Selling a home For Sale by Owner (FSBO) is easy enough: Advertise, procure buyer, write a contract, collect payment for the property, and transfer title. As a real estate broker that is pretty much it, unless something crazy arises.
8 Questions a FSBO Should Ask Themselves
1.Do you have experience in writing a purchase contract on a residential sale?
2. Have you selected an escrow company, title company, and an attorney to serve as the neutral 3rd party in your transaction?
3. Have you considered what time contingencies you will provide the potential buyer for: a) Loan Approval b) Home Inspection c) Mold or Termite Inspection?
4. Do you have a system in place to ensure that you are entertaining offers only from qualified buyers?
5. Have you done a comparative market analysis to ensure that the home you intend to sell is priced properly and will be appraised accordingly when the application for funding goes to a lender?
6 Have you considered how you intend to advertise the property to ensure that any interested buyer is aware of the amenities? a) Will you be using a lead capture service – internet or phone? b) Do you have a means for creating a professional presentation of the property?
7. Have you had your own credit report run in preparation of the prequalification and purchase of your next home?
8. Have you looked at a property yet for your next purchase?
If the answer to any of these questions is NO, then you’ll want to meet with a qualified real estate broker and discuss how they (we) can assist you.
I have one to add!
9) Have you made arrangements to accommodate showings and buyer’s schedules throughout the day and weekends?
I was trying to show a fsbo a few weeks ago to a client of mine and the owner was never available when my client could come see it. We gave up on it.
Excellent point Roxanne! If a property is never available or is difficult to preview then buyers are less likely to purchase that home (similarly to tenant occupied homes). FSBO’s have to try and work around their work schedules, events and activities, weekends, and have to be prepared at a moments notice to show. As when a broker is working with a buyer then all those arrangements can be managed by the broker without having to inconvenience the seller. Another item FSBO’s have to worry about is:
10) The personal security and safety showing to unqualified and potentially dangerous ‘fake’ buyer.
Often, the allure of not paying real estate commissions or possibly eliminating them altogether can make a FSBO glaze over on many of the nuances of the real estate transaction process. Nice work in highlighting many of the “after thoughts”, highlighting what should be focused on well before a FSBO ever gets into the MLS.
Here’s one more that seems appropriate:
11) Consider a professional home inspection before you sell in an effort to proactively identify home issues that will more than likely surface anyway somewhere later down the road – better to solve issues now on your own versus jeopardizing the transaction when you’ve already got a buyer who made the first step towards buying.
Could agree more Dean! One of my college friends bought a FSBO years ago and the seller wouldn’t allow him to do an inspection (red flag). After my friend walked around the house everything appeared to be in working order. A year later the roof failed and the foundation was in need of major repairs. Costly items to miss.