For Sale by Owner

4/1/20075:24:47 PM Link |  | Add comment

Real Estate

For Sale by Owner

(First … in an effort to help you sell your home as a For Sale by Owner, you may post your home on our website for FREE!     Just go to the FSBO tab.)

Ok, a lot of folks want to sell their home on their own in order to do the obvious … SAVE MONEY!  Well, I don’t blame you because the commission can take a bite out of the math when you put it on paper.

I like to save money too and often times will tackle projects  around the house in order to do so.  A friend of mine a long time ago told me “any project around the house … whatever you estimate on time and money … triple the time and double the money”.  Over time I realized he was right.  Why?  I didn’t have all the “know how” or all the tools.  Did I muddle thru it … yes.  But on a percentage basis, I sure didn’t save what the numbers on paper would have made me believe.

Real estate … selling a home, is the same thing.  Can  you sell your home on your own?  Sure.  Will you save as much as you think?  No.  Heres’ why.

First, your savvy enough to understand that about 95% of the buyers out there use real estate agents.  Thus, you are willing to work with agents and offer a 3% commission to a buyers agent (who by the way will look out after the buyers best interests when they negotiate with you and not your interests).  You are perceptually saving a 3% listing commission, which IS a lot of savings.  No argument.

Essentially, here’s what the process looks like in a nutshell:    Writing on all of these will take too long so I just made some quick notes.  If you want any clarification or discussion then just post your comment at www.mitzkatrealty.com.  

When you’re done reading these, print this out and assign some values to each.  See what you come up with.

Marketing your Home  -  Yard signs, color brochures, print ads, internet marketing.    Check out the cost  of the print ads.   Not cheap.

Showing your Home - You alwasy need to be present to show your home.   You can lose a deal by taking the family to Six Flags over the weekend.

Safety Issues  -  If a prospect doesn’t have an agent, who are you really showing the home to?

Qualifying the Buyer  -  Is the buyer or buyer’s agent going to give you names and numbers of their lender and if they are selling their home to buy yours, will they give you theirbuyer’s information?

Negotiating - It's not just about price.  What are the terms of the offer?   Is it a contingency?   Have they sold and CLOSED on their home?   If the buyers have an agent, keep in mind the Agent is representing the buyers interest only.

Paperwork - What do all the paragraphs in the contract really mean?   What are the timelines for inspections, appraisals, title commitment, survey, loan docs, etc?

Getting is CLOSED! - Often times deals fall apart a couple of days before closing.   Why?   Because the above items weren't taken care of properly.

If it does fall apart, now what has it cost you?