To be or not to be... "For Sale by Owner"
"For Sale by Owner", commonly known in the industry as "FSBO" is a hotly debated topic
among home buyers, sellers and the entire real estate profession. Because I am a full time
Realtor and selling homes for a commission is the way I feed, clothe and house my family of six
I could be suspect in my evaluation of the practice of selling your home by owner. In the spirit of
fairness I will try to explain each topic from as many angles as possible. After reading and
understanding this information whether you intend to sell your own home or list with me or
another agent, My hope is that you found the information useful enough to make and educated
decision that benefits you FINANCIALLY, IN A COMFORTABLE TIME FRAME, WITH MINIMAL
PROBLEMS.
COMMISSION?... I'M NOT PAYING A COMMISSION!
The first and most common reason home owners try to sell their home themselves is the lure of
saving a commission...yes? Lets face it most of in this world are motivated by money, making it
saving it, spending it, investing it, donating it, and so on. Saving a $12,000.00-$14,000.00
commission on your $200,000.00 home sounds great, doesn't it? Saving that kind of money
would sound good to most people, including me. Generally speaking commission rates are set
by each individual agent and their sponsoring broker and are in most cases negotiable to a
certain extent. To understand this you need to know how the agents and the brokers get paid
and who gets what. We will use 6% as our example for ease of explanation. The same
$200,000.00 home sells and the commission split goes like this: the listing broker receives 3%
or $6,000.00 or 50% of total commission of which he splits 50%-50% with his listing agent or
$3,000.00 each. The selling broker receives the other 50% or $6,000 of which he splits 50%
-50% with his selling agent or $3,000.00 each. All sides will gross $3,000.00. Each will net a
different amount depending on their overhead. Most good agents invest their commissions in
marketing and tools of the trade to get their clients the most money, faster with fewer problems.
One thing to remember is that selling your home through a broker is for serious sellers only and
only an agent that is serious about his profession should accept your listing. If you have all of
the time in the world to sell your home and are not serious about pricing it properly at the current
market value and preparing it for sale, selling it yourself is probably your best bet. A good agent
knowledgeable of the market in your area will not accept your listing to spend his time and
money marketing your home if it has little or no chance of selling if they want to longevity in this
industry.
THE COST OF EARNING A COMMISSION
When attempting to save the commission cost you in fact will be earning a commission in the
same ways that a professional Realtor would if he accepted and sold your listing.
PRICE IT RIGHT OR PAY!
The first thing you need to do is price your home properly. Price is the most important part of any
transaction and will dictate if or when your home will sell. The last thing you want is to price your
home to low and lose precious funds that could be used for your next home purchase, on the
hand you do not want to price it to high or you will alienate the few buyers interested in similar
homes in your area. Your home should be priced at current market value (the price that similar
homes in your area have sold for recently). Sold home comps can be found in the newspaper,
on the MLS and the public records department. Unless you have spent the time to inspect all of
the homes in the area prior to them selling and find out what they actually sold for you will have
to have a professional home appraisal preformed with an approximate cost of
$300.00-$400.00. A Realtor has expertise in this area and has been inside many of the homes
if not all in the areas he works making him an expert in determining estimated market value.
ITS THE LAW
There are many aspect of a real estate transaction that should be addressed by an attorney
which can be costly for a home owner to cover on their own whether you pay a one time fee or by
the hour. As a Realtor our broker has attorneys on retainer to check our work if necessary and
provide us with all of the proper contracts and documents to complete a real estate transaction.
A lead base paint disclosure and information pamphlet are required to be furnished to
perspective buyers along with other disclosure documentation that if not truthfully disclosed or
omitted could open the fsbo up to law suits.
PREPARE FOR PROFIT TODAY OR PAY TOMORROW
Once you have priced your home properly you must next prepare it for show. If your home is not
show able you will scare away potential buyers or attract bargain hunters that will insult you with
low ball offers that may start to sound good after a few months. Your home could have many
sought after benefits that are hidden or in cosmetic disrepair that the average home owner
would not think of or even know exist, resulting in a reduced offer and if accepted, lost profit. You
could hire a home inspector, contractor or a home staging service to help prepare your home at
an approximate cost of around $200.00 for the advice of an inspector or contractor and into the
thousands for a professional home staging company. A professional Realtor has heard every
derogatory remark you can think of when showing homes and can recognize potential problems
so they can be addressed before buyers get a chance to turn up their noses and move on to the
next home.
