Getting ready to sell your home? Have you been thinking about selling your home on your own?
Selling your home on your own and saving the cost of paying an agent commission might sound like a pretty good idea. But in reality, selling your home on your own is much more complicated than you think.
Real estate agents earn their commission because of everything they put into selling your home. Not to mention listing with an agent to sell your home fast is more lucrative than any other option.
You can absolutely sell your home For Sale By Owner (FSBO), but there are some things that you need to think about before you decide.
Should You List With an Agent or Sell On Your Own?
There are many people who think that listing with an agent is either too expensive or they would simply prefer to list their home themselves. And the logic behind this idea makes sense for most people.
If you list your home on your own then you can save yourself from paying commission to an agent. Instead of paying out the commission that money goes back into your own pocket and you make more on your investment.
Unfortunately, this is not usually the case. Some homeowners will do a ton of research or even go as far as to get their own real estate license. So they have access to some of the same resources that other real estate agents do.
The only problem with this is that in the real estate world you need to have connections and knowledge that will only come with years of experience in the industry. That is one of the biggest advantages an experienced real estate agent brings to the table.
Now, we’re not saying that it is impossible to sell your home on your own. We are simply explaining the difficulty of trying to do it yourself and the struggles you will face when doing it on your own.
Let’s talk about some common mistakes and complications that homeowners who try to sell their home FSBO will run into.
Not Updating Anything
The first biggest mistake that homeowners listing FSBO make is not updating anything. It is easy to get caught up in all the hustle and bustle of trying to sell your home that other things fall by the wayside.
The reason why this is such a big mistake is that you’re losing money on your investment. It’s plain and simple.
When you sell your property things are going to be outdated. That’s just what happens with a home, especially if you have lived there for a long time. Doing some simple updates either on your own or by hiring others can really help increase the return on your investment.
Ill-Prepared to Sale
Another common issue is not properly preparing for the home to sell.
There is more than one way to be ill-prepared to sell your home. One big one is by overlooking things that aren’t working well. You need to make sure everything is in great working order. Once you have a buyer lined up that is not when you want the inspector to find any major issues with the home.
That is how the buyer gets all the negotiating power. They will either walk away from the sale or want to drop the price to pay for repairs.
You also need to make sure your home is buyer-ready. That means it needs to be clean, Clean, CLEAN! We cannot stress enough how important it is for a buyer to see the home beautifully clean and staged properly.
Even if you don’t think staging is important, it is. It really is. You want the buyer to see what potential the space has while remaining tidy, uncluttered, and beautiful.
You don’t need to go crazy with staging the home. Just enough to make the place look inviting. (Don’t overdo it and do not leave pictures, knickknacks, and other personal belongings around.)
A Listing Photo Nightmare
Almost all home buyers are looking for their new home using online real estate platforms. That means your photos matter that much more. When scrolling through a feed of different homes in the area, buyers will click on the listing to try and get a better look at the house.
Listing photos are how homeowners stay competitive when selling their home. If a buyer clicks on a listing they expect to see photos of the entire house and the property. And they will directly correlate the quality of the photos with the effort being put into selling the home.
So you need to make sure the photos of your home are top quality and taken from the right angels. Obviously, you can take the photos yourself. However, a listing agent will often have a photographer come out and take professional, quality photos.
Some will even use drones to get nice aerial photos of the outside of the property. This is a great way to show buyers what kind of curb appeal the home has. The better your listing photos look and the more you have will increase the number of interested buyers dramatically.
Putting the Buyers First
One big aspect of hiring an agent is making sure there is always someone to answer when an interested buyer calls. They have more time to devote to showing the home and will be more accommodating to buyers because it is their job.
That is why listing with an agent will help you to sell your home fast and for more money.
When trying to sell your home FSBO it can be difficult to juggle work, family, friends, and still have time to tend to buyers calling and scheduling walkthroughs.
Expecting the Asking Price
Negotiations are one of the most important tasks that a real estate agent helps with. Their priority is to get you the most out of your home that you possibly can. But they also understand that you won’t always get offers that meet your asking price.
Agents also understand that sometimes you can get more than the asking price if there are multiple interested buyers. They know how to properly handle both situations. And you will get more money out of your home than if you tried to handle negotiations on your own.
Selling at the Wrong Time
A great example of insider knowledge is knowing when the right time to sell is. Real estate agents know that winter is the hardest time of year to sell. Especially December.
If you need to sell your home in the fall you need to have your property ready and on the market before November. Home sales slow down the week of Thanksgiving and won’t pick back up until the new year.
Little important bits of knowledge such as this is why agents are so important.
