Should You Not Sell Your Home As A Fsbo?
By Raynor James, Fri Dec 9th

Selling your home yourself can save you thousands of dollars incommissions. However, that doesn't mean you should necessarilydo it for the following reasons:

Demanding Work

Selling your home yourself is demanding. What if you spendenormous amounts of time, energy, and concentration in yourbusiness or profession? What if you have to travel a lot?Entertain a lot? Invest long hours? Do a great deal of studyreading just to stay as good at your work tomorrow as you weretoday? People whose work life includes those sorts of demandsprobably



don't need another project that requires time andattention.

My suggestion is that if your work is exhilarating, challenging,and consumes large amounts of time, you will probably be betteroff working with a Realtor. Take the time when you first putyour home on the market to interview an agent or two. Ask howthey market their listings. Ask if they keep their clientsinformed about the status of their property's marketing. Ask forreferences. When you find one you feel can and will do a goodjob for you, sign a listing agreement. A good agent can give yousound advice and save you a ton of time.

Inexperience

You are probably a good candidate for working with an agent ifyou have never bought or sold a home before. The same thing istrue if it has been a number of years since the last time youbought or sold. Ditto if you have not bought or sold a home inthis part of the county before. People who work for settlementagents, lenders, and the like are probably exceptions to thesegeneral ideas about who shouldn't go FSBO. You can getexperience if you work in the industry without actually buyingor selling your own home frequently.

Older people are usually better off working with an agent. Atypical situation is that they have owned their home for anumber of years. The home has appreciated - often more than theowner realizes. The owner now wants to buy something all on onelevel in a community in which the exterior and groundsmaintenance chores are handled by an association. They need tosell one home and buy another. It's often also desirable if theycan add to their savings from the sale, and have the operatingexpenses of the new home be lower than the old. The idea ofmaking a big change and the multiplicity of accompanyingconcerns is daunting. A good agent can make a world ofdifference.

If either of these situations describe you or your situation,going FSBO is probably not for you.

About the author:Raynor James is with http://www.fsboamerica.org - FSBO homes forsale by owner. Visit our "sell my home" page athttp://www.fsboamerica.org/seller.cfm to sell your own homeyourself with a free 1 month listing.

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