Tag: FSBO

11 reasons your home isn’t selling

RIS Media shared a story from Charles Muotoh giving 11 reasons your home may not be selling. I found the piece very interesting and have summarized the points below, and added some commentary. Let me know what you think!

You overvalued your property: Overpriced homes will not sell. Simple as that. If you have an experienced real estate agent, they can give you an accurate value of your home.

Your listing is poor: You can’t poorly write the description of your home without any images. It will be skipped. Work with your realtor to make the listing attractive and interesting.

You’re always present at showings: Do not get in your agent’s way at showings. Let them do what they are experts at. Buyers don’t want you hovering over them the whole time anyway.

You’re too attached: If you are too stubborn to refuse to negotiate your price down, then there’s a good chance that you’ve become too attached to your home. That will make selling difficult.

You haven’t had your home professionally cleaned: What kind of buyer in their right mind will want a dirty house? Ask your realtor to recommend a professional cleaner for the carpets and windows before showing your home.

You haven’t staged your home: Never show an empty house, because it’ll make it hard for buyers to picture living in it. Always have it staged. Your realtor should have a stager on speed dial!

You kept up all of your personal décor: If you keep your home personal (with pictures, etc.), buyers will feel uncomfortable in your house. Take those down before showing the home!

Your home improvements are too personalized: If you tailored your kids’ rooms to their specific obsessions, that’s great…until you need to sell the home. Those little touches could scare off buyers.

Your home is too cluttered: Clutter can still be an issue in a clean home. Don’t keep too much furniture in the rooms – it will make your house feel smaller than it is!

Your home is in need of too many repairs: If a buyer knows he or she has to do a bunch of repairs, they are less likely to want to make a move. That’s a lot of extra effort and cost on their parts, even if the repairs are minor.

You choose the wrong real estate agent: You may have noticed a theme throughout many of these previous points. Choosing the right real estate agent is absolutely essential to the selling process. We can make all the difference in selling your home for the right price, in a reasonable amount of time!

Selling a home without an agent is risky!

When you sell a home, you don’t need a real estate agent, just like you don’t need a lawyer when facing criminal charges. You can, if you want to, represent yourself in a court of law, and you can always put your home up for sale by owner (FSBO).

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But, it’s an extremely risky proposition. As outlined in this Inman article, there are many things to consider when putting a home up FSBO. Here are eight things, summarized from said Inman article, that sellers risk when they don’t have a realtor representing them:

1. Knowledge

Realtors are professionals in this business. They have expansive knowledge of the complicated home-buying and selling processes, possess loads of helpful data, and have large networks of people who can help minimize the difficulties that arise.

2. Time

The non-realtor probably doesn’t realize how many hours are put into any given home, buy or sell. Real estate agents are available for clients around the clock, on a whim, and can confidently and smoothly quell any concerns by potential home buyers.

3. Presentation

Preparation is essential to selling a home – what buyers see when they walk through the door will determine if your home sells. Agents can prepare the finest details and have stagers, professional photographers and others who will help make the space beautiful.

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4. Marketing

Anyone can draw up a “For Sale” poster, but realtors will design, distribute and widely market the home to a huge number of potential buyers. Realtors can access predictive analysis and promote to those demographics on social media. Also, they know just what to write to draw interest.

5. Negotiation experience

If you’re doing FSBO, what do you do when you actually receive an offer? There’s a purchase agreement to be discussed, price negotiations to be had, and so on. Realtors will make sure you don’t get screwed by a buyer, and that you only incur costs you’re supposed to pay.

6. Inspection and repair know-how 

One of the most important parts of any real estate transaction is knowing which inspections to expect and how to get them done. This is where the realtor’s web of resources comes in handy again – he or she should be able to provide repair people to fix anything discovered in an inspection.

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7. Transaction management

Once a home is in contract with a buyer, there are more steps to close the deal. Realtors can make sure the right people are contacted to handle the closing, appraise the property, repair anything found in inspections and anything else to follow up on.

8. Closing finesse

There are expectations upon closing a property. Non-realtors probably don’t understand what the buyers expect, in terms of when move-in/move-out occurs, the condition one should leave their home in, or what to do if a last-minute issue arises. Realtors do know, and they are worth the time and money to ensure your sale is in good hands.

FSBO’s may be intriguing to the cheap and/or self-confident, but the small savings on a realtor’s commission is not worth the hassle that comes with navigating such a difficult process without professional help, and often a house sells for less than what it would have with an agent even after the commission has been paid.

On that note, there’s a reason I do what I do! I’d love to help you buy or sell a home. Please reach out any time for information regarding the current, local real estate market!