If you had any questions about going it alone then here's a reason to go with the professionals
Colby Sambrotto's story is an all too familiar one. Mr. Sambrotto decided to sell his twobedroom
New York condo but wanted to avoid paying a 6% commission fee to a REALTOR®. So he opted
to go the forsalebyowner route, commonly known as FSBO (pronounced “fizzbo”), and do it
himself. However 6 months later, when his condo still hadn't sold, Mr. Sambrotto did what 90% of
all FSBO sellers end up doing: he turned to a real estate professional for help. But the true
significance of this story, first reported by the Wall Street Journal in August, is that Colby
Sambrotto isn't just your run of the mill FSBO seller; he is a founder and former chief operating
officer of ForSaleByOwner.com, a FSBO company that claims to “make selling a home fsbo easy”.
This didn't seem to apply to Mr. Sambrotto though, or even most other FSBO sellers for that
matter, which would explain why FSBOs only accounted for 9% of overall house sales in 2010.
AGENTLISTED HOMES SELL FOR 25% MORE THAN FSBO ONES
On the other hand, in return for a standard 6% fee Jesse Buckler, a New York based real estate
broker, sold Mr. Sambrotto's 2,000 square foot condo for $2.15 million, which is $150,000more
than the original asking price. He said he told Mr. Sambrotto that the condo had been priced
incorrectly, which was why he wasn't attracting the right buyers. Left in Mr. Buckler's capable