MARKET, MARKET, MARKET
If you've ever heard the phrase; location, location, location to describe the saleability of a piece
of real estate you know that a home downwind from a pig farm with frontage on a six lane
highway with the nearest on/off ramp being five miles away will net less that the same home
nestled neatly on a tree lined suburban street close to schools, shopping and entertainment.
The same goes for marketing. If your home is not marketed properly it may as well be next to
that pig farm, effecting all aspects of your attempt to sell including: number of showings,
reasonable offers, qualified buyers, and the most important...the price it sells for. This also
applies to Realtors, if your agent isn't spending time and money marketing your home it wont
sell and if it does it will not sell for the most money in the shortest amount of time with the
fewest problems. Remember the longer it takes to sell a piece of property, the more willing the
seller is to lower the price. A Realtor has many tools and tricks of the trade at his disposal
including but not limited to: lawns signs, Internet exposure, newspapers ads, post cards,
news letters/fliers mailed on a regular basis, office facades, television spots, yellow page ads,
MLS systems, marketing to thousands of real estate agents, an agent's seller clients become
buyers once their home sells and become repeat customers. I have tried to give an example of
the minimum practices that should be utilized to sell real estate in any market without divulging
trade secrets.
Lawn signs:
Yours will read: "FOR SALE BY OWNER with your phone number written in marker.
Ours will read: Real Estate One Joe Clemons 248-890-4428/248-813-4900, realestateone.com
Our phones are available to be answered by a live knowledgeable person 70-90 hours per
week with agents available at a moments notice to show any home in the area during most of
the same hours. Our website is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year with
pictures and virtual tours for potential buyers to peruse in their leisure.
Internet exposure:
Yours: If you go with a "FSBO" HELP DOT COM Company you may get on a couple web-sites
and on one MLS for a fee from around $500.00-$2000.00 depending on the package and the
duration you purchase and if it doesn't sell your out all of that upfront money. In the current
market your home could take 18 months to sell with an average cost for MLS packages costs in
excess of $3900.00 just to end up listing with a broker anyway. If you do find an agent that will
take a 3% commission and they sell it, even if thats all you spend your total commission saved...
earned is only $1,100.00 and you did all the work. If you're making two payments or exceeded
the agents commission you paid to much to sell your home. On the other hand if you do sell
your home without the help of an agent odds are you under sold your home netting you less.
Ours: Our listing will go on realestateone.com which is on 27 other sites which are linked to
hundreds of others including this site. All our web based marketing has live help available that generate
leads from thousands of listings from over 70,000 unique visitors each month. We list on five MLS
systems generating the most interest from cooperating agents. Most agents will not show
"FSBO" listings just out of principle even if they offer to pay a 3% commission...lets be honest
would the company you work for reduce their prices by 50%?
Newspaper advertising:
Your ad reads: " For Sale by Owner Great home we love it you will too and your phone #.
Your cost with one paper could run in excess of $100.00 per week. In the current market your
newspaper ads could out run the cost of a 6% commission without getting an offer. The
problem is that most "FSBO'S" stop advertising all together expecting the yard sign and the MLS
to bring in buyers to reduce the cost but all they end up reducing is their chances of selling.
If no one knows your home is for sale... is it really for sale?
Our muti-paper full page ads will market multiple homes that generate multiple leads with
phones that are answered by live knowledgeable staff 70-90 hours per week with agent
available to show any home in a moments notice.
Post cards, news letters/fliers mailed on a regular basis, office facades (brand name
recognition), television spots, yellow page ads, marketing to thousands of real estate agents
through e-mail, tour and promotional previews, an agent seller clients become buyers once
their home sells and much more:
Yours: Not likely or not cost effective.
