Before you head down the path of reading this blog, you need to know that I think it’s great that people try and sell their own homes when they feel that can. I am not an anti-FSBO kind of agent. I equate it with people who choose to do their own taxes vs. hiring a CPA. Some people want to do it on their own and some people want to hire it out. Bashing FSBO’s is in poor taste. So if you are looking for a “pro real estate agent, you can’t live without me” type of blog, just stop now.

In this down market here in the Salem Oregon area, many sellers are trying to decide whether or not to take on the sale of their home themselves or hire it out. What choice you make depends on

1) What kind of time you have to devote to the sale of your home

2) What skills you have

3) Whether or not you understand the real estate process in your state.

Some sellers are perfectly capable of selling their home on their own. Yep…I said it…Some people really can do it themselves. People who are successful in selling their own home tend to do the following:

1) Be internet savvy. The understand the power of marketing on the internet and take advantage of that.

2) Read the laws. Yep…just because you are selling it yourself does not mean that you are exempt from local real estate laws.

3) Have sold a home before. It is really hard to sell your home FSBO (not saying you can’t, just harder), when you haven’t been through the process before.

4) Are patient. Most FSBO’s take a little longer to sell. You tend to get less showings because you are harder to find, but you will get them. You just have to be patient.

5) Ignore the propaganda. As a FSBO, you will be inundated with calls, emails, letters, etc about your home. These will mostly be real estate agents. Your ability to sell FSBO depends on your ability to set aside the slick “scripts” that agents are taught in order to “convert” you into a client.

6) Can be objective. You HAVE to be able to look at your home objectively and see what is good about it and what is bad about it. Are you a $35 tube of toothpaste in a $3 world?

7) Are reasonable. If you are a reasonable person you can have a very smooth real estate transaction. FSBO sales tend to go awry, when one party attempts to bully the other party into submission.

Selling your home yourself, especially in this market, will be a long process. You need to ask yourself, whether or not you have the patience for the process.

Related posts:

  1. Rent or sell? Are you landlord material.
  2. Is your agent sabotaging the sale of your home?