The biggest mistake I see with FSBO's (for sale by owners) is they don'g get fully educated before they make decisions. If you are indeed going to beat the system and sell it yourself and save money you have to get educated before making key decisions. This includes even if you are going to sell without a realtor.
The problem is many people like the idea of FSBO but have never tried it and the flyer or website for the sign rental company is all full of one sided testimonials saying how great it is. But who puts the horror stories I have heard over the years. No body advertises how their product doesn't work. This is where numbers don't lie. People can say all they want but 1 to 2 in 10 FSBOs sell and many sell at about 92% of fair market value. This isn't for doom and gloom but if you're going to take on a project as big as selling your home you should at least know what is involved so you can do it smart.
The problem is the advice your getting is hearsay or from realtor owned FSBO sites that talk against realtors so you don't talk to their competition on to later sell you a listing after the FSBO sign didn't work. If it does they got a little money up front. These are lead incubation systems. They rent a sign, discourage realtor use then offer limited or full service to people when it doesn't sell. It's OK but many times you need unbiased information. I post on FSBO sites all the time answering questions for people who did all the things right and it's still not selling and they are wondering why. I don't care if you hire us or not, but we are going to educate people because that is what is really needed. When selling your home it is not a time to guess or trial and error. You can't afford bad advice skewed based on people wanting something from you. Keep reading our tips and understand at any time you can call us and get real advice for whatever your situation. I have worked with the FSBO market and talk all the time with people getting the real story good and bad of people actually doing it and not selling anything. Check out our website and contact us for help selling it FSBO or with a realtor.
The Spokane for sale by owner market is subject to the same changes as the regular housing market. But it is an indicator. What I mean by this is that since for sale by owners have a small and usually set marketing plan (Sign, Flyers, and 1 website), they are good indicators of the market because if the market is busy and people are just stopping buy and buying a home without looking at others much then the for sale by owner market will do well. But when things are tight and competitive with agents doing large scale marketing plans and still not being able to get it sold then the first to feel the impacts of a tight market are the for sale by owners.
I work with alot of FSBO's (For sale by owners) and most of them have been feeling a lack of traffic since this summer. This was the indication of what was happening overall in the housing market. When FSBO's start to not work it's an indication of the tightening market. The fact is as it gets more competitive only the best marketing plans will attract the smaller pool of buyers. When the market was hot around 100,000 new realtors entered the profession. Also the FSBO count went way up with people trying to sell it themselves. Bottom line though is the number of FSBO's selling has been going down over the years because with more real estate agents all the markets are getting more competitive as there are more people fighting for the attention of the same pool of buyers.
It used to be people trying to save money would throw a sign up or rent one from a FSBO site wich is usually owned by a realtor who will collect money up front for services and then wait until it doesn't work and then list for the people thay already talked with. It's a way of building relationships with people before they need a realtor. Numbers are numbers, about 1 to 2 in 10 FSBO's sell. Many for only about 91-92% of fair market value. This is why you can't beleive all the realtor run FSBO sites that tell people how great it is. The numbers say otherwise, the trend over the last years when real estate was hot is that more people are trying but fewer people are making it to a sale. This is why I tell people not to be so focused on saving a commission or not using a realtor and instead realize the market is more competitive than it ever has been and you probably need a good professional to even be competitive. Even Realtors are feeling this. They can't keep doing what they used to it's not going to be competitive enough with more people entering the profession every day. Check out our other reports and learn what you should do if you're going to try and sell it yourself to compete with the other people looking for the same buyers.