Pros and cons of selling your home without a real estate agent.
Selling your home without a REALTOR® or a real estate agent can sound very appealing to some people. I mean, why hire an agent when you can just sell the house on your own?
Before you purchase a sign on your next trip to Home Depot, make sure you take time to consider the pros and cons of selling your home without a REALTOR® or real estate agent.
Pros:
You avoid paying the real estate agent’s commission: Agents get paid by taking a commission from your home’s sales price. Most agents tend to charge about 6% which gets split up between agent’s fees, marketing, and more.
You get to make all the decisions: Selling your home without an agent means that you can take your personal approach to the process. For example, if you overhear a buyer’s plan they have for the house and you don’t agree due to sentimental value, you can simply refuse the sale.
You get to use your skills: If you majored in marketing, have negotiating abilities and/or you are great with contracts, that in combination with good research you may just have the right skills to sell your home.
Cons:
You may still have to pay the buyer’s commission: As the National Association of Realtors® notes, 88% of 2020 home buyers used an agent when purchasing a home. Therefore, it’s more likely than not that FSBO sellers will be forced to pay a 3% commission to the buyer’s agent and be the only party that doesn’t benefit from representation.
You probably don’t know the true value of your property: Pricing a property can be challenging. Overpricing can cause the home to sit on the market while underpricing will minimize the proceeds from the sale.
It’s harder for a FSBO listing to get enough publicity without an agent: FSBO sellers must find ways to get buyers and buyer’s agents to see their home either through individual showings or open houses.
I'll leave you with some food for thought. This is a recent article of an analysis that was done in the East Coast: MLS finds that listed homes sell for 17% more.
