The realities of trying to sell your property as for sale by owner.
This week, we’re talking about for sale by owners or FSBOs. This is relevant to both buyers and sellers. If you are a seller out there thinking about selling FSBO, know that putting a sign out on the street doesn’t get you very far. If you aren’t working with an agent, you won’t get many people in the door. The reason most people list for sale by owner is to save the cost of the agent’s commission. What most FSBOs don’t realize is that you still usually end up paying a commission to one side of the transaction.
Nine times out of 10, paying for an agent is going to put more money in your pocket even after paying the commission. Most for sale by owners don’t know how to price their home. You have no publicly available data to go by. Alaska is a non-disclosure state, so the only people that have access to the sales prices are us and the appraisers.
Licensees don’t necessarily love to work with FSBOs even if their client wants to see them. We always do the best we can, but working with a transaction where there’s no agent on the other side can be tumultuous because, nine times out of 10, the agent has to help the owner get through the process.
We’ve been in this business for 20 years and there are still things that we learn every single day. You might have the basics down, but there are always unforeseen pitfalls. Statistics say that the average real estate lawsuit costs between $100,000 and $125,000. That’s way more than the cost of a licensed agent who has the experience behind them.
If you’re out there and you’re thinking about listing FSBO, give us a call at 907-240-2804 or email us at Dar@DarWalden.com. We’ll have a conversation and if that’s the direction you want to go we totally understand. We look forward to talking with you. Have a great week.
