Founder of ForSaleByOwner Company Hires Realtor to sell his home.

Now that's a kick. Here's a man who earned quite a bit of money as the CEO of a company that promotes  and makes a lot of money from FSBO's (For Sale By Owners),  how easy it is do yourself, and when it came time to sell his own house, what did he do?

He hired a Realtor.

The company he founded, by the way is ForSaleByOwner.com

You know what happened? The Realtor felt that the seller's asking price was the wrong strategy, and urged the founder and former CEO to raise the price by a whopping $150,000. There were multiple offers, and then.. it sold! So not only was this particular owner underpricing his home,  he will net MORE out of the sale after the real estate  commission is paid. If you want to know, his home sold for  $2.15 million and it was in the Chelsea section of Manhattan.

This just seems so incredibly comical that someone in that position would go against his own grain, and it should speak volumes to the many sellers with no real knowledge of selling real estate as to what they should do when it comes time to sell their home.

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Selling your home FSBO- Is there really a risk?

You bet there is! For both the seller and the buyer. Selling a home without an agent is a lot more challenging than most  owners think.  A very valuable role that your agent plays in your transaction is negotiating issues on your behalf without letting emotions get in the way.  Most sellers are just as emotional as the buyer is about their sale. That's not to say that buying a FSBO home is easy. Buying a FSBO home is also a complex transaction, involving many events and services  that needs to be coordinated, and involves an element of risk. Put the two unrepresented parties together and it's a recipe for disaster.

Before a seller puts their home up for sale, the first thing that needs to be done is to make sure through the town clerks office that there are no liens on the property that would preclude them from selling the home, or at minimum, affect their bottom line. The seller must then obtain all of the state required documentation and disclosures and fill them out truthfully and properly, as these disclosures must be given to the buyer.

Misrepresenting your home's size, condition or amenities even by accident can result in a lawsuit, and most always ends up as a lost sale. Any marketing materials must be clear and  accurate. Unfortunately, we live in a litigious society where people sue for just about anything they can think of. Sorry, but true. There was an local seller  who got sued years ago because they mis-stated the square footage on their  home. The buyer thought he was purchasing a  2500 square foot home, and it turned out to be 2100 and some odd square feet, as found out by the appraiser. The buyer then proceeded to calculate square footage cost based upon the size stated on the listing(and assumed to be accurate by the buyer), deducted the cost of the overage and revised his offer.  My unresolved question in this is- Why didn't the buyer's agent tell that buyer?

The seller didn't want to budge from the original price, the buyer wanted that house and threatened a much larger lawsuit if the seller didn't follow through with the sale. It did close, however that seller ended up selling his home for a much less than fair price.  I would have hated to sit at that closing table. Ouch!

Something to think about- Real estate agents have to pass a test  in order to become licensed. The state thinks it is important enough that the State of Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection oversees all licensees, and hold them to strict guidelines, besides having mandatory education every two years on new laws.  When you look for a Realtor, you look for an agent that is experienced, right? You want someone who knows all the ins and outs of a transaction, and can help through the rough spots.  If that is the case, when you sell your home by yourself, you are actually hiring the most inexperienced person to represent you. Even if you bought and sold ten houses before,  the laws have changed and continue to do so. What was acceptable even five years ago is not appropriate  now.

And what about that interested  buyer that pulls up to your home in the nice new Mercedes, gets out of the car and is dressed very well? They look qualified, but are they? How much are those payments for that luxury automobile? Do they fit within the buyers income bracket, whereas the payment will not lesen their ability to get a mortgage? That buyer may very well come to you with a pre-qualification letter, but as Realtors- we know that a pre-approval letter is the one that counts. Most anyone can get a pre-qualification letter- generally, no assets are even checked before those letters are issued. Not worth the paper they're written on, in my opinion.

Some buyers look ONLY for FSBO's, thinking that they can take advantage of an uneducated seller.  The offer that you receive on your home has to have all of the necessary elements included or it is not a valid offer. All contingencies must be spelled out and have due dates- that even includes inspections.

Of course, you will need an attorney, to perform the closing, just as you would with an agent. However, any legal issues over and above a standard closing will be extra. You can end up paying an attorney more than you would have paid a Realtor to represent your interests, before anything ever escalated to the point where you have to call an attorney in.  

Call me, I don't bite and I am not hard sell or high- pressure. There is no cost for me to come over and give you an honest evaluation. I look at it this way- If you are truly not interested in hiring me, or any agent, you may know someone else who is someday and that you would think of me and refer my services.All the best to you- when you are ready for a Realtor, contact me. I'm here for you.

How many "For sale by owner" (FSBO) listings are there in each town?

That's an interesting question. Not all FSBO listings are easily found on the internet, and If you are considering selling your home by yourself, you probably already know that some of the bigger FSBO sites charge buyers a fee to look on their site to see YOUR listing. Hmmm, that's some racket!

I did a search of homes for sale in CT and guess how many results google search yielded? Over 54 MILLION!!! in less than 2 seconds, no less. Now there are only somewhere between 1.3 and 1.5 million households in Connecticut, depending on who you rely on for these numbers, so where does that HUGE number come from? It's mathematically impossible!

Why are those numbers so askew? There are some sites that have listings that are so old, the homes have been bought and sold and bought and sold yet again. This week, I got an e-mail from a buyer who found one of my listings on Trulia. She contacted me and wanted to see it because she assumed it was available, and it wasn't. It's my own listing that is still being advertised that is no longer for sale, and I can't even change it in their system- and I'm not just singling out one site. I have had people contact me from a Homes.com listing that was as much as two years old. I have no answer for that, it would be nice if these aggregator sites would update their feeds. I think the problem is that these homes for sale come up as individual search results, so one property can have as many as 15 or more entries in google. There is no time limit on the search results, and that's why over 54 milion homes came up on that search.

So how do you as an owner trying to sell your home by yourself get your home found on the internet among all of these other homes that are (or were) on the market? And how do you, as a buyer, find sites with current real estate listings and information? If you are buying or selling, meet with a Realtor, get the most up to date information, and have an agent represent your interests.