 91% of home buyers used the Internet to search for homes.
- 86% of home buyers used a real estate professional during their home search.
As a FSBO you do not have access to the MLS nor to all those agents who are working with buyers ready to buy a home such as yours. Today’s buyers rely almost entirely on the internet and they rarely call on newspaper ads or real estate signs.
So why do some sellers still try to sell their homes “For Sale by Owner”?
The most common answer I hear is, to save the agent’s commission. The truth is that when FSBO’s succeed in selling without an agent, they end up netting significantly fewer dollars for their home, even after paying the agent’s fees.
I have not even touched on other issues such as home security and safety. Are you prepared to have anyone, who says the magic word “buyer”, into your house without knowing anything about them? Have you put away all your valuables? What will you do when two or three buyers show up at once? Will you let them all in and allow them to wander through your home on their own?
I could go on and on, but I will not. We are all free to make our own decisions. This is one you should consider very carefully before setting out to “save that commission”.
I sincerely wish you good luck!
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