Selling your home yourself can save you thousands of dollars in
commissions. However, that doesn't mean you should necessarily
do it for the following reasons:
Demanding Work
Selling your home yourself is demanding. What if you spend
enormous amounts of time, energy, and concentration in your
business or profession? What if you have to travel a lot?
Entertain a lot? Invest long hours? Do a great deal of study
reading just to stay as good at your work tomorrow as you were
today? People whose work life includes those sorts of demands
probably don't need another project that requires time and
attention.
My suggestion is that if your work is exhilarating, challenging,
and consumes large amounts of time, you will probably be better
off working with a Realtor. Take the time when you first put
your home on the market to interview an agent or two. Ask how
they market their listings. Ask if they keep their clients
informed about the status of their property's marketing. Ask for
references. When you find one you feel can and will do a good
job for you, sign a listing agreement. A good agent can give you
sound advice and save you a ton of time.
Inexperience
You are probably a good candidate for working with an agent if
you have never bought or sold a home before. The same thing is
true if it has been a number of years since the last time you
bought or sold. Ditto if you have not bought or sold a home in
this part of the county before. People who work for settlement
agents, lenders, and the like are probably exceptions to these
general ideas about who shouldn't go FSBO. You can get
experience if you work in the industry without actually buying
or selling your own home frequently.
Older people are usually better off working with an agent. A
typical situation is that they have owned their home for a
number of years. The home has appreciated - often more than the
owner realizes. The owner now wants to buy something all on one
level in a community in which the exterior and grounds
maintenance chores are handled by an association. They need to
sell one home and buy another. It's often also desirable if they
can add to their savings from the sale, and have the operating
expenses of the new home be lower than the old. The idea of
making a big change and the multiplicity of accompanying
concerns is daunting. A good agent can make a world of
difference.
If either of these situations describe you or your situation,
going FSBO is probably not for you.
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