5 Reasons That You May Want to Avoid FSBO

It is time to sell your home. You can’t wait to find the perfect buyer who will pay your asking price so you can move on to owning another home. Yet you still have to overcome the major obstacle in selling the house. While other neighbors on the street are using agents, you are wondering if placing a “For Sale by Owner” (FSBO) sign up in the window and handling the work yourself is the better option.

Why Do People Get Involved with FSBO?

One of the main reasons is that they believe they can save on agent costs. A homeowner is looking for every shortcut where they don’t have to pay more money to sell their house so they can reap in the most profits. They often see the real estate commission paid to the broker as an unnecessary expense. This is a common and costly myth.

Another reason is that a homeowner feels that they want to be in more control of the sale. Some homeowners are afraid that the real estate agent will not provide them any appropriate updates regarding marketing and selling the house. The homeowner may also feel that the agent isn’t putting in enough work to get buyers into the house, or that those tasks are easy enough for the homeowner to do themselves.

Reasons Why You Should Avoid Going the FSBO Route

1: You won’t really save on the commission.

This reason is because there is a history of homeowners overpricing the value of their homes to make up the commission costs that they will pay to the broker. So a buyer will go into the deal by giving a lower quote to compensate for that higher price. If you end up agreeing to the lower quote, you end up losing in the end based on all the added expenses you take on in marketing and advertising the home — along with other extra fees.

2: You may accidentally underprice the house.

Real estate agents are always paying attention to the comps in a particular neighborhood. Unfortunately, market prices can fluctuate, as the price you decided to place on the house a year ago might not be what the house value is today when you finally list the house on the market. So you can lose out on money and not discover the discrepancy until after the deal is complete.

3: You won’t have access to a large buyer audience.

Many agents have a marketing and advertising strategy they use to reach the widest audience of potential buyers. In addition to advertising in print and the MLS, they will have dedicated real estate listing pages on their websites, video tours posted on YouTube, and periodic sales pitches on many social media platforms. Unlike an agent who already has a large online following of potential buyers, you may not have the same online marketing reach.

4: You can’t screen people before they look at the house

There are real buyers, and then there are just people who want to browse through a house because they have nothing better to do for the weekend. An agent can review the buyer’s information to ensure they are financially capable and committed to buying a house today. This can save you time, money and work.

5: You may not be good at house negotiations.

You don’t want to scare off a buyer when they give you a price that is significantly lower than what you expect. Most often, taking the FSBO route will put you into negotiations that can become intense and create hard feelings because you are still emotionally-attached to the house. Having someone else perform the negotiations who is experienced and calm can help you sell the house quickly.

There are many challenges in selling a house as an FSBO. Consider all your options and then get the professional help you need from a Bend real estate agent.