Should I Do For Sale By Owner

For Sale By Owner: Is it a Viable Solution for Selling My Home?

You may already have heard of the term FSBO, which actually stands for "For Sale By Owner". In real estate, this means that a piece of real estate property is being sold directly by the owner without seeking the help of a real estate broker. Real estate agents would naturally obtain commissions out of every real estate deal that they close. If you will be an FSBO seller, there will be a significant amount saved on commissions since it will be similar to having a direct sale.

To determine whether being an FSBO seller is a viable solution for selling your home, take a look at the following advantages. First, by being an FSBO seller, you can still make use of the database or system which is being used by real estate brokers and this is called the MLS or Multiple Listing Service. This same system is being accessed by real estate brokers who are looking for homes to purchase for their clients, so you can make sure that your target market will be able to view your home as being 'listed'.

The second and most practical advantage or being an FSBO seller is that you would not have to pay the commission of a real estate broker. Usually, real estate brokers in the United States charge 6% to 7% of the selling price of each real estate property that they managed to sell. Just imagine the amount of savings that you will have on commissions if you can do away with the services of a real estate broker. Despite these advantages, there is also a downside to selling your home yourself. If you are not nearly experienced with the real estate industry, you may have no idea at all about pricing your home and selling it out to potential buyers. Naturally, you would not want to overprice the real estate property and make it not sellable, but you would not want to downplay its value either. In order for you to determine the ideal price, you can consult a real estate broker, do your research of the real estate market in your area and take your hint from there. Now that you have an idea about the pros and cons of selling your home via FSBO, you can decide for yourself whether the pros far outweigh the cons.

What is Better Than A Discount Real estate Agent in California?

Several years ago a friend of mine living in California was complaining about how much they had to pay a real estate agent when they were tyring to sell a house in California. The house was about 1600 square feet and they were asking about $900,000 and while they may seem like a lot to get for a house for those that live outside of California but to my friends they only had about $75,000 equity in the house. So if they were to pay a traditional real estate fee of 6% then they would pay $54,000 to sell a house that they had just bought about 3 years earlier. I understand why there were distraught. That is all of their equity pretty much gone after they pay for a few odds and ends to fix it up and also moving expenses to the next house.

My friend mubles to me on the phone one time that it would be great to have a discount real estate agent. I told him that it was not that great - you may save 1% because the agents and brokers split the pot so to speak so the agent really isn't making that much and to go ahead and cut it another percentage point.

Of course I brought up the mls listing service and laid out the details. You get the same mls listing, you put up the lock box and then let the other agents show your house. When they finally bring you a buyer you give that agent 3%. This means that you save around 3 to 4% depending on what your inital contract was for.

Now 3% of 9,000,000 starts to add up - well it adds up to around $27,000 that they saved. They got their home listed and right away the traffic started and within about 2 months their were actually 3 contracts submitted. 1 was for full price on the home.

In my humble opinion the flat rate service is second to none for those that want to save a ton of money when they sell the home. Forget about discount real estate agents in California. List it in the mls for around $350 and then sit back and wait for a buyer (and that by the way that is most likely is exactly what your listing agent would have done)