For Sale By Owner, or FSBO (pronounced /fizbow/), is the process of marketing, buying
and selling of real estate without the representation of a real estate broker.
Many sellers who choose to sell via FSBO do so to avoid paying a commission to a
broker, typically 6% of the selling price of the property in many parts of the US.
However Cygnus Real Estate can list your property for lower than the average commission.
Contact us for more information.
When homeowners decide to sell their home without a real estate agent, they enter
the world of the FSBO sellers. If a seller markets a home as a FSBO, and a buyer
who is not working with an agent wants to buy this home, the seller pays no commission
because no real-estate agents are involved. If a buyer who is represented by an
agent is interested in a FSBO home, that buyer's agent may request the owner to
pay him or her a commission or finder's fee for bringing the buyer.
In order to protect themselves, sellers typically arrange to have the necessary
forms at hand or have them drawn up for them. Lawyers will normally draw up an agreement
for a fixed fee often as part of legal representation for the purchaser.
In many states like Colorado, brokers have appropriate pre-printed forms in place
for agents to negotiate a sale with a negotiated commission rate. This ensures that
brokers can represent their clients' best interests and consider all available homes
in the decision-making process.
Below you will read some simple FSBO strategies that can stack the odds in your
favor, greatly increasing your chances for success when selling on your own. Of
Cygnus Real Estate is always here to help you if need advice.
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Tip 1. Understanding the real estate market.
Getting an idea of your local market conditions makes good sense. Just like any
other product getting a feel of what's hot and what's not can help you make decisions
that affect the sale of your home. Consider your neighborhood and the features that
distinguish it from others. If you're comfortable, contact a real estate agent to
discuss what the current market environment is like.
Tip 2. Timing is everything.
Timing the decision to sell and gauging the current market conditions could be two
of the most critical decisions you make. If you need to sell your home quickly,
the less flexibility, you'll be able to have. Conversely, if you're not in a big
hurry you can sit back and wait for the perfect buyer. Just remember the real estate
market is a cyclical environment. If it's a slow period now and you're in a position
to wait it out then it might be a good idea to wait for the next upswing.
Tip 3. Assemble a team of professionals to help you.
While it's nice to think that you can handle things on your own, selling a home
takes specialized knowledge. It's more than just writing up a sales agreement. Depending
on what part of the country you're in you'll either need to find a real estate attorney
or a title / escrow company to help with the legal details. Another important partner
to consider is a reputable mortgage banker/lender. They can assist in helping you
prequalify buyer prospects. Cygnus Real Estate can refer you well respected and
qualified brokers, lenders and title closers.
Tip 4. How to determine the fair market price of your home.
This always seems to be a real tricky one. For many home sellers this typically
reveals itself as a major point of contention. When trying to decide on a price
guessing or basing your asking price on hearsay or nontraditional methods immediately
reduces your negotiating advantage. Basing your price on what the house down the
street sold for or what media outlets perceives as increased market value is not
the way to get a legitimate price either. There are only two legitimate and well-recognized
ways of determining a fair market value. One way is to contact a real estate agent
or broker to provide you with a free
CMA otherwise known as a comparative market analysis. Contact
us for a free no obligation CMA. The best and most accurate way of determining
price comes from a full-blown appraisal done by a professional real estate appraiser.
Tip 5. You're selling a house not a home.
While it's important to become emotionally detached, you don't have to become a
robot. After all this is your home, be objective but don't be cold. Keep in mind
that people are going to perceive your home differently than you do. Either way
remain positive and ultimately the right person will walk through the door and buy
your home.
Tip 6. Preparing your home for sale.
Today's real estate market rewards those homeowners that place a high-value on neatnessas
well as cleanliness. It not only adds value but alsogenerally promotes a quicker
and more profitable sale. Once again the depersonalizing of your home helps your
prospect with such an emotional decision. Decluttering the inside of a home is also
key to your preparation. If necessary, rent out a small storage space and store
some household items there. Just as a side note, having a garage sale is also a
great way of getting rid of items that clutter up the house. Not only do you get
rid of the items but also you make a little money in the process.
Tip 7. Start spreading the news.
It should be understood if you're going to sell your home and you're going to do
it yourself, the easiest way to get the word out is to put a sign in your yard.
This will immediately get the attention of anybody that happens to ride by. Naturally,
this is the essence of selling on your own. Coming up with a highlight sheet to
outline the key features of your home is a must. With the readily available use
of word processing programs putting a simple highlight sheet together is easy. You
list your property on our website a no charge. See Sign Up
for details.
Tip 8. Knowing a few, negotiating skills will get you a long way.
It's not necessary to become the next great diplomat. You will want to keep in mind
that it's necessary to keep your emotions and personal feelings regarding the negotiating
price of your property in check. When discussing the selling price it's important
that your calculations and numbers are correct. This allows you to have greater
flexibility and leverage and you can negotiate from a position of strength.
Tip 9. Qualifying buyers and stopping the lookie loos.
So what's a lookie loo? A lookie loo is a person that comes to your house and looks
in everything. They,look in cabinets,closets and drawers check everything out but
never make you a serious offer. You need qualified buyers looking at your home or
it's going to get very discouraging. One of the best ways of getting qualified prospects
is to have them referred by your mortgage broker/lender. You can also take the direct
approach. If you're arranging a showing over the phone, go ahead and ask them if
they are pre-qualified. Don't be too shy when it comes to your prospects. If you're
holding an open house and someone expresses interest in your home go-ahead and ask.
Most of the time if they're pre- qualified they love to tell you. So don't worry
about asking, it's the right thing to do.
Tip 10. If all else fails go to where the realtors hang out.
If after a while, you're not getting the results that you were hoping for you can
always go to the MLS option. This doesn't mean that you have to list with a real
estate agent or broker. As a private party, you can list your home with your local
multiple listing service. Usually this will cost a fee but by doing this you automatically
expose your house to thousands of potential prospects all over the country. The
upside is that you should be able to sell your home in short order. The obvious
downside will be that you will have to pay co-op to an agent. Only in unique situations
would the cost of co-opting be virtually impossible, due to low equity or some other
extenuating circumstance.
These FSBO tips should give you a solid foundation to successfully
selling your own home. There's many specific ideas and recommendations that are
beyond the scope of this article when it comes to pricing, preparing and staging
your home, and all of the items previously outlined. You should definitely research
and prepare yourself for the selling of your own home process. In the long run,it
will make things easier and could either save you or even make you thousands of
dollars.