For Sale by Owner Failure…Why So Many Fail!

Many private sellers don’t plan how long to promote their home when listing their house for sale by owner. Those who list privately don’t usually understand how to set realistic time lines as to how long to continue their selling process. The result usually ends up in frustration and turning to a real estate agent in failure.

So how should you avoid this fatal error?

First, let’s have a look at how the selling time table works. Many top real estate agents counsel and prepare their clients to bring their house for sale into show-home ready condition. This process usually returns a higher price and a quicker offer but; the down side is that there is a cost associated in terms of both money and and time if this is done properly. It is not unusual to take 2-4 weeks of preparing the home for the marketplace.

The honeymoon period of your house for sale listing is approximately 21 days. In these 3 weeks, the excitement of managing this process, dealing with home buyers, neighbors and of course real estate agents, is quite an adrenaline rush. But excitement fades quickly when the amount of effort and timing takes its toll on your emotional state. This 21 day cycle is same for those homeowners listed through a homes by owner service, or with a real estate agent. Selling your home is an evasive process, careful planning and family cooperation is a must.

Within the first 60 days or the length of an average MLS listing, the private home seller tires of the workload required to sell their home. Along with the workload could be the expense of advertising, which depending on your neighbourhood, could be thousands of dollars in no-return marketing.

Selling your home privately is an increasing option. Currently 1 in 8 homes are being marketed for sale through “Houses for Sale by Owner” services in North America. This 12% is rising year after year due to homeowners wanting to not contribute to the 30 billion commission dollars paid annually to real estate agents. Many a homeowner is prepared to roll up their sleeves and list their property for sale by owner to save some money.

The results can be thousands of dollars of equity that remain in the homeowners pocket, the challenge is to strategically plan for the marketing and selling of their home. It requires a team, timing and a willingness to not quit when you feel that you just have to list. More prospectors have abandoned their mining claims when they were unknowingly, three feet from the payload. Take a tip from these regretful folks and keep pressing on regardless. There are lots of houses for sale by owner successfully finding new owners every day. Sell your home, keep the commission. Simple.

By: Ronn James

About the Author:
What you just learned about houses for sale by owner is just the beginning. To get the full story and all the details, check us out at houses for sale by owner.

Buying a home means that you have to get into the home to see it, right? Most buyers can not make a decision to buy a home until they have a deep understanding about what they are buying, the area they are buying in and what the home will mean to them. This means seeing homes with their agent, through open houses or via lock boxes, or having the listing agent let them into the home.

However, most buyers are confused about what this education process will cost them when they start to work with an agent. Real estate commission is almost always paid by the seller. The buyer usually pays nothing. For a seller to be in the MLS, the system where agents find homes and buyers find homes to see and buy, the seller must offer the buyer’s agent a commission. This is the caveat to be in the MLS because the MLS is a co-operative service to notify agents of houses that are on the market. When you, as a buyer, look online at any website, you are looking at the MLS. You are just viewing a watered down version with will less information on the listing profile and fewer search fields than what an agent will see,

There are some exceptions to the fact that almost all sellers pay the commission – please be aware:

Exception 1 – You have signed a buyer’s agency with an agent and the seller is only offer say 2% commission to the buyer’s agent (this could be any number) and your agreement with your agent states that no matter what, the commission that they get 3%. You will be expected to cover the gap and pay the extra 1% commission.

Exception 2 – You buy a for-sale-by-owner. Not all for-sale-by-owners will honor a buyer’s agent commission. Normally, sellers will announce the willingness to pay a buyer’s agent commission by stating, verbally or through a sign rider, that “agents are protected”.

Those are the only two exceptions that I can think of?

The Real Estate Law Protects Your Interest

So, keeping the two exceptions in mind, let’s talk about what the real estate law says about your rights. You see the real estate law is written to protect the person that pays the commission to any agent. Since the seller is paying the commission, you did not get the right to have representation. I know, you are saying now, “No, my agent was by my side the whole time.” Well, they may have been by your side, but they were representing the seller, UNLESS, you signed a document in writing that stated that they represented you with confidentiality. This is called a buyer’s brokerage engagement in most states. And since this buyer representation is FREE in most cases, it is the best deal in real estate.

So, the bottom line is, see houses for free, be protected by hiring an agent in writing, and if you are in Atlanta, take part in the additional bonus of having an expert represent you in writing an offer, negotiating the contract and get cash at closing too! Duffy Realty offers a Buyer Cash Bonus of at least $500.00 up to HALF the BUYER’S AGENT COMMISSION to be paid at closing. You will get all of our tools, an expert agent, a clear understanding of your rights and the seller’s rights and like I said above, a BUYER CASH BONUS check 5 days after closing and all at NO COST to the buyer client.

