Selling your house yourself is not easy, but it’s not that hard. I helped my husband sell his house without an agent, and I bought and sold my condo without one. FSBOs work best if you have a cool head and a hot housing market.
The real key to selling your house yourself is to price it right. This is where most For Sale By Owners fail. People are attached to their houses and price them too high. There are ac couple of ways to set your price: Pay a real estate agent an hourly fee to work up a price for you or pay for an appraisal. One strategy is to price your house slightly low. After all, you are saving the 6 percent real estate commission, so you have lots of wiggle room. Ideally, your low price will spark a feeding frenzy of interest, you’ll get multiple bids, and sell it for MORE than you wanted.
Many people worry that they won’t know what to do once they have offers. For that, you can hire a real estate attorney. Yes, lawyers are expensive, but even at their hourly rates, they won’t come close to that 6 percent commission you’re trying to avoid.
You can also welcome buyers’ real estate agents to work with you, but offer them either less than their typical 3 percent or offer them a flat fee.
Here’s the thing about selling your house yourself: If you fail, so what? Then you can hire an agent! I’m not saying you should sell EVERY house you ever own yourself. If you can do this just once, you will get ahead financially. According to the National Association of Realtors, most people own six homes in their lifetime, so you have half a dozen chances. I’m simply suggesting that you look for the opportunity.
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