How do you decide whether to sell your home (or land, farm, ranch,
etc.) on your own or use a real estate broker? There are pluses and
minuses to each approach. Let’s look at some of the key ups and downs.
Only you can decide which approach has the most pluses in your
situation.
Why go FSBO?
“FSBO” stands for “for sale by owner” and tells buyers you are not
using a realtor to represent you. The biggest upside to going FSBO is
you save thousands of dollars in broker commissions when you sell the
property. This may seem obvious, but the savings are very real.
The downside to going FSBO is it takes your time to market and show the
property. (You’ll need to prepare your property for sale in either
case, but that’s a whole separate topic.) You also need to be familiar
with how the real estate sales process works in your part of the
country. It isn’t necessary to be an expert; just make sure you
understand what things one must generally deal with in a real estate
sales transaction.
Also, it’s important to have access to the helpers you need. Examples
include a lender who is willing to qualify your prospective buyers,
someone qualified and willing to draw the sales contract and a person
or firm qualified to close your sales transaction. Fortunately, there
are many lenders and settlement offices willing to work directly with
the principals to a transaction. And, for the brave and hopefully, very
experienced, there are on-line, fill in the blank, sales contracts.
Why use a broker?
Does the above discussion leave you feeling insecure instead of alert,
thoughtful, and excited? If so, you probably want a real estate broker
to sell your home for you.
Other instances when you may want to use a broker include:
1. Inexperience - If you have not had much experience buying and selling homes, a broker may be the answer.
2. Local Conditions – Are you aware of the unique issues of the
geographic location? If you have bought and sold in Virginia (where
termites and radon are concerns) and you are now planning to sell the
one home you’ve owned in Colorado (where water and mineral rights might
be on the discussion table), it’s possible you may want a broker.
3. Time, Time, Time - If your profession provides for you and your
family very well, but takes up enormous amounts of your time, ditto.
4. If you have no notions about how you’d go about marketing your home
using the Internet, magazines, newspapers, bulletin boards, brochures,
signs, word-of-mouth, etc., a broker can get you the marketing exposure
you need.
The Right Choice?
There is no one right choice. Only you can decide what’s best for you.
Hopefully, this look at the pros and cons will get your mental juices
flowing nicely. I hope your sale goes smoothly.
