"Door County Real Estate" by: Kevin Nordahl, REALTOR®
Pitfalls of a FSBO (for sale by owner).
“It’s time to sell my house; my dream investment; what I’ve worked so hard for all of these years. Why would I pay a real estate company such a ridiculous fee for them to parade people through my house when I’m not here? They could never know this place as well as me.”
From the do-it-yourself community of owners, this is exactly what we hear as real estate agents. We often get a call months later when it’s not going so well. Here are a few reasons why.
1. Lack of middle ground: For many of us the most important purchase we make in our life is our own home. To that we attach our day-to-day routines; time with loved ones; our private moments; our identity. We also have our opinions about what another person’s house looks like, smells like and feels like. To be effective, shoppers need to express their opinions on the spot. Real estate agents provide an unbiased sounding board to both parties. This equitable disposition and the parties’ reliance upon an agent’s duties of confidentiality facilitate the grounds of every brokered transaction and are essential elements to any sale.
2. Buyer qualification: Imagine interviewing every prospective buyer who walks across your threshold without sounding slightly invasive. Real estate agents qualify buyers, saving you time and hassle by showing your home only to prospects who can afford to buy it.
3. Market knowledge: Product knowledge of one’s own domain is not sales experience or market savvy. Just because your neighbor’s two bedroom ranch sold last month for what seems like a lot of money does not necessarily mean your home will sell just as easily because you decide to post a sign. Real estate agents have access to people and market data that individual sellers completely bypass, to their detriment.
4. Time, expenditures and impatience: Two advertisements per week in the newspaper; A fancy website advertisement board and a rather confusing sign out front; the cost of coming home early from work to meet a customer; answering the phone at odd hours; real estate agents hounding me. These are all very exciting things to look forward to. Such burdens become too much to bear for many sellers. Real estate agents take over such tasks and give you back your life.
When a property owner puts the For Sale By Owner sign in the yard they are basically saying “Come on in. I know what I’m doing. I am prepared to deal with the entire business transaction that will be involved with selling my home.” As a seller you may be surprised to know that most Buyers hold small confidence in such sentiment. If you have questions about exactly what is involved in a transaction, call a REALTOR®. While it is still unlikely you will want to pay them twice what they charge, you may be surprised when you realize just how hard they actually do work.
Kevin Nordahl is a life-long resident of Door County, a REALTOR® and a member of the Door County MLS. He is the incoming Door County Board of REALTORS® President for 2003-04 and has been a Sales Consultant at Coldwell Banker Door County Horizons in Fish Creek since 1996. He may be reached online at www.doorcountyrealestate.com or by phone at (920) 493-4004.
Kevin Nordahl is a life-long resident of Door County, a REALTOR® and a member of the Door County MLS. He is the incoming Door County Board of REALTORS® President for 2003-04 and has been a Sales Consultant at Coldwell Banker Door County Horizons in Fish Creek since 1996. He may be reached online at www.doorcountyrealestate.com or by phone at (920) 493-4004.