For sale by owner usually a mistake

I don't want to deal with the Real Estate agents and multiple listings because I think they are too expensive. The typical commission rate is 6 percent of the sales price. That's a lot of money, and many sellers think, "Why don't we just sell it ourselves and keep the extra money. Good real estate agents earn their money and they will probably get a higher price for your home than you could get on your own. That's especially true in the slow real estate market that we have today. The vast majority of all real estate sales are closed through real estate agents. As a FSBO --pronounced "fiz-bo" in real estate parlance -- you will not have an army of agents working to sell your home, and the buyers who are already working with real estate agents will probably never see your house. After all, why would an agent show your home for free when there are many other Homes for Sale in your neighborhood that pay a sales commission. Now, you're probably thinking, "We don't want to pay a commission, that's why we're selling the home ourselves. Typically, the listing agent who markets the home receives half of the commission and the selling agent who produces the buyer receives the other half of the commission. So if you offer to pay a 3 percent sales commission to a real estate agent, he or she would earn the same amount as if they were selling a home listed by a real estate agent, but you would save half the normal commission rate. That will open your home up to many more prospective buyers. All you have to do is include the words "brokers welcome" in any advertising and marketing materials prepared for your home. You will have to "earn" the real estate commission that you are saving because selling a home can be hard work, especially in this market. First, if you haven't already done so, clean up your house to make it present well. You also may want to clean your carpets and refinish badly worn hardwood floors. You want your home to make a good first impression. But don't go overboard with expensive projects that won't significantly increase the market value of your home. For example, don't do a major kitchen remodel just before putting your home on the market. You want to concentrate on relatively inexpensive "cosmetic" improvements. Not only do they want to keep all the money that would go to the real estate agents, they also tend to get greedy and set their asking price too high. Remember, you are at a competitive disadvantage when selling your home without a real estate agent, so you have to do something to stand out from the crowd. In my opinion, you should price your home for a little less than you would list it for with a real estate agent. For example, if a real estate agent suggests pricing the home at $310,000, you might advertise it for sale at $299,000. You would attract savvy buyers who recognize that the home is well-priced and your chances of a quick sale are greatly improved. The mistake many FSBOs make is that when the agent suggests listing their home for $310,000 they think "my house is worth more than that" so they try to sell it themselves for $325,000. Tour Sunday open houses in your neighborhood and check out the competition. How much would you be willing to pay for your home compared to similar homes currently on the market. We all tend to think that our home is "better" than the neighbor's house, but prospective buyers don't have the same emotional attachment. To them, it's just another house among the many options available. By pricing your home low, you will get maximum attention from the serious home buyers. If you price it high to "build in some negotiating room," you may end up having to drop your price down to your minimum in a couple of months, but by that time your house is "shopworn" because it has been on the market so long. Your best chance to sell is in the first two to three weeks on the market, so be aggressive and price your home as low as you can stand it. Homes for Sale