Ours: Post cards news letters/fliers mailed on a regular basis with photos and marketing of our
individual or multiple home listings announcing: just listed, just sold, or recently sold...just to
name a few possibilities.
Office facades (brand name recognition) With over forty offices in Michigan, Real estate One
has been serving Michigan residents since 1929 with a reputation that has gained us the #1
rating in homes sold in Michigan. In most cases home sellers become home buyers. Whether they leave
their home state relocating to or from Michigan, most choose to become our buyers when we sell their home.
Cable advertising has been utilized in the past and is an evolving concept that we are
experimenting with to determine if its benefits out way the cost.
We market to all brokerage firms in the state of Michigan, country and the world through our
relocation services/business clients with thousands of agents having access to all of our
listings. Through e-mail we market to cooperating brokers and their agent and potential buyers
that have sign up for our first to know e-mail service.
Did you know:
According to the National Association of REALTORS®, the home price for sellers who use a
REALTOR® is 16% higher than for those who don’t.
Most buyers that looking at homes for sale by owners are looking for a deal and make offers to
"FSBO'S" less than asking price and then deduct the commission that the seller is trying to
save by not using a Realtor.
Most shoppers that look at "FSBO" homes are just that...shoppers, are not qualified to purchase
a home and those that are, qualify for less than asking price and expect the home owners to
lower to their price.
In a buyers market the competition between similar home in the same area is so great that only
the homes with the most aggressive marketing plan sell and sell closer to asking price than
others without aggressive agents or no agent at all.
I can take care of your real estate transaction from beginning to end netting you the most money,
faster with fewer problems. From marketing your home to qualified buyers, mortgages, title
insurance, home owners insurance and more.
If you add up all of the costs involved in attempting to sell your home including your time you will
agree that listing with a broker is a more profitable road traveled.
If your not doing all of the above mentioned marketing tactics your probably selling your home
short.
THE ACCURACY OF ALL INFORMATION, REGARDLESS OF SOURCE, IS NOT GUARANTEED OR
WARRANTED. ALL INFORMATION SHOULD BE INDEPENDENTLY VERIFIED.
"For Sale by Owner", commonly known in the industry as "FSBO" is a hotly debated topic
among home buyers, sellers and the entire real estate profession. Because I am a full time
Realtor and selling homes for a commission is the way I feed, clothe and house my family of six
I could be suspect in my evaluation of the practice of selling your home by owner. In the spirit of
fairness I will try to explain each topic from as many angles as possible. After reading and
understanding this information whether you intend to sell your own home or list with me or
another agent, My hope is that you found the information useful enough to make and educated
decision that benefits you FINANCIALLY, IN A COMFORTABLE TIME FRAME, WITH MINIMAL
PROBLEMS.
COMMISSION?... I'M NOT PAYING A COMMISSION!
The first and most common reason home owners try to sell their home themselves is the lure of
saving a commission...yes? Lets face it most of in this world are motivated by money, making it
saving it, spending it, investing it, donating it, and so on. Saving a $12,000.00-$14,000.00
commission on your $200,000.00 home sounds great, doesn't it? Saving that kind of money
would sound good to most people, including me. Generally speaking commission rates are set
by each individual agent and their sponsoring broker and are in most cases negotiable to a
certain extent. To understand this you need to know how the agents and the brokers get paid
and who gets what. We will use 6% as our example for ease of explanation. The same
$200,000.00 home sells and the commission split goes like this: the listing broker receives 3%
or $6,000.00 or 50% of total commission of which he splits 50%-50% with his listing agent or
$3,000.00 each. The selling broker receives the other 50% or $6,000 of which he splits 50%
-50% with his selling agent or $3,000.00 each. All sides will gross $3,000.00. Each will net a
different amount depending on their overhead. Most good agents invest their commissions in
marketing and tools of the trade to get their clients the most money, faster with fewer problems.
One thing to remember is that selling your home through a broker is for serious sellers only and
only an agent that is serious about his profession should accept your listing. If you have all of
the time in the world to sell your home and are not serious about pricing it properly at the current
market value and preparing it for sale, selling it yourself is probably your best bet. A good agent
knowledgeable of the market in your area will not accept your listing to spend his time and
money marketing your home if it has little or no chance of selling if they want to longevity in this
industry.
