The “For Sale By Owner” (FSBO) method may seem like a great way to save lots of money, given the size of the fee. You may think acting on your own will surely be worth the savings, yet national statistics show that on average, the FSBO will lose 8-12% more money than working with a professional agent. Here are eight reasons you should think again before trying to sell your own home:
- Buyer’s agents may not want to show your property to their clients.
In the for sale by owner transaction, the buyer’s agent knows there won’t be a professional on the other end of the transaction. Since 95% of all buyers work with a professional agent a FSBO will limit the number of serious buyers that will see their home. FSBO sellers are viewed as unrealistic, unreasonable and difficult to work with by most serious buyers.
- It is harder for a FSBO to keep their emotions out of the sale.
Selling your home is an emotional process. Having a professional agent keeps you one step removed and makes you less likely to make costly mistakes, like refusing to counter a low offer because you’re offended or giving in too easily when you have a deadline for selling. Without a professional agent you’ll have to deal directly with rejection every time a buyer or their agent tells you they aren’t interested in your home.
- It’s not your full-time job.
Can you rush home from work every time a buyer wants to see your home? Can you step out from an important meeting every time your phone rings? Can you properly market your home every day? Do you have experience doing so? Your answer to all these questions is probably no and in today’s world of instant access and availability, serious buyers will just move on to the next available property, losing you yet again an opportunity to sell your home.
- Professional agents have a much larger network than you do.
Even if you have a large personal or professional network, how many of them will be interested in purchasing your home or will really be willing to spread the word that your home is for sale. This creates a smaller pool of buyers which means less demand and a longer time for the sale which always results in a lower sales price. A professional agent has lists of thousands of people to put to work for you within hours of listing your home and can, in our case, push your home out to over 800 websites quickly with professional pictures and videos.
- You subject yourself to needless, unqualified showings.
A professional agent makes sure that someone that wants to see your home is actually qualified to purchase your home prior to showing the property. We are trained to ask qualifying questions to make sure the buyer is serious, financially qualified and motivated to purchase your home.
- Negotiating the sale is tricky and complicated.
Even if you have sales experience, you don’t have specialized experience to negotiate all the points necessary on the North Carolina contract to protect yourself from unknown costs and delays. A professional buyer’s agent representing the buyer does and is most likely going to win in the negotiation against you resulting in less money in your pocket than if you had a professional listing agent representing your best interests.
- You can’t clearly see what’s wrong with your home before starting the selling process.
Professional agents are experts in what it takes to successfully prepare your home to maximize the profit. They take the emotions out of the process and can walk through your home with you and point out changes that need to be made to attract the highest numbers of buyers quickly and get the best possible price the market will bear.
- You put yourself at risk of being sued.
There is a lot of legal paperwork involved in the home sales process nowadays and it needs to be completed correctly or it could result in legal proceedings that will negatively affect your bottom line. A seller of real estate has a duty to disclose any material fact that affects the value of the property. A professional agent knows the laws and can protect you in writing a proper contract.
In conclusion, selling real estate is a complicated process and the numbers clearly show that using a professional agent will actually net you more money than if you sold it on your own.
As always, we are here to help. Give us a call at 910-218-1300 or email us at info@hamiltonrealtygroupnc.com for a free market consultation.
