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5 Myths & Facts Regarding For Sale By Owner

Selling a Home at the Best Price

Myth: I can save a lot of money by not hiring a real estate company and instead selling my home myself, advertising the home as For Sale by Owner.

Fact: For Sale by Owner real estate can actually decrease the amount of money you’ll earn on a home sale, compared to working with a professional real estate agent. Terri Balistriere, broker/owner of Express Realty, has 20 years of experience working with real estate transactions. Due to her real estate knowledge and experience, she often receives multiple offers on the homes she sells. She performs a Comparative Market Analysis and gets top dollar for homes on the market in Brown County, Oconto County, Outagamie County, and Winnebago County.

Marketing Like a Professional

Myth: I know my home and neighborhood the best. Therefore, I should be capable of marketing and selling my home myself.

Fact: Of course, you know your home and neighborhood the best because you live there. But you might not know how to advertise the home to the ideal buyer, professionally photograph the interior and exterior for maximum impact, or create a marketing plan to find the top-paying buyers. Express Realty is a licensed real estate company that has been getting top dollar for homes since 2008.

Prepping a Home for Sale

Myth: My home looks good inside and outside, so it’s ready to go to market.

Fact: Even the most beautiful home in Green Bay can benefit from an expert evaluation by a licensed real estate professional. Express Realty gives home sellers great advice about simple, cost-effective steps to take to increase the value of a home. Luckily, most upgrades don’t cost homeowners a lot of money but offer a substantial return on investment. Terri Balistriere, broker/owner of Express Realty, has an eye for décor and knows how to help sellers spend minimal cash to get an amazing offer on their home.

Investing Time in the Real Estate Process

Myth: A real estate company won’t work around my schedule

Fact: Terri Balistriere, broker/owner of Express Realty, works any day or any time that serves the client’s best interest. Terri has worked nights, weekends, and holidays. Additionally, Terri is willing to change her plans at the last minute to exceed clients’ expectations and get the real estate transaction to the finish line.

Working with a Low-Commission Realtor

Myth: Real estate agents charge high-priced commissions, so I can avoid paying high real estate commissions by selling a home For Sale By Owner.

Fact: Although some real estate agents overcharge home sellers with 6% commissions, Express Realty is a low-commission real estate company. On average, Express Realty saves home sellers $8,000 in commissions. Here’s how: Express Realty charges 3.5% commission on homes over $250,000 and within 35 miles of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Furthermore, commission is 4.5% on homes under $250,000 and farther than 35 miles from Green Bay. Because of the low commission, Express Realty is one of the top real estate brokers in Green Bay. Express Realty enables clients to keep more of their hard-earned money in their pocket, while providing comprehensive real estate services.

Green Bay WI Real Estate Broker/Owner

Save yourself the hassle of trying to sell your home yourself in the Green Bay WI area. Many For Sale By Owner houses fail to sell quickly or get top dollar. Terri Balistriere, broker/owner of Express Realty, guides homeowners through the entire real estate transaction process. Terri provides honest, genuine, and responsive real estate services from the day you put a home on the market to the day you close on the home.

Schedule a Comparative Market Analysis

Contact Terri today to schedule a complimentary Comparative Market Analysis to learn the value of your home. Check out Express Realty’s Listing Program for 8 ways Express Realty expertly assists with the home-selling process. Or use Express Realty’s quick, effective Search For Homes tool to find homes within your price range and the desired size and location in Green Bay and Northeast Wisconsin.

About Express Realty: Express Realty is a Green Bay, Wisconsin, real estate company offering lower commission rates without compromising quality. Broker/owner Terri Balistriere fell in love with real estate when she and her husband flipped homes 20 year ago. Since that time, she has helped hundreds of Northeast Wisconsin residents fulfill their real estate goals. Whether you’re looking to buy, sell, or invest in real estate, Terri Balistriere is ready to help. Contact Express Realty, your Northeast Wisconsin real estate professional serving Brown County, Oconto County, Outagamie County, Sheboygan County, and Manitowoc County. Express Realty’s professional real estate services cover De Pere, Green Bay, Bellevue, Hobart, Allouez, Suamico, Pulaski, Little Suamico, Chase, Freedom, Wrightstown, Wrightstown, Little Chute, Kaukauna, Appleton, Oshkosh, and Sheboygan.

