The idea of selling your own home and cutting out the middle man sounds good in theory. However, when you put the theory into practice, it opens a real of unforeseen consequences that usually derail the sale. If you do a For Sale By Owner, you are likely to encounter things that you have no experience with and you would have been better served by hiring a real estate agent to conduct your sale.
The general idea is also to save the commission that you would otherwise have to pay if you were to hire a real estate professional. Since commissions are generally around 5% and the median price of a home in the western United States is $220,200, you would save $11,010.00 if your house sells for the median price. However, what you really need to look at is whether you will actually save what you think you are going to save by doing a For Sale By Owner.
You have to consider how much time you can spend in actually trying to sell your house. A house sale is a time consuming affair that involves agents, buyers, inspectors, appraisers, showings and all of it during what are usually working hours. If you have a significant other and you are both working and always on the go, then you would not be able to dedicate much time to selling your home. How much time can you spend answering personal phones about your house while you are at work? Will you be able to leave work so that you can show your house to interested buyers or to the appraiser when he comes to take a look at your home?
Most people do not have the expertise, knowledge or information to properly conduct a For Sale By Owner. In order to get the expertise, knowledge and information, you are going to have to invest time. Once again, if you are always on the go and working, how will find the time to invest in acquiring expertise knowledge and information.
How much do you know about the real estate market in general and your area in particular? You may have some general ideas, but what would happen if you have to deal with a specific legal issue that you know nothing about? Now what sounded like a good idea before you undertook the task can start to turn into a nightmare.
It is a fact that most people simply do not have the time to properly conduct a home sale. Lack of time is one of the main factors in a For Sale By Owner not working out. If you are retired and have lots of time on your hands, you might want to give an FSBO a try. However, if you are always hard pressed for time, then you would be better off letting a trained professional do the work for you. If you do the For Sale By Owner and you actually manage to sell your house, you may come to find out that you did not save as much money as you thought you would because of all the time that you had to invest in it.
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