4 Reasons For Sale By Owner Is Not A Good Idea
You’ve researched your home’s property value, you’ve posted it for sale and in five weeks, you found a buyer. So, you get the house under contract and think you’ve done a great job by selling your house yourself.
Uh oh! You just realized that you misunderstood the information you found pertaining to the value of your home and it’s actually worth $80,000 more than you’re selling it for. You panic and want to cancel the contract only to find that it will cost you $20,000 to cancel.
Now you recognize that you were that homeowner who thought you had everything figured out and listed your home for sale by owner(FSBO) because you didn’t feel that an agent was worth it. Now, you’re rethinking it and decide that a seller’s agent is invaluable and here’s why:
Marketing
Realtors have amazing resources that they use consistently. When you list your house with a realtor, you can expect that they will be sharing your listing in multiple places. HomeSnap, the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and their website are just some of the places your listing will be online. That’s not to mention print media such as the local newspaper and direct mail. In addition to having access to substantial resources, realtors also have a following of people who are looking for their next home or to send a listing over to a friend or family member. By using a realtor, you’re leveraging their network to help sell your home faster!
Safety
When you’re selling your house, you’re going to have numerous people coming in and out. When you’re selling your home yourself, we can guarantee that you’ll have a random person knock on your door. As a realtor, we recommend to all our clients that if that is the case, it’s necessary to ask them to call us unless they have their own agent. This is critical because you never know what someone’s intention may be when they approach your home.
Legalities
When you’re selling a house, it’s much more than listing it, getting an offer and then getting a contract signed. There are certain disclosures that you need to make concerning latent defects and material facts and there is an immense amount of paperwork involved. A small mistake can cost you the sale of your home or even worse. When you have a real estate agent, they are knowledgeable of all of the legalities that pertain to the area in which you are selling and make sure that you stay in the clear.
Quality
Quality is two sided when it comes to selling your own home. The seller must be quality and the buyer has to be as well. In regard to sellers, they can list their home on their own on sites like Zillow.com or fsbo.com. The problem with this is that many buyers can’t verify that the seller has any experience selling houses and they aren’t sure of what they may be getting themselves into. The house could be overpriced or have defects that may not be disclosed. On the other hand, as a seller, you don’t want random home buyers coming to your home if they haven’t been screened first. When you have a realtor, they take care of the screening process. They’ll ask the potential buyer all of the necessary questions to make sure that they are qualified to buy your home.
At The HodosGroup we make you our priority! We will make sure that we market your home to the best of our ability, we make sure that everything is done legally, that you’re safe, that you’re not wasting your time with unqualified buyers and more! Our service to you is truly invaluable and you’ll be happy that you chose us instead of listing your house as for sale by owner. If you’d like more information about why for sale by owner is not a good idea, you can call us at 301.644.1056 and we’d be happy to discuss it with you.