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Category: Articles » Finance » Real Estate » Article » Article Code

To FSBO or not to FSBO?

Each year many homeowners decide to maximize the profit on their home sales by selling it ¡°For Sale By Owner¡±. At first glance, this is the most tempting option to most homeowners especially in the current real estate market with its rapid appreciation rate. Why pay substantial broker fees when they can pocket several thousand dollars themselves? While this attitude is completely understandable it doesn¡¯t realistically reflect the services a professional realtor truly does offer. Last year, according to the National Association of Realtors ¡°Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers¡±, 13 percent ... read more

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Each year many homeowners decide to maximize the profit on their home sales by 
 
selling it ¡°For Sale By Owner¡±. At first glance, this is the most tempting 
 
option to most homeowners especially in the current real estate market with its 
 
rapid appreciation rate. Why pay substantial broker fees when they can pocket 
 
several thousand dollars themselves? While this attitude is completely 
 
understandable it doesn¡¯t realistically reflect the services a professional 
 
realtor truly does offer.

Last year, according to the National Association of Realtors ¡°Profile of Home 
 
Buyers and Sellers¡±, 13 percent of all home sellers chose the FSBO route. More 
 
telling than these numbers, is the fact that one third of all FSBOs sold their 
 
homes to someone they knew prior to the transaction which means that the actual 
 
figure of FSBO transactions to strangers is realistically at eight percent. 
 
This is a significant downward trend from 18 percent eight years ago.

Even more telling was that only half of last year¡¯s FSBOs, according to the 
 
article, plan to go it alone again. Why? Many FSBOs are not aware of the 
 
increasing complexities of the transaction process, especially in California, 
 
with more complex disclosures and legal requirements required than ever before. 
 
In addition, they were often unprepared for the required time to market and 
 
show their property, the competitiveness of the real estate industry, and 
 
awareness of the various fees required for outside consultants, inspectors, 
 
appraisers, title companies, escrow and loan officers.

Of course, this does not mean that selling your home via FSBO is not a good 
 
option for some home sellers, in some cases it may be. However what it does 
 
mean is that you need a clear idea of what responsibilities you will be 
 
assuming in contrast to hiring a professional realtor and calculating whether 
 
the costs and time invested will be worth it to you.

Some questions to consider if you intend to FSBO:

1) Do I have the time, energy, skill-set and ability to devote in selling my 
 
home? 2) Am I prepared to deal with an onslaught of buyers, including savvy 
 
investors and realtors, who perceive FSBO¡¯s as targets for low balling? 3) Do 
 
I know how to market my property properly? 4) Am I familiar with the trends in 
 
the national real estate industry as well as my local real estate market? 5) Am 
 
I prepared to offer financing options to the buyer? 6) Will I be dealing with 
 
only pre-qualified buyers? 7) Am I prepared to answer questions about 
 
financing? 8) Do I fully understand the disclosure process and legal 
 
ramifications for my state? 9) Do I have the skill-set to successfully 
 
negotiate the handling of legal contracts, agreements, and any disputes with 
 
buyers before or after the offer is presented? 10) Am I familiar with competent 
 
professionals that will be involved in the transaction such as title, home 
 
inspectors, appraisers, escrow company and their fees? 11) Am I able to project 
 
and account for all the hidden costs, time factored in, marketing costs, and 
 
fees paid?

The above items are a few of the factors that the home seller should consider 
 
before selling his home on his own. Also, one important item to keep in mind is 
 
that very much like the title of Harvey Mackay¡¯s famous book, ¡°Swim With The 
 
Sharks¡±, real estate is very competitive and the buyer is just as equally 
 
motivated to get the lowest sales price, with the most concessions as the 
 
seller is to get the highest sales price the market will bear.

Most importantly, the facts are, sellers make more money when they use a real 
 
estate professional. According to the National Realtor¡¯s Association survey, 
 
¡°Homes sold with the assistance of a real estate professional in 2005 sold on 
 
average for 16 percent more than FSBO sales.¡± As in many other industries, 
 
realtors vary in experience and skill level. Real estate is as populated with 
 
mediocre realtors as well as with excellent ones. However, hiring a skilled, 
 
full-time professional realtor, who is in the top twenty percent of his 
 
industry, to handle your sales transaction will be worth every penny of his or 
 
her¡¯s broker fee.

Nef Cortez has been a licensed real estate broker and has held various 
 
positions in the real estate industry for over 25+ years. Visit his website at 
 
Diamond Bar Homesfor information on foreclosures.
 
for more information visit http://www.nefcortez.com

Author Bio:

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