Selling Your Own Home Without A Real Estate Agent: The Truth
Thinking about trying to bypass the perceived “high” commissions you would have to pay to real estate agents when selling your own property? If you’re willing to put in a lot of work, it’s definitely an option. But seriously, at what price?
It has been well-documented that trying to sell your own home is a seriously risky proposition. Homeowners who used a real estate agent sold their home for an average 25 percent more than the for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) homes. (Vicki Cox Golder, President, National Association of Realtors, July 15/2010) A National Association of Realtors (NAR) study in 2010 concluded that, after ruling out private sales where the seller personally knew the buyer, only 5 percent of all homes sold were by FSBOs.
It all boils down to TRUST. Buyers don’t trust sellers – and why would they? Why is the seller selling without an agent in the first place? Because they want more money! But they trust that the machinations of professional real estate agents and their brokerages can only survive based on trust. And so in this process ……. they TRUST.
Sellers almost always overvalue their own homes, too. That’s just human nature. Yet buyers know this, as well.
But none of this might mean anything to you without being presented by some cold, hard facts. And that is what my esteemed colleague Andrew Paolone has done. He is from another brokerage, in a different city, but I have no hesitation in recommending him. He wrote about “The Truth About For Sale By Owner Companies” and here is what he wrote, summarized.
The above should by read by anybody thinking about trying to “save money” by selling their home on their own. It is a big gamble to do so, and more often than not, you would lose money doing it that way.