Good, bad and the ugly of selling your own home
Are you tempted to sell your own Silicon Valley home? Are you romanced by the savings on commission?
Well, you are not alone since 59% of the Marin County home owners expressed interest in selling their own home. So, let’s explore the good, bad and ugly about selling your own home.
The Ugly: In 1989 my own broker at the time advised us that we should not list our own home for sale due to the liability associated with the disclosures. Then he explained why.
See, because you live in your home, you are required to disclose any material defect to the buyers. What made the matters worse was that we were licensed and the which made the requirements for disclosures much harder. So, this is the Ugly part of selling your own Silicon Valley home. You could be inviting litigation by the sheer fact of omitting something as obnoxious as airline noise that could impact your home buyer. Yes, it might sound strange to you but it’s wiser to disclose every possible problem inside and outside your home to make sure you are not defending your home’s sale transaction up to 5 years after the sale of your home.
The Bad: Selling your own Silicon Valley home is a full time job. It requires marketing, advertising, buyer selection, buyer qualification, escrow management, contract knowledge, disclosure development and much much more. compounding the problem is that this is the largest financial transaction for most people. So, why would you want to leave it to chance that you might select the wrong buyer who will not be able to close?
The Good: The average commission savings on a sale of a $1M home is about $80,000. That’s a lot of money which is tempting for most home sellers. But can you negotiate your commission down to something less absurd? The answer is yes.
Contact Us if you have questions about selling your Los Gatos, San Jose, Campbell and Saratoga home.