When you sell your home yourself— also known as “for sale by owner” (FSBO)— it may seem like a great way to save thousands of dollars. After all, the standard real estate agent’s commission is 5% to 6%—that’s $12,500 to $15,000 on a $250,000 home. Given the size of this fee, you may think that acting as your own seller’s agent will surely be worth the savings. Here are eight reasons why you may want to reconsider.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• You might be tempted to avoid a real estate agent, save the commission, and just sell your home yourself—also known as “for sale by owner” (FSBO).
• While tempting, in most cases the risks of going it alone likely outweigh the benefits.
• Risks include having few potential buyers (let alone qualified buyers), making emotional decisions, not knowing how to negotiate properly, and not having enough free time to dedicate to finding a buyer.
• One of the biggest risks of FSBO is not having the experience or expertise to navigate all of the legal and regulatory requirements that come with selling a home.

1. Realtors May Not Show a “For Sale By Owner” Home

In an FSBO deal, the buyer’s agent knows there won’t be a professional colleague on the other end of the transaction. Even if a client insists on seeing your home, the agent might discourage making an offer, citing the hassles and risks of trying to close the deal without a professional representing the seller—and without a guaranteed commission.

“There are only two reasons why I show an FSBO: There is no other inventory available or the price is ridiculously low,” says Bruce Ailion, a realtor with RE/MAX Town & Country in Alpharetta, Ga., near Atlanta. Experienced brokers have generally been burned by an FSBO transaction in which the seller did not pay the full agreed commission—or any commission at all—to the agent who brought the buyer, says Ailion. “FSBO sellers are viewed as unrealistic, unreasonable, and difficult sellers whom professional realtors have rejected,” he says.

Still, there are buyers’ agents who will show your property under the right conditions. That may mean signing an agreement with the agent that states the percentage fee that you, as the seller, will pay the agent. (The agent may specify a 6% commission, trying to nab both the buyer’s and seller’s side. Instead, negotiate the total commission to a more reasonable 2% to 3%.) An agreement should also clarify that the agent is only working on behalf of the buyer. It may also state that as the buyer’s agent, the real estate agent has a duty to disclose to the client all the information the seller provides to them, such as the need to sell by a certain date.

2. Agents Avoid Emotional Sales

Selling your home is typically an emotional process. Having an agent keeps you one step removed and makes you less likely to make stupid mistakes, such as overpricing your home, refusing to counter a low offer because you’re offended, or giving in too easily when you have a deadline for selling. “A realtor can follow up without communicating a sense of eagerness or desperation; following up is their job,” says Ailion. “When a seller repeatedly checks, it signals, rightly or wrongly, the willingness to accept a lower price.”

If you forgo an agent, you’ll also have to deal directly with rejection every time a buyer’s agent tells you that the client isn’t interested. “As the homeowner, it can be quite upsetting hearing some of the comments that are made by buyers and, oftentimes, their agents,” says David Kean, a realtor with Beverly & Co. in Beverly Hills, Calif.

An agent can take the sting out of the rejection and put a positive spin on any negative feedback. “It is more difficult for [the seller] to keep their emotions out of the sale, because there’s no third party to bounce anything off of,” says real estate broker Jesse Gonzalez, president and founder of North Bay Capital in Santa Rosa, Calif. “For instance, if the property sits on the market, the homeowner doesn’t know the reason the home is not selling.”

“The emotions will always be there for the seller,” Gonzalez adds, “but constructive criticism can be easier to digest for the seller when it comes from a broker who is on their side, trying to get the best for them.”

3. Real Estate Is a Full-Time Job

Can you rush home from work every time someone wants to see your home? Can you excuse yourself from a meeting every time your phone rings with a potential buyer? At the end of a long workday, do you have the energy to take advantage of every possible opportunity to market your home? Are you an expert in marketing homes?

Do you have any experience doing so? Your answer to all of these questions is probably “no.” An agent’s answer to all of these questions is “yes.” In addition, by going through an agent, you’ll get a lockbox for your front door that allows agents to show your home even when you aren’t available.

4. Agents Access Large Networks

Yes, you can list your home yourself on Zillow, Redfin, Craigslist, and even the multiple listing service (MLS) that agents use. But will that be enough? Even if you have a large personal or professional network, those people will likely have little interest in spreading the word that your house is for sale. You don’t have relationships with clients, other agents, or a real estate agency to bring the largest pool of potential buyers to your home. A smaller pool of potential buyers means less demand for your property, which can translate into waiting longer to sell your home and possibly not getting as much money as your house is worth.

