For Sale By Owner
The main attraction of owners selling their own homes are the commission savings that owners could enjoy. And these commission could add up to huge sums. For example, median sale price of homes in Los Gatos in the past 90 days was $1.47 million dollars. Assuming a 6% total commission, that is more than $88,200 of spending that is impossible to neglect.
So we were not surprised to spot an article about Marin County home owner who are exploring for sale by owner options. In fact, according to National Association of Realtors 9 % of the homes for sale in 2012 were sold by owner. The statistics are bearing this out as well. An online survey of seller who would consider For Sale By Owner out ranks those who would not by 59% and 40% respectively.
We suspect that the other 40% would also be motivated if they had helped with pricing and the legal aspects of a home sale. Given that a typical dispute over mis-representation of properties condition could cost you $100,000 or more in legal fees and damages; it’s should give some sellers pause to consider using a realtor; unless they are well versed in the art of mediation.
In a recent a case in California where a buyer was awarded $35,000 in repair costs related to mold repair, and more than $110,000 in attorney’s fees.
So, sellers have to do the math since paying $88,000 in commissions could be much cheaper than the $145,000 of court fees. But not all is lost since some brokers offer discounted commissions. In fact, we have a 1% listing commission promotion for the any home that we list prior to the end of current month.
Bottom line is that if you can conquer pricing, contract law, disclosures and marketing exposure then you should take a run at selling your own home.
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