It’s all too ironic to find out that the founder of the FSBO website, ForSaleByOwner.com, gave up after trying to sell his New York apartment on his own after 6 months and hired a Realtor®. But irony and validation for our profession aside, it’s important to know what your Realtor® can do for you and why you will benefit from having an expert and a professional working for you when you are buying a home or selling your home.
If you hire a Realtor® to help you sell your home, your Realtor® will, among other things, provide you with a Comparative Market Analysis to ensure your home is priced to attract the right buyers, market your home through hundreds of websites, print and online advertising, negotiate offers to ensure the best possible price agreement is reached and guide you through the selling process until it is complete. Read these articles on the 5 responsibilities of your Listing Agent for getting your property sold: Price Your Property, Promote Your Property Far and Wide, Present Your Property in Its Best Light, Persuade the Buyer of Your Property’s Value, and Persist Through Challenges Until Closing.
Its also important to have a professional Realtor® working for you when you’re buying a home. A Realtor® will help you search all properties for sale, but that’s only the beginning. Once you’ve decided on the property you want to make an offer on, your Realtor® will prepare a report for you to determine the right price to offer, so you don’t pay too much for your investment. Your Realtor®, among other things, will also guide your through negotiations, inspection, appraisal and closing. We have 15 informative and useful articles for homebuyers here. For a free Home Buyer’s Information booklet, please contact us at info@thebellacasagroup.com or by phone at (503) 437-9005 or (503) 538-2085 and we’d be happy to send you one or make it available for you to pick up at our office.
The following article is taken from the online source, Agent Genius.
Former FSBO CEO sells home the traditional way
Founder and former CEO of ForSalebyOwner.com, Colby Sambrotto listed his 2,000 square foot New York condominium on his own through online classified ads and FSBO sites, but after six months, he opted to hire New York broker Jesse Buckler who immediately advised a price change as the listing was not attracting the right buyer.
After giving up on the DIY route, Sambrotto’s decision to hire a broker led to attracting multiple offers, closing for $150,000 over the original asking price. The Wall Street Journal reports the listing sold for $2.15 million including a 6% commission.
Many FSBOs turn to Realtors
The news stands as an enormous validation of the real estate profession and while some may tease, it is no laughing matter and the former FSBO CEO made a good financial decision.
AGBeat columnist Herman Chan said, “If people want to take a stab at For Sale By Owner (ie FSBO), go for it. But well over 80% of FSBO’s eventually have to list with an real estate agent to get their house sold. It’s harder than it looks!”
Not a new dilemma
Marlow Harris, Seattle Residential and Investment Consultant at Coldwell Banker Bain Associates told AGBeat, “The ForSaleByOwner.com founder’s dilemma is one we see quite often and is not unusual. Trying to sell your own property yourself or using a discount brokerage, is not the solution for everyone. Unusual properties, properties in the higher price range, these are more difficult to sell and often require specialization.”
Harris continues, “We see these choices across the board, from single family homes to huge housing developments. For instance, Vulcan, one of Paul Allen’s companies which has invested heavily in Redfin, does not use Redfin to market their many condominium projects. They use traditional real estate firms such as John L. Scott, Williams Marketing and Matrix Real Estate, finding that the do-it-yourself approach to real estate just doesn’t work for these types of sales.”
Published on: Aug 17, 2011