“A good real estate agent should have a Rolodex of names and contact information, so they can quickly spread the word about the property they just listed,” says real estate broker Pej Barlavi, owner and CEO of Barlavi Realty in New York City. “I have a distribution list of over 3,500 contacts that get an email blast from me within 48 hours that we list a property. Then I start to market the property in every available website, MLS, and site for real estate to keep the momentum and [to keep] showing consistently.”

5. Weeding Out Unqualified Buyers

An agent can find out whether someone who wants to view your house is really a qualified buyer or just a dreamer or curious neighbor. It’s a lot of work and a major interruption every time you have to put your life on hold, make your house look perfect, and show your home. You want to limit those hassles to the showings most likely to result in a sale.

“Realtors are trained to ask qualifying questions to determine the seriousness, qualification, and motivation of a prospect,” says Ailion. Realtors are also trained to ask closing questions about how long buyers have been looking, whether they’ve seen any other homes that would work for their needs, if they are paying cash or have been prequalified, what schools they are looking for, and so on. They can move a qualified and motivated person to the point of purchase. FSBO sellers lack this training and skill set, he says.

It’s also awkward for buyers to have the seller present, rather than the seller’s agent, when they’re touring the home. “When showing a house, the owner should never be present,” says Kean. “Nothing makes a potential buyer more uncomfortable than the current owner being in the house. When a seller is present, most buyers will rush through a house and won’t notice or remember much about what they saw.”

6. Price Negotiations Take Skill

Even if you have sales experience, you don’t have specialized experience negotiating a home sale. The buyer’s agent does, so they are more likely to succeed in the negotiation, meaning less money in your pocket. “An experienced selling agent may have negotiated hundreds of home purchases,” says Kean. “We know all the games, the warning signs of a nervous or disingenuous buyer.”

Not only are you inexperienced; you’re also likely to be emotional about the process, and—without your own agent to point out when you’re being irrational—you’re more likely to make poor decisions. According to Kean, instead of an offended seller making an emotionally charged, inappropriate response to a buyer, an agent will say something more professional, such as, “The seller has declined your initial request but has made the following counteroffer.”

Sellers who go solo also typically aren’t familiar with local customs or market conditions. “Agents know the pulse of the market and what’s driving demand, which gives them an advantage by knowing what terms are worth negotiating for and which are worth letting the other party win,” says Rob McGarty, owner and designated broker with Bushwick Real Estate in Seattle.

Furthermore, says Gonzalez, agents know the local customs for selling a home, such as whether the buyer or the seller typically pays fees such as transfer taxes and closing costs.

7. You Ignore Your Home’s Flaws

Agents are experts in what makes homes sell. They can walk through your home with you and point out changes you need to make to attract buyers and get the best offers. They can see flaws you’re oblivious to because you see them every day—or because you simply don’t view them as flaws. They can also help you determine which feedback from potential buyers you should act on after you put your home on the market to improve its chances of selling.

“Anyone who’s determined to sell their own home should hire an interior designer or property stager to assess the current condition and market appeal of the home,” Kean says. “All sellers need to hire a professional cleaning service to give a home a deep cleaning before putting it on the market. A good cleaning will help remove any distinct odors, such as pets, that the inhabitants can’t smell, since they live with them every day.”

8. Exposure to Legal Risks

A lot of legal paperwork is involved in a home sale, and it needs to be completed correctly by an expert. One of the most important items is the seller’s disclosures. “A seller of real estate has an affirmative duty to disclose any fact that materially affects the value or desirability of the property,” says attorney Matthew Ryan Reischer, founder and CEO of LegalAdvice.com. A seller can be held liable for fraud, negligence, or breach of contract if they do not disclose properly. “The issue of whether a fact is material or not is generally established in the case law of the state in which you live,” says Reischer.

Unless you’re a real estate attorney, your agent probably knows more about disclosure laws than you do. If you fail to disclose a hazard, nuisance, or defect—and the buyer comes back to you after having moved in and found a problem—the buyer could sue you. Agents can make mistakes, too, but they have professional errors and omissions insurance to protect themselves and give the buyer recourse, so the buyer may not need to pursue the seller for damages.

The Bottom Line

It’s a tall task to learn how to sell your house without a realtor—and selling your home will likely be one of the biggest transactions of your life. You can try to do it alone to save money, but hiring an agent has many advantages. Agents can get broader exposure for your property, help you negotiate a better deal, dedicate more time to your sale, and prevent your emotions from sabotaging it. An agent brings expertise, which few FSBO sellers have, to a complex transaction with many potential financial and legal pitfalls.

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