Page 27 - Frank_Sellers Book

FOR SALE BY OWNER (FSBO) VS. REAL ESTATE AGENT

PRICING THE HOME

Most arguments about why it’s best to sell a home FSBO talk about the net income. FSBO supporters will say. “Selling
your home, yourself, will save you money because you don’t have to pay a Realtor,” It is true that real estate agents
make a percentage of the home sale price (usually 6% split between the Buyer and Seller Agents), but those fees cover
a lot of time and money that go into selling a home. In fact, a study completed by the National Association of Realtors
found that in 2008 the median price of homes that were sold by an agent was $211,000, while those who were FSBO
were $153,000.Not only that, a FSBO seller won’t escape all of the realtor fees. A buyer’s agent will most likely ask for
a 2.5-3% commission from the home sale for their services to the buyer.

MARKETING THE HOME

The main component you need to sell a home is qualified buyers. According to a 2012 study done by the National
Association of Realtors, 90% of homebuyers looked for their new home online, if anything this has increased since.
FSBO sellers can purchase ads in magazines or newspapers, or try and host the listing online, but real estate agents
have more ways to get visibility to a home, especially online.

As mentioned on our Listing Consult Experience page, to begin marketing your home we need to get it ready. Staging
and Photos are the biggest factors in getting more people to want to see your home, especially with them seeing so
many online at once, yours should stand out better than the rest. We had shown you the difference between amateur
and professional photography in our Photos, Drone and Video section. Staging and Photography would cost the FSBO
seller upwards of $1500. We would help you stage your home for potential buyers, take professional pictures, and list
the home on the Multi Listing Service referred to as MLS, a real-estate-agents-only website where thousands of people
will see the home. We also syndicate to websites like Redfin, Zillow, Trulia, and more (as seen on our Where We
Market page in this pamphlet). We also host open houses and property showings so you don’t have to take breaks
from work or life as a FSBO seller.

We even have an app set up so all you need to do to confirm or deny a showing is by responding to a text with one
word. We try to make everything as easy and seamless for you as you prepare your property for listing and have it on
the market.

TIME

Generally speaking, the longer the home is on the market, the less it sells for. The National Association of Realtors
found that homes sold through the Multi-Listing Service sold 20 days faster on average. And 20% of FSBO
listings had to renew their listing because they didn’t sell.Being a real estate agent is a full-time job. It takes time to
stage, schedule property viewings, and negotiate offers on a home. As agents we work long hours, as well as on the
weekends and over holidays to make sure that the home is sold for the most amount in the least amount of time. Many
FSBO sellers end up taking time off work so they can show the home during business hours, cutting their paycheck or
ability to take vacations. Other FSBO sellers keep their home on the market for a long period of time because they can’t
drop everything and run when a potential buyer wants to look at the home. If they don’t have enough time to put into
the sale of their home it can stay on the market for even longer, which becomes a red flag for potential buyers whether
that is justified or not.