For sale by owner

When deciding how to sell your home, you should carefully evaluate the pros and cons of hiring a realtor.

While most sellers hire an agent to do the hard work, some homeowners sell their real estate themselves.

For Sale By Owner (FSBO) sellers may save money, but to succeed, you need a keen knowledge of real estate sales.

There are numerous reasons why homeowners decide to sell their homes themselves. Some enjoy the feeling of being in charge of everything that happens with their home, but most sellers just want to save the commission. 

Sellers can avoid using a realtor, but they need to work hard for their money. Statistics say that only seven per cent of FSBOs actually sell, with the other 93 per cent eventually hiring a professional. 

In order for you to be part of this seven per cent, here are some pointers that will help you to become a successful FSBO seller:

• Do not skimp on the preparation of the house. Your home will have to compete with other homes listed by agents who take the time to educate their sellers the right way to prepare their homes for showings. 
• There are many online articles that can help you educate yourself on this important component of home selling. 
   
• Learn all the paperwork used by realtors. To write an enforceable contract of purchase and sale is not easy. If you choose to sell your home yourself, you will need to engage the services of a legal professional in order to ensure you have a valid contract. 
• Too many FSBO sellers forget this vital point and end up in a very disappointing position at the end of the transaction when they find out their contract is unenforceable, or they have missed some very key points. 
   
• Exposure is key, as the more exposure your home gets, the more buyers you attract and the more chance you have of selling. You must get familiar with all the many online and offline advertising and marketing tools that can help you promote your home to the most people.
• High-quality photos and videos are very important. You may want to familiarize yourself with the sites that you can use to make a video presentation of your house. A picture speaks a thousand words and a video speaks a million.
   
•  Work on your negotiation skills and be ready to refuse some offers. If you choose to co-operate with realtors, which only makes sense if that realtor has a buyer for your home, remember that realtors are professional negotiators.
• You will need to be ready to represent yourself in a manner that will allow you to come to a win-win arrangement and not be taken advantage of. That buyer's agent is working for the buyer and not for you. 

In summary, you may find that it is wise to hire a professional realtor to help you sell a home. 

Often the amount a person saves selling FSBO is far less than what they lose from poor negotiating or extensive legal bills fixing mistakes. 

Unless you have the above points mastered, it may cost you less to hire a professional to do all the work. 

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.