How Sellers Can Get Stuck In A Bad Deal With For Sale by Owners.

Sellers tend to assume that the For Sale By Owner (FSBO) route is to their advantage today. By circumventing real estate agents, the savings they amass from the commission must be worth it, right? Unfortunately, too many sellers today think this way and fail to realize that flying solo without professional support has its downsides for them, too. Getting stuck in a bad deal with FSBO is entirely possible for sellers, and it’s important to consider the problems that come with navigating the real estate market alone.

Advertising Costs

For starters, marketing your home online isn’t as easy as you may think today. Buyers begin the process online and seeing that FSBO plastered on your listing is going to deter them. With an agent, your home would’ve been registered in multiple listings on a local and national level. Without the agent, FSBO sellers have to shell out big bucks for advertising that automatically comes with agents. It makes the costs saved not so lucrative anymore.

Market Time

Secondly, going into the market alone means your home will most likely sit on the market much longer than one listed with an agent. It’s not really a problem, necessary for you, that the home is lingering on the market – however, when it comes to a time where the buyer is interested in the home, they will be able to pay a lower price with the help of their realtor. The longer a home stays on the market, the more clout the buyer has when it’s their turn to pick the house apart.

No Insurance

Let’s say you list your home on your own and claim that you have marble counters that were newly installed. This kind of advertisement will definitely get the buyer’s attention. However, we all make mistakes. Maybe your counter was really granite. Without an agent, you don’t have the protection of errors and omissions (E&O) insurance. This won’t end well for you if something goes wrong. The buyer and their agent will have the grounds to come after you legally for false advertising. If this slip up happened with your agent, you’d be protected by the agency throughout the process.

Under Pricing

As much as you’d like to think you’re a real estate expert, most homeowners rely on online resources and estimates to come up with the correct listing price for their home. The reality of the matter is you are not a professional, which means you won’t be able to configure a price that an agent could provide you. 

By the end of the process, you could be out thousands of dollars for advertising, facing a lawsuit, and looking at an asking price for your house that is well below what it’s actually worth. Don’t let the FSBO appeal trick you: paying the realtor commission has far-reaching benefits that will protect you from dragged on negotiations.