Most people who have decided to sell their own homes are doing it to avoid paying the cost of the agent’s commission. With the rising costs of houses and the standard 6% commission, you can literally end up paying thousands of dollars to the realtor on your house sale. However is it really a good idea to try and sell your house without a realtor? It depends on whom you ask.
Of course realtors are going to tell you that you need an agent to help you. Especially in a slow market, they will argue that you need a realtor to help you generate interest to your house. They will even go as far to say that people who use agents to help them sell will even make more money than people who attempt to go at it alone.
However those who are in favor of doing it yourself will argue that due to the Internet and its ways of gathering potential leads, the number of people attempting to sell houses themselves has multiplied in recent years. Plus with the information at their fingertips of just how they can learn how to sell the house themselves, it has made it easier than ever before to be a “for sale by owner” (FSBO).
However the question still remains, is it worth it? Can a FSBO be as effective as those who use an agent? Just remember that you will still be stuck with the task of generating potential buyers, showing the house yourself, and writing up all of the paperwork. You must determine if it’s worth your time and effort and how much commission money you’ll actually be saving in the end.
There are also discount brokerages that have recently sprung up to entice the FSBO people to use an agent and spend far less money on a commission. However with these discount agents, you oftentimes get what you pay for. You pay a smaller commission for the agent’s advice and maybe a listing, but you’ll end up showing the place and getting potential buyers yourself anyway.
The hardest part of being a FSBO is setting the price and getting the proper paperwork together. Make sure you consult an appraiser to determine your house’s worth and what you should set the price at, and perhaps hire a real estate lawyer to draw up the paperwork for you. You just must determine whether the commission is worth the time and money that you would be spending to do it yourself and do you have the proper know how to be a FSBO. If you don’t feel like it is up your alley, you should perhaps be shopping for an agent.
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