Pros and Cons of FSBO (For Sale By Owner)

If you look online you will find tons of articles supporting both FSBO and Realtor supported real estate transactions.

The real answer to the undying question of whether you should use a Realtor to sell your home or if you should go it alone, is really up to each individual seller. There are pros and cons of both processes, most involving money, but to say one is better than the other can be kind of difficult depending on what criteria you hold most important. If cost is your main concern and you have the relative experiences needed to negotiate, write a contract, and perform all the legalities of such, then by all means, you may find doing a FSBO more beneficial.

Cons of For Sale By Owner

If time, security, expertise, and ease are more important than money; you will probably find that hiring a Realtor or real estate agent is the more seamless and definitely the simplest route. Because you are visiting a Realtor supported real estate website, I am certain you understand why this particular article is in favor of selling your home through a Realtor over doing it for sale by owner. With that being said, in the following we will go over the benefits of using a real estate professional and cons of for sale by owner transactions.

1. Pricing your home according to fair market value is not often something the average homeowner can do. This is because the majority of homeowners have a personal attachment to their home which inflates their perceived value. When you hire a licensed Realtor they will be able to comb through hundreds of listings to come up with a figure that fairly represents your property. One of the biggest mistakes FSBO properties experience is overpricing, which ultimately leads to more time on the market, less qualified interest, and continued mortgage payments.

2. The legalities of a large monetary transaction are usually something that you would not want to put in the hands of a novice. Realtors are required by law to maintain a certain amount of continued education credits each year that cover things like current real estate laws. Although this kind of information is available to the average the person, the likelihood that they will be as skilled with it is dramatically less. This is particular true for transactions that involve contingencies and bank funding.

3. The time and effort you put into marketing a home, searching for a new one, and allowing your current property to be shown, ultimately translate into cost. If you have to spend hours upon hours, and weeks upon weeks searching through websites only to find that most of them are not as current as you think, listing your home on a variety of publications, and setting up showings, you are probably missing out on time spent with your family, working, or simply doing what you want to be doing.

4. Real estate transactions are tricky and often times will come across some sort of road block. This is only compounded when homeowners that are not fully aware of things like disclosures, hazard tests, inspections, and counter offers. Unethical decisions of homeowners to not disclose things like pest infestations, flood damage, sewer problems or property line disputes can be common with FSBO. This is not necessarily because they intend to defraud the buyer, but simply because they were not made to fill out the proper listing and disclosure paperwork provided by an experienced agent.

Again, is it better for you to use a real estate agent to sell your home or to try to do it for sale by owner, I cannot definitively say. But I can say, you have a better chance of making the process a more pleasurable one if you have a licensed Realtor in your corner looking out for your best interest at all times!

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