For more details, call 678-892-1186

By: Rhonda Duffy

About the Author:
From Rhonda Duffy, Real Estate Broker and National Consumer Advocate The Real Estate Powerhouse

Odd question? Not really. Within the real estate industry it is shaping up to be the heavyweight battle of the century. If you think the NAR hates Discount Brokers (and they do) – Flat Fee MLS Brokers are downright blasphemous. When a property owner that has made a decision to sell their property “by owner” and engages a licensed real estate agent that provides Flat Fee MLS Services they essentially take on (or more accurately eliminate) the role of “Listing Agent” (AKA Selling Agent). More importantly they also expose their FSBO property to the valuable Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and the considerable marketing horsepower that is associated with it. Consider the fact that the FSBO property is now listed within the same database that the 2 million strong professional NAR sales team use to find properties for their buying clients.

Granted you are agreeing to pay a pre-negotiated “Buyer Agent” commission fee (usually in the 2% – 3% range) but you ultimately save the “Listing Agent” fee which is usually in the 3% range. Based on the average value of “existing home re-sales” of $268,000 we are talking about $8,000 – that’s a significant chunk of your home equity going into someone else’s pocket. In addition, your FSBO property is listed on Realtor.com which enjoys over 7 million monthly “non-realtor” visitors. If a Buyer comes directly to you via Realtor.com (which is likely because your contact information is in the “Listing Agent” area) you pay no real estate commission – that fact alone makes a Flat Fee MLS worth it’s weight in gold. Just consider that a (as in one) classified ad in your local paper is likely going to cost in the $75 range – $399 for the exposure that a Flat Fee MLS listings provides is the preverbal “deal of the century”.

How does Flat Fee MLS work?

You agree to pay a licensed real estate agent an “upfront fee” (usually $399 – $699) as opposed to a commission fee based on the successful sale of your property. A typical Flat Fee MLS lasts 6 months and can be extended another 6 months for a nominal fee ($50). In exchange a licensed real estate agent agrees to list your home on the valuable MLS. While this licensed real estate agent is the “Listing Agent” of record and their name and number shows up in the real estate agents version of the MLS that generally is the end of the service. Most Flat Fee MLS Brokers have a phone system that forwards Realtor incoming calls directly to the property owner to schedule appointments or answer questions. The MLS is, without a doubt, the real estate agents most valuable sales/marketing tool; this is particularly true for the Listing Agent. As a potential buyer you can go and browse through Realtor.com so you really don’t have to engage a real estate agent to “look” at properties. The challenge is to get your property listed within that database and website – which you cannot do without the assistance of a licensed real estate agent – but with a Flat Fee MLS – now you can.

How valuable is a “Listing Agent”?

I know I’m going to come across as a “Real Estate” basher and as the President of a Free For Sale by Owner business I am an easy and logical target. That said, is a Listing Agent’s service really worth 2.5% or 3% of the total value of your home? In my opinion it’s a no-brainer – NOT A CHANCE! Beyond providing a professional lawn sign, listing your home on MLS and having the occasional Open House they really don’t do much. Sure you get the odd agent that spends a tremendous amount of money marketing themselves and their listings – but they are the exception, not the rule. According to NAR’s own statistics the average real estate agent spends less the $500/year on internet marketing while 77% of prospective buyers see the home they purchase on the internet first. Another 18% see your real estate lawn sign and call the number on the sign.

Will Buyer Agents still bring their “Buyers”

A Flat Fee MLS, for all intent and purpose, is the same as all the other listings on MLS. As long as you offer a reasonable commission to a Buyers Agent (2.5% – 3%) your FSBO property will receive the same status as conventional, full fee (5% – 6%) real estate listing. The fact is a Flat Fee MLS listing pays out the same as any other MLS listing. Buyers Agents don’t care who listed the property their buyer wants. The days of agents pushing their own properties in hope of “double ending” (listing and selling the same property) ended with the advent and popularity of the internet. I don’t know what percentage of agents manage to “double end” a property nowadays although I do know for a fact that it has become less common with “conflict of interest” laws and regulations.

Bottom-line, all things considered – with all that a Flat Fee MLS listing offers I really have to question the value of engaging a real estate listing agent. While I don’t claim to be a mathematician the last time I checked a $25 real estate lawn sign, a $399 Flat Fee MLS listing and $150 worth of print advertisements don’t come anywhere near $8000! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (and I take a lot of heat from Realtors) most “Listing Agents” are nothing more then professional price reducers. They excel at getting you, the homeowner, to lower your price so that your home sells and they collect their commission. Remember every $10,000 price reduction costs you $10,000 – it only costs $300 in lost commissions to the real estate “Listing Agent.”

By: Mark Camphaug

About the Author:
Mark Camphaug is currently President of FreeFSBO.com (www.FreeFSBO.com) and it’s parent Martcam LLC. FreeFSBO.com is a For Sale by Owner (FSBO) website that offers a free online listing and free real estate lawn sign to prospective FSBO home sellers. Camphaug offers a unique combination of experience in both online advertising, garnered from his 6 years as Vice President of one of the worlds largest and most successful Interactive Marketing Agencies and 12 years of sales and marketing in the competitive new home industry.