Why You Should Just Say No to FSBO

Written By: Jaymi Naciri
Wednesday, February 20, 2019

Well therersquo;s an oversimplification. While we await a follow-up sometime NEVER saying the home has been sold, without a Realtor and for asking price, we thought it was a good time to examine again why itrsquo;s not a good idea to try to sell your own home. It just so happens that the National Association of Realtorsrsquo; NAR 2018 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers was just >Data from the report shows:

The number of homes sold by owner decreased in 2018 to ldquo;the lowest share recorded since this report started in 1981.rdquo; Just seven percent of home sales were logged as an FSBO. This is likely due to: fewer homes being listed FSBO overall; and homes listed FSBO not selling and ending up, ultimately, with agent representation.

ldquo;The median age for FSBO sellers is 55 years.rdquo; Could this be a factor of people thinking they have enough life experience and knowledge to play real estate agent?

ldquo;Seventy-one percent of FSBO sales were by married couples that have a median household income of 98,800.rdquo; Regardless of marital status or income, itrsquo;s not a stretch to say that those who opt to try to sell their own home are doing so to try to save some money.

However, ldquo;FSBOs typically sell for less than the selling price of other homes; FSBO homes sold at a median of 200,000 last year up from 190,000 the year prior, and signicantly lower than the median of agent-assisted homes at 264,900.rdquo; While itrsquo;s not possible to make a straight-up comparison between the 200,000 and 264,900 number, that is a GLARING difference.

The report nbsp;also showed that among the ldquo;most difficult tasks for FSBO sellersrdquo; were ldquo;getting the right price,rdquo; at 17.rdquo; This makes sense considering agents have access to comparables, historical data, and a network of other real estate professionals to provide pricing counsel and context, whereas sellers havehellip;Zillow.

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