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HomeReport
Real Estate & Finance News That Affects Your Home November 2008 - Page 2
Do You Have What It Takes?
 Everyone has the right to sell a home without professional help, but doing so successfully and at the best price is a challenge. That's why so many for-sale-by-owners ultimately list their homes with a broker--often after wasting valuable time unsuccessfully trying to sell on their own.
Here are a few all-too-common reasons why sellers eventually go with a pro:
- Sellers face a full-time job on a part-time basis. Many FSBOs end up listing with a broker after realizing how time-consuming it is to market their own home. Showing the property, fielding buyer calls and separating the qualified buyers from curious neighbors and "tire kickers" takes time and expertise many people simply do not have.
- Even little mistakes have big consequences. The sale of real estate is a complex transaction. That's why most contracts are multiple-page documents with addenda for federal, state and local laws and regulations. (Some state real estate laws even regulate the size and style of print in the contract!) This complexity also explains why agents and brokers spend so much time in training and professional-
development workshops.
- No one is in the know. Still other FSBOs recognize that working with buyers who aren't using a professional real estate agent can get both parties into trouble. If neither party knows the laws, regulations, pricing, local practices, financing, tax consequences, and so on, you could find yourselves in a real jam.
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FSBOs In Decline
A survey reported in the "2007 National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers" found that last year saw a record-low level of for-sale-by-owner transactions, which accounted for a market share of just 12%. (FSBOs reached a cyclical peak in 1997 at 18%, and have been declining ever since.)
In fact, the share of true FSBO transactions during 2007 was even smaller because 39% of by-owner sales were never on the open market. That is, nearly four of 10 were “closely held” transactions between parties such as relatives and friends who knew each other in advance. Netting out those unrepresented sellers in private transactions takes the real number of FSBO sales down to 7% for 2007.
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