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For Sale By Owner

For Sale By Owner

Several years ago when were selling our San Jose house located in Willow Glen, our broker advised us to not to list the property in our own name despite being licensed Realtors.  Intrigued I wanted to know why he was offering to act as our listing agent without charging us any listing commission.

The lesson he taught me I have not forgotten to this day.  He told me that because we as a licensed Realtor and a home owner, every possible problem that the buyers discover could become a huge liability since the buyers could claim that it was material information that a licensed Realtor intentionally hid from them.

Bottom line was that sale of your California home is one of your largest financial transactions in your life.   Why would you want to take that on yourself where can outsource that headache and potential liability to a Los Gatos Agent?  After all, do you cut your own hair?  Do you change you service your own car?  Do you mow your own lawn? Do you do your own taxes?   You have outsourced your IT services, but you are NOT willing to list your property with an agent?

What is it with Real Estate that every home owners feels convinced they know more than their agent who spends more than 75 hours per week on Real Estate?  With more than a 36 pages of disclosures on a typical listing the legal implication of making mistake in a million dollar listing are huge.   Granted there are discounted broker who might save you money, but you will get what you pay for since they might not be in position to bring you the highest price for your property.

Our take is that it would be wiser to pay the sale commission upfront that pay the legal fees 5 years after the sale of the property because your buyer discovered rats in the Ivy that should have been disclosed!

What do you think?  We would love to hear back from you.