THE COST OF EARNING A COMMISSION
When attempting to save the commission cost you in fact will be earning a commission in the
same ways that a professional Realtor would if he accepted and sold your listing.
PRICE IT RIGHT OR PAY!
The first thing you need to do is price your home properly. Price is the most important part of any
transaction and will dictate if or when your home will sell. The last thing you want is to price your
home to low and lose precious funds that could be used for your next home purchase, on the
hand you do not want to price it to high or you will alienate the few buyers interested in similar
homes in your area. Your home should be priced at current market value (the price that similar
homes in your area have sold for recently). Sold home comps can be found in the newspaper,
on the MLS and the public records department. Unless you have spent the time to inspect all of
the homes in the area prior to them selling and find out what they actually sold for you will have
to have a professional home appraisal preformed with an approximate cost of
$300.00-$400.00. A Realtor has expertise in this area and has been inside many of the homes
if not all in the areas he works making him an expert in determining estimated market value.
ITS THE LAW
There are many aspect of a real estate transaction that should be addressed by an attorney
which can be costly for a home owner to cover on their own whether you pay a one time fee or by
the hour. As a Realtor our broker has attorneys on retainer to check our work if necessary and
provide us with all of the proper contracts and documents to complete a real estate transaction.
A lead base paint disclosure and information pamphlet are required to be furnished to
perspective buyers along with other disclosure documentation that if not truthfully disclosed or
omitted could open the fsbo up to law suits.
PREPARE FOR PROFIT TODAY OR PAY TOMORROW
Once you have priced your home properly you must next prepare it for show. If your home is not
show able you will scare away potential buyers or attract bargain hunters that will insult you with
low ball offers that may start to sound good after a few months. Your home could have many
sought after benefits that are hidden or in cosmetic disrepair that the average home owner
would not think of or even know exist, resulting in a reduced offer and if accepted, lost profit. You
could hire a home inspector, contractor or a home staging service to help prepare your home at
an approximate cost of around $200.00 for the advice of an inspector or contractor and into the
thousands for a professional home staging company. A professional Realtor has heard every
derogatory remark you can think of when showing homes and can recognize potential problems
so they can be addressed before buyers get a chance to turn up their noses and move on to the
next home.
MARKET, MARKET, MARKET
If you've ever heard the phrase; location, location, location to describe the saleability of a piece
of real estate you know that a home downwind from a pig farm with frontage on a six lane
highway with the nearest on/off ramp being five miles away will net less that the same home
nestled neatly on a tree lined suburban street close to schools, shopping and entertainment.
The same goes for marketing. If your home is not marketed properly it may as well be next to
that pig farm, effecting all aspects of your attempt to sell including: number of showings,
reasonable offers, qualified buyers, and the most important...the price it sells for. This also
applies to Realtors, if your agent isn't spending time and money marketing your home it wont
sell and if it does it will not sell for the most money in the shortest amount of time with the
fewest problems. Remember the longer it takes to sell a piece of property, the more willing the
seller is to lower the price. A Realtor has many tools and tricks of the trade at his disposal
including but not limited to: lawns signs, Internet exposure, newspapers ads, post cards,
news letters/fliers mailed on a regular basis, office facades, television spots, yellow page ads,
MLS systems, marketing to thousands of real estate agents, an agent's seller clients become
buyers once their home sells and become repeat customers. I have tried to give an example of
the minimum practices that should be utilized to sell real estate in any market without divulging
trade secrets.
Lawn signs:
Yours will read: "FOR SALE BY OWNER with your phone number written in marker.
Ours will read: Real Estate One Joe Clemons 248-890-4428/248-813-4900, realestateone.com
Our phones are available to be answered by a live knowledgeable person 70-90 hours per
week with agents available at a moments notice to show any home in the area during most of
the same hours. Our website is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year with
pictures and virtual tours for potential buyers to peruse in their leisure.
