For Sale By Owner
Are you tempted to sell your own home without an agent? Are you romanced by the idea of saving a lot of money on commissions? Well, before you decide to hang a For Sale By Owner sign on your front lawn, you need to consider a few things. Top 5 items that could derail your plans to save on commission are:
1) Exposure: The most challenging part of selling your own home is the amount of exposure your home will miss by not being listed on the local MLS. And that could mean lower price for your property if it’s not marketed to a wider group of buyers. In fact, most brokerages spent a lot of money to market their listings in local news papers and syndicated internet website to create maximum exposure for your property.
2) Market Data: If you can’t correctly gauge the market’s direction and speed, you could fail to determine the correct value of your home. This poor pricing attempt would places you “out of market” and could results in low bid offers if you have under-priced your home. And if you have over-priced your home, your home might not generate any offers.
3) Negotiations: With average price of homes in Los Gatos at $1.4 Million dollars, there is a lot at stake if you are not accustomed to negotiating with buyer’s agents who are very experienced to get the lowest price possible for their clients. What will you be willing to compromise on to get the price you want? Will you be flexible on your terms?
4) Contracts: Real Estate contracts contain complex legal terms that are could easily jeopardize your sales transaction. Many real estate transactions have led to unexpected outcomes or, worse, lawsuits, and ultimately a failure to sell at a price and time of your own choosing. So, unless you are a lawyer, this is one aspect of the process that should not be undertaken without professional help.
5) Buyer Qualification: Identifying qualified buyers is not a trivial tasks. In fact, you should only consider offers from cash buyers or buyers who have been pre-approved by a direct lender. You might also have a difficult time gauging the credit worthiness of the buyers and their ability to close escrow.
Of course you can sell your home. But without preparation and commitment you could be asking for a lot of trouble.
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