Why It’s Not a Good Idea to Sell Your Own Home

Here’s why it’s probably a bad idea to list your home on your own.

In this market, many people assume homes will sell regardless of how they’re listed—and they do, for the most part. If you list your home right now, it will probably sell no matter what. However, its marketing and exposure will really drive its price up, and FBSOs are struggling right now to attain the type of exposure a Realtor can offer. 

Why? At the end of the day, all licensed Realtors have something called the multiple listing service (MLS), through which they can list their homes. It’s what Zillow has been trying for years to get their hands on, and they were only just recently able to syndicate the same MLS data us Realtors use. They used to have to patch it from a bunch of websites. 

"All the well-qualified clients who’re ready to buy right now aren’t getting exposed to FSBO homes unless they’re digging deep."

When people search for homes with an agent, they’re doing it for free. They don’t have to pay a commission to a buyer’s agent, and that buyer’s agent is there to help guide them through the home-buying process. They’re also typically sending their buyer data from the MLS or a Realtor website (e.g., chancecaseygroup.com) that syndicates MLS data. After they pick out the homes they like, we show them those homes.  

FSBOs don’t get any of that. All the well-qualified clients who’re ready to buy right now aren’t getting exposed to FSBO homes unless they’re digging deep. Most of the time, the people who are digging for a deal are either investors or looky-loos. That’s the reason FSBOs tend to sell for less money than if they would’ve worked with a Realtor. On top of that, many FSBOs get so frustrated with having to handle the home selling process all by themselves that they end up selling out of pure desperation.  

If you’d like to know more about today’s topic or there’s anything else we can help you with, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d love to hear from you.