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For many people, a rule of thumb is to avoid a “For Sale By Owner” or “FSBO” listing at all costs, whether they’re buying or selling. They do whatever they can to avoid listing their houses for sale by owner – even if it costs them more – and they also steer clear of looking at homes not listed with a Realtor. Not only that but many real estate agents stay away from FSBOs because they know they will not be working with a professional and could jeopardize the relationship with their clients. Here are 6 reasons to avoid an FSBO listing of your house in Athens, Georgia.
TIME
Listing your house in Athens, Georgia. on your own takes up an incredible amount of time. You have got to get everything ready for the listing, on your own, research what comparable houses sell for, and find places to market your home listing. The next time-consuming thing is, answering a ton of phone calls from serious buyers and looky-loos. Then, once you do get people interested, you’ve got to make time to get the property ready for showings, clear your schedule, and actually show people your home, then comes the reviewing of the multiple offers and negotiations with the prospective buyers on price and other details.
If you’ve got a full-time job, a family, or anything else going on in your life, such as hobbies, you may want to avoid an FSBO of your home for this reason alone.
COST
You may think you’re saving quite a large sum of money by going FSBO. After all, you will not have to pay a real estate agent their commission, right? However, those savings will quickly dissipate since you’ll be paying out of pocket for anything to do with staging, as well as all the costs associated with marketing your home, not to mention the time you will have to miss at work if that’s even an option. This can easily add up to thousands of dollars with very little guarantee of a return on your investment.
To contrast, Realtors carefully calculate how much they’re going to spend in preparing and marketing each listing, and they’ve got the economies of scale on their side to save them money. Not to mention that they are professionals whose sole job is to get their clients the best price for the client’s house.
PERCEPTION
Some sellers avoid an FSBO listing on principle. They wonder what sort of condition the home will be in, and whether the sellers will be a pain to work with. When you list FSBO, you run the risk of immediately disqualifying a large portion of potential buyers, making it that much more difficult for you to sell your home. In addition to the pour perception from prospective buyers, there are those buyers who think that a listing by owner is easy prey and will try any tactic to lower the price since the owner is not protected by a Realtor.
LIABILITY
When a real estate agent makes a mistake, such as not properly disclosing something about your house, you are protected from any liability, real estate agencies have insurance that is provided to their agents. However, when you list your home yourself, you’re not protected. This can not only cost you a potential sale and time, but it can get you into big legal trouble. For many people, this is a big reason to avoid an FSBO listing.
PRICING
Finding the right price for your house is part science, part great guessing. But real estate agents have a ton of experience and knowledge, as well as some tools at their disposal, to help get it as close as possible to the right.
When you price your own home, how do you know you’re pricing it right? Is your sentimental attachment causing you to price it too high and lose offers? Or is your desperation to sell making you list it too low and leaving money on the table?
Realtors undergo extensive training but even they are not all created equally. Georgui Kassaev, My Athens Realtor is a certified pricing strategy advisor and has taking many hours of continuing education to sharpen his skill.
NEGOTIATING
Everyone loves a good deal, especially someone buying a home. So some home buyers try to haggle and nitpick every detail hoping the sellers cave.
If you’re selling your own home, knowing how much to knock off to cover some minor damage repair, or where to draw the line between reasonable requests and unreasonable ones, can be difficult. This can lead to a lot of lost time, frustration, and a lower price than you’d like.
According to the National Association of Realtors, FSBOs accounted for 8% of home sales. The typical FSBO home sold for $217,900 compared to $295,000 for agent-assisted home sales.
Experienced Real Estate Agents in Athens
If you want to avoid an FSBO of your home in Athens, trust our team of professionals to sell your home with as little hassle as possible. Reach out today, there is no cost or obligation just a bit of your time to talk about your Real Estate Goals.
Contact us today at 706-426-1082 to learn more about how to avoid an FSBO listing in Athens!
