10 Reasons NOT To Sell Your House By Owner (FSBO)

Many homeowners want to know can you sell a house without a Realtor®.  Yes, you can, but that doesn’t mean you should.

Selling a house is a complex transaction with major financial impacts for home sellers. Homeowners selling a home without a Realtor® can make serious mistakes negatively affecting how much the sale nets. I can tell you as a real estate agent these mistakes can cost you more than what you can save by not paying real estate commission fees. Let’s take a look at the six reasons why selling a home without a Realtor® is a bad idea.

1. Lower Sale Price

Consensus data indicates FSBO home sellers sell for less compared to homes sold with a real estate agent. I will ignore the specifics of this data because I can not verify its accuracy. Instead, I would prefer to focus on what I have seen as an active real estate agent. I have been hired by many wanna-be FSBO sellers who gave up on the process, and I have heard their stories. Patterns have presented themselves.

1. Selling Without a Realtor® Invites Low Offers

Study after study indicates homes that sell with a real estate agent sell for a higher price even after considering the real estate commission fee. FSBOs often are only put in front of a small portion of the overall buyer audience. Additionally, some homebuyers are too intimidated to approach an FSBO. The smaller your audience the more likely it is you will receive a lower price for your home.

Listing your home with a real estate agent is the best way to expose it to the greatest possible number of homebuyers. Listing the home with an agent will get the home in the MLS, in front of agents with active buyers, and syndicate your home across the internet.

2. Selling a Home without a Realtor® Minimizes Your Exposure

Of all risks of selling FSBO, the biggest risk is low online visibility. Due to the fact, your home is not in an MLS the listing will not be syndicated to all of the websites used by homebuyers in your area. Most homebuyers are searching for homes online. Many homebuyers use more than one website to search for a home. Failing to reach the entire audience of active homebuyers will cause you to get fewer showings, fewer offers, and likely lower-priced offers, too.

FSBO home sellers can improve their home’s visibility online by having the property added to an MLS. Many communities have flat rate real estate agents who will place your home in the MLS. This is a cost-effective way to get your FSBO in front of more homebuyers.

3. Price Corrections Can Cost You

FSBO sellers commonly overprice their homes. Then, they commonly overreact and make too large price reductions. This is done out of fear that repeated price drops will encourage low offers.

In truth, pricing a home and price adjustments are a serious part of a home selling strategy especially when one is trying to sell a home its maximum price. The typical FSBO home seller just does not have access to the comparable sold and active for sale home data compared to a real estate agent.

2. Reduced Online Exposure

FSBO home sellers do not have access to convenient tools to schedule home showings. Instead, potential homebuyers must contact you directly and find something which works with both schedules. This can be cumbersome and even intimidating for many homebuyers.

FSBO home sellers should make showing their homes as convenient as possible. You can do this by answering all phone calls and keeping your schedule open while trying to sell your home FSBO.

3. The Commission Savings Is Not Worth Your Time

Selling your home FSBO to save on real estate commission fees will cost you time. Each listing takes me about 40 to 60 hours. Keep in mind I have done it before and have access to convenient tools and resources. Despite this, it still takes me about 40 to 60 hours to go from start to finish when representing a home seller.

Your time may be more valuable than the value of the cost savings of the DIY approach to selling a home FSBO. Instead of doing the FSBO try sourcing a low commission real estate agent in your area. Home sellers ready to sell and who own a great home are likely to find a real estate agent who will offer a low fee to sell the home.

4. Avoid a Mulligan By Accepting an Offer with Low Probability Of Closing

At the time you accept a buyer’s offer, but for unforeseen tragic events (i.e., the buyer loses a job, home is destroyed, etc.) a real estate agent can provide a reasonably accurate probability the offer will close. Inexperienced FSBO home sellers are more likely to accept any offer which a real estate would describe as risky. Worse, as an FSBO seller, you could accept an offer that is actually impossible to close. This will cost you weeks of time chasing something that will never be. Once the terminal defect is discovered you will need to start all over.

5. Slower Sale Process

Again, I’ll refrain from rambling off unverified statistics. I do this because I know the data out there is incorrect. I can tell you with confidence FSBO homes take longer to sell. The reasons for this are below.

1. Drawn Out Negotiations

Home sale negotiations should move quickly and get finer or more granular with each volley. Inexperienced parties are more likely to let negotiations run into stalemates or spend too much time on less important items.

2. Avoid Delays By Knowing What To Do Next

The day my buyer or seller has an accepted offer there is an entire string of events I put into action. This is to keep the transaction moving forward. This is due to my expertise as an experienced real estate agent. FSBO sellers on the other hand could let their deal stall. There are many activities that must be completed in these complex transactions. Failing to know what to do next can cause you to lose days or weeks of time.

6. Understanding Cause and Effect

Real estate agents approach a home sale proactively. This means we think a few steps ahead. Basically, what are the consequences or benefits of a decision today, and how does that affect the seller’s plans? Less experienced FSBOs are less likely to make proactive decisions to protect their future plans. They often fail to consider the future effect of a current decision.

7. Legal Concerns

A home sale is a major transaction with potential legal problems if something goes wrong. FSBO home sellers are left to their own devices to do everything correctly. Failure to do so could cause you to pay legal fees or a settlement after the sale.

Working with a real estate agent does not absolutely prevent you from having any legal issues after the sale. However, a real estate agent can keep everything within the boundaries of the contract and inform you of your obligations when selling a home.

8. Transactions and Closing Compilations

Rarely does a transaction go from start to finish without a surprise issue. Home sellers and homebuyers without agents quickly fall apart and go to pieces over minor issues. In the face of major issues, they all seem to really lose it instantly. FSBO sellers and unrepresented buyers just do not have the knowledge and experience to address complications during the transaction or as closing gets near.

Working with a real estate agent will allow you to avoid having to address these issues without guidance.

9. Addressing Problems

When problems occur, homebuyers and sellers are terrible at resolving the issue. Both sides quickly light a short fuse, become over-the-top emotional, and think the sky is falling. This is often due to the fact neither side really knows how to solve the problem.

Real estate agents are remarkably talented at making adjustments to deals because it’s actually quite a common occurrence. Agents are better suited to help everyone understand the issue, come up with a resolution, and get all parties to buy in to the solution.

10. Taking the Time To Do It All

When selling without a Realtor®, it’s all on you to get it all done. All of it. The prepping, the marketing, the showings, the offer, keeping the offer alive. Ask yourself carefully do you really have the time to be 100% involved in every aspect and every little decision of the deal.

Conclusion

During the COVID-19 pandemic I almost cut my hair myself because I could.  I’m happy I didn’t.  The answer to the question can you sell a house without a Realtor® is yes, you can.  But, I wouldn’t recommend it.

FSBO sellers do not have access to the resources or the expertise a real estate agent has. A home sale is a complex transaction with reliance on multiple third parties. Agents put in an enormous effort to keep everything moving toward the closing table. Inexperienced FSBO sellers frequently get in the way of the deal and make a misstep costing them money or even causing the deal to be terminated.

Real estate agents are not perfect. But, they wake up every day to build their experience in helping people buy and sell homes. This is no different than the expertise you have in your profession. Selling a home yourself in order to save money on a real estate commission is not worth it. Alternatively, contact Quadwalls.com.

Quadwalls Connected Agents offer low real estate commission fees with their full-feature home selling services. Our goal is to sell your home quickly at the highest price and with as little inconvenience to you as possible. Contact us to learn more about our full-feature home selling services.