This is been a common question since the real estate markets across the country have been doing fairly well. Should homeowners try and sell the home themselves in a hot market? It may be very tempting to save a few thousand bucks by selling a home yourself, especially if you know that homes in your neighborhood are selling fairly quickly. What are the pros and cons to selling a home by owner? Should you go with a discount broker?
Anyone can sell a home themselves. There are no rules or regulations against it. The key is the stress and sometimes confusion with legal jargon that goes along with a real estate sale and, you may find yourself dealing with a real estate agent in any case if the buyer brings an agent. So are there really any drawbacks to selling a home yourself?
Less exposure.
Licensed real estate brokers and agents have access to hundreds of online property search websites and general MLS. Homeowners cannot add their listing to the MLS, which is where most buyers are searching, to begin with. Real estate agents have access to every property available on the MLS and may not see your property if it's only listed in the local newspaper, on a FSBO site, or the sign in your front yard. You may miss out on a lot of potential buyers finding yourself on the market longer than you hoped and eventually dropping your price or going with a real estate agent in the end. When you use a real estate agent, your property is not only seen by your local community but thousands if not hundreds of thousands of potential buyers across the globe. You're likely to get more offers, higher-priced offers, and in hot markets, the potential for a bidding war.
Inaccurate pricing.
You might think you know what your home will sell for but a licensed real estate agent has access to all the homes that actually have sold in your area or similar properties. Just because the home down the street is priced high, doesn't mean it will actually sell for that price. Only real estate agents have access to the data showing what the home was originally listed for versus what it sold for. By pricing a home correctly from the beginning you'll get the right buyers to the door and solid offers on the table.
More: What if you can't afford home repairs?
Legal mistakes.
A real estate contract is a legally binding contract if you don't understand all of the details, you could find yourself in a world of hurt at a later time. If you're dealing with buyers that understand the situation better than you do, you may end up losing money or losing something you didn't want to sell in the first place. A licensed real estate agent is aware of all the changes and laws and can help decipher the sometimes confusing legal jargon of a purchase and sale contract to make sure that you are protected throughout the process.
Related: 4 Ways to Save Money on Landscaping
Actually losing money.
Most homeowners sell the home themselves thinking they're going to save money on real estate commissions but, more often than not, homeowners price their home incorrectly and by the time they lower it to where it should be priced, it has sat on the market for too long making buyers wary that there something wrong with it. At this point, sellers need to drop their price even lower and typically sell for far below what the home should have been priced out at the beginning including the commission costs.
So, you can absolutely sell your home yourself but there are a lot of caveats to doing so. Is it in your best interest, will you get the money and profit you need? Is it worth letting an expert do the job for you so that you can sit back, relax, and know the job is done correctly?