Internet exposure:
Yours: If you go with a "FSBO" HELP DOT COM Company you may get on a couple web-sites
and on one MLS for a fee from around $500.00-$2000.00 depending on the package and the
duration you purchase and if it doesn't sell your out all of that upfront money. In the current
market your home could take 18 months to sell with an average cost for MLS packages costs in
excess of $3900.00 just to end up listing with a broker anyway. If you do find an agent that will
take a 3% commission and they sell it, even if thats all you spend your total commission saved...
earned is only $1,100.00 and you did all the work. If you're making two payments or exceeded
the agents commission you paid to much to sell your home. On the other hand if you do sell
your home without the help of an agent odds are you under sold your home netting you less.
Ours: Our listing will go on realestateone.com which is on 27 other sites which are linked to
hundreds of others including this site. All our web based marketing has live help available that generate
leads from thousands of listings from over 70,000 unique visitors each month. We list on five MLS
systems generating the most interest from cooperating agents. Most agents will not show
"FSBO" listings just out of principle even if they offer to pay a 3% commission...lets be honest
would the company you work for reduce their prices by 50%?
Newspaper advertising:
Your ad reads: " For Sale by Owner Great home we love it you will too and your phone #.
Your cost with one paper could run in excess of $100.00 per week. In the current market your
newspaper ads could out run the cost of a 6% commission without getting an offer. The
problem is that most "FSBO'S" stop advertising all together expecting the yard sign and the MLS
to bring in buyers to reduce the cost but all they end up reducing is their chances of selling.
If no one knows your home is for sale... is it really for sale?
Our muti-paper full page ads will market multiple homes that generate multiple leads with
phones that are answered by live knowledgeable staff 70-90 hours per week with agent
available to show any home in a moments notice.
Post cards, news letters/fliers mailed on a regular basis, office facades (brand name
recognition), television spots, yellow page ads, marketing to thousands of real estate agents
through e-mail, tour and promotional previews, an agent seller clients become buyers once
their home sells and much more:
Yours: Not likely or not cost effective.
Ours: Post cards news letters/fliers mailed on a regular basis with photos and marketing of our
individual or multiple home listings announcing: just listed, just sold, or recently sold...just to
name a few possibilities.
Office facades (brand name recognition) With over forty offices in Michigan, Real estate One
has been serving Michigan residents since 1929 with a reputation that has gained us the #1
rating in homes sold in Michigan. In most cases home sellers become home buyers. Whether they leave
their home state relocating to or from Michigan, most choose to become our buyers when we sell their home.
Cable advertising has been utilized in the past and is an evolving concept that we are
experimenting with to determine if its benefits out way the cost.
We market to all brokerage firms in the state of Michigan, country and the world through our
relocation services/business clients with thousands of agents having access to all of our
listings. Through e-mail we market to cooperating brokers and their agent and potential buyers
that have sign up for our first to know e-mail service.
Did you know:
According to the National Association of REALTORS®, the home price for sellers who use a
REALTOR® is 16% higher than for those who don’t.
Most buyers that looking at homes for sale by owners are looking for a deal and make offers to
"FSBO'S" less than asking price and then deduct the commission that the seller is trying to
save by not using a Realtor.
Most shoppers that look at "FSBO" homes are just that...shoppers, are not qualified to purchase
a home and those that are, qualify for less than asking price and expect the home owners to
lower to their price.
In a buyers market the competition between similar home in the same area is so great that only
the homes with the most aggressive marketing plan sell and sell closer to asking price than
others without aggressive agents or no agent at all.
I can take care of your real estate transaction from beginning to end netting you the most money,
faster with fewer problems. From marketing your home to qualified buyers, mortgages, title
insurance, home owners insurance and more.
If you add up all of the costs involved in attempting to sell your home including your time you will
agree that listing with a broker is a more profitable road traveled.
If your not doing all of the above mentioned marketing tactics your probably selling your home
short.
THE ACCURACY OF ALL INFORMATION, REGARDLESS OF SOURCE, IS NOT GUARANTEED OR
WARRANTED. ALL INFORMATION SHOULD BE INDEPENDENTLY VERIFIED.
| Joe Clemons |
| 248-890-4428 |
For Sale by Owner
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Oakland & Macomb County Homes For Sale
