For Sale by Owner is a sign that I cringe every time I see. Although it is not very common in Vancouver, every once in awhile it happens. Owners will try to market their homes on Craigslist or other free classified sites to see what they can get. Let’s look at what goes into selling your home on your own:
- Organize photos
- Post ads to classifieds, maybe post to your personal Facebook page
- Buy a sign and put it in your yard
- Respond to Craigslist emails
- Set up showings
- Arrange showings before and after work or on weekends
- Negotiate on offers (if any)
- Hope that the offers are legally binding
- Order documents. Pay for documents
- Arrange times for inspections and measurements
- …. The list goes on
This doesn’t sound so bad does it? For Sale by Owner can be overwhelming for some owners and underwhelming for others. The issue is not with how much work it is, the issue is about having as much visibility to the home as possible. 95% of qualified buyers are working with local agents. 99% of these agents use MLS as their main source for property searches. To cut out these buyers you are doing a disservice to your property. You are also missing out on the chance to receive multiple offers which will more than pay for the cost of an agent.
Real Estate for Sale by Owner
If you do For Sale by Owner and do find a qualified buyer there is a good chance that you will still pay the buyer agent. You would have saved half of the cost by listing yourself minus the cost of marketing (photos, ads, documents, and time) but did you get the best offer out there? Likely not. In an active market you want as many offers as possible at the same time. This typically leads to the winning bid paying more than they would have otherwise. You will also want to hire a lawyer to make sure that the offer is legally binding. How many times will you need to hire the services of a lawyer? What if the first offer doesn’t pan out and you need to bring back the lawyer for the 2nd or 3rd offers?
How will using an agent help you?
- Professional photography
- Advise you with what to fix, what to leave alone and what needs to be done to the home
- Consult with a professional home stager
- Help with ideas to make the home look brighter and look at it’s best
- Put money into advertising and getting the exposure that your home needs
- Advise you on pricing, show market trends
- Advise you as to when is the best time to list the property and lay out a strategy to follow
- Manage all of the showings, phone calls, emails and appointments
- Discuss all offers with you and advise on other details aside from just the price
- Help schedule appraisals, inspections and walk throughs
- Supply reputable notaries, inspectors, mortgage brokers, movers etc…
- Get your home on all real estate platforms
If you are thinking about going the for sale by owner route please give us a call. More times than not homeowners make more money by using an agent. We promise all of our clients that they can cancel our listing contract at any time if they are not happy. With that being said we have never had a listing cancelled on us due to unhappy sellers.
If you are thinking about selling your home we would love to hear from you. We thrive on helping our clients get the very most for their home. Give us a call today!
