Confessions of a FSBO, Part 1

By Erik Hare

Since this blog is read by REALTORs, and the general public,  I thought it might be enlightening to tell you a little bit about why someone might not want to have a professional representing them.  More importantly, I think that the conditions of the market might make this a bit more common in the coming years.   No matter what, I think professional should have a window into how people make the decision to go the hard road of being a FSBO.

In Part 1 of this two-part story, you’ll see why a person chooses to be a FSBO.

My partner in life, Cristy, recently moved in with me.  In a situation like this, one of us had to sell the real estate they have.   For us, the choice was Cristy’s smaller townhouse in Highland.  It’s a beautiful property, with a fireplace and hardwood floors.  But it is a bit small at 690 sq ft and just one bedroom.  In short, it’s a unique property that isn’t all that easy to market.

The only problem is the simple fact that Cristy didn’t intend to sell it after just two years of ownership.  That isn’t long enough to have an appreciable gain in equity, especially in this market.  The commission that a REALTOR would charge would put the whole sale at just a bit of a loss – something that just about anyone would like to avoid.

We all know that Teresa made it clear that you should not buy a property if you do not intend to hold it more than a few years for just this reason.  However, many people have been doing just that as a lot of amateurs went against this blog’s sage advice.  The problem that Cristy and I found ourselves in, unwittingly, is one that I think more and more people will be in over the next few years.

So what can you do?  Well, the best advice on how to be a FSBO comes from the Attorney General’s office, in their “Home Seller’s Handbook”.  There is a lot of advice as to what it takes to sell a home yourself, and is required reading for any potential FSBO.  For us, it came down to this advice on Page 5:

If you’re not under any time constraints, you might want to give selling your own home a shot. If you fail, you can always hire a real estate agent later.

Cristy had a natural bias against hiring a REALTOR, as her last home sale did not go quite as well as she had hoped.  The REALTOR she hired was not as aggressive as Cristy would have liked, and didn’t seem to really earn the commission she eventually got.  In addition to that, Cristy is the kind of person who takes out her frustration by learning more about the situation, and wound up very well versed in what happens in a real estate transaction.

The final straw, to her, was learning that a FSBO can get six month’s of access to MLS for as low as $399 through a licensed broker that provides a minimal service.   This also includes a nice sign for the yard – and requires you to return calls within 2 hours, 9-5 Mon-Sat!    In addition, a lot of property is listed in Craig’s List for free, which seemed like a reasonable addition to our own marketing. 

Personally, I still thought it was pretty unreasonable to sell it ourselves, but the proviso that we could always turn to Teresa later and beg for help convinced me to go along.  We were making our first compromises as a new couple!  So how did it turn out?

Check back on Wednesday, November 8, to find out what happened in Part 2.

More pictures and information on the townhouse