For Sale By Owner (FSBO)

Thinking of trying to sell your own property, you have made improvements to make your home extremely presentable to prospective buyers, and you have also done your competitive market analysis, so you have a really good idea what your asking price will be.

Here are a few points you should seriously consider before taking out your first for sale by owner ad.

Lead Paint Disclosures If your house was built prior to 1978, federal law requires that you disclose that your home could have lead-based paint and give buyers details about past tests for lead-based paints. You also must give potential buyers an opportunity to conduct their own lead paint tests. The buyer is also required to receive lead paint pamphlets.

Additional Costs: Statistics show that close to 85% of FSBO's eventually list with a real estate agent. Another remarkable stat is that of the FSBO's that did successfully sell their own property, almost half of all surveyed said that they would never do it again. The next time they wanted to sell their home, they would most likely use a real estate agent to do so. The reasons why?

Effort Required: The effort required to sell a property is very demanding. Most FSBO's assume that you put a sign out front, maybe a newspaper ad and wait for the phone to start ringing off the hook with buyers. This is simply not the truth. There are many other ways that real estate agents ultimately sell your home: relationships, other marketing, direct prospecting, and referrals, are all ways that agents procure buyers. Their job is to keep a roster of buyers that they are actively working on finding the right properties for and they typically use the local MLS to be alerted to all the new listings. Other efforts are the setting up of showing appointments and trying to "sell" the home while the prospects are there. Many FSBO's have a hard time getting around buyer objections and stipulations that the FSBO just can't meet. (Many times it's just bargain shoppers hoping to lowball the seller, or just general lookers that like to view multiple properties without ever making a purchase.)

Liability: FSBO's, by selling the property themselves, take on a tremendous amount of liability. They must make sure all proper disclosures were correctly made to prospective buyers. This can be done and it is recommended that all FSBO's research all laws about real estate disclosure to make sure they properly do so and limit their liability.

Costs: Costs? How if I'm not paying a real estate agent how could it be more expensive? Although selling your home on your own May Not be more expensive, consider this: The National Association of Realtors conducted a survey that concluded that FSBO's on average sold their home for 16% LESS than those sellers that listed with a real estate agent! WHY? Well, while no one knows for sure, here are some possible explanations. Sellers are not trained negotiators, so when someone starts negotiating, many sellers have a hard time negotiating a higher price or staying with the original asking price. Another theory is that most sellers are not pricing the property correctly or don't even know what the market price for their home is. They simply settle on a price they like and put a for sale sign up. When priced correctly, it is much easier to say no to all the lowball offers one can receive by knowing what like-size homes are typically selling for and how fast. If you don't know what the market will bear, then how can you negotiate and defend the price of your home? What this leads to is that sellers then realize that this is truly more than they bargained for and decide to list with a real estate agent in the Tucson Arizona (AZ) or surrounding area.

Other considerations: Your agent doesn't get paid until your home sells and closes. As the seller, you get to decide what offer if any you will accept, and because the agent doesn't earn the commission from the sale until after you close, they are on your side to make sure the deal will close and the proper inspections, loan contingencies, etc., are completed on time and correct.

When thinking of selling on your own or (FSBO) in Tucson Arizona (AZ) you must consider costs associated with the proper marketing of your property, Internet advertising, newspaper ads, flyers, open house materials, etc. These costs can add up to thousands with NO GUARENTEE that they will even result in a call, much less a willing and able buyer. Real estate agents spend thousands marketing properties, on top of everything else they do to procure buyers for their listings.

If you would like more information on selling your property even if you are currently trying to sell your own home (FSBO) or have a question please feel free to fill out the questionnaire below. Or you can contact Michael directly at (520) 247-4134. Thank you. (All submissions will be responded to within 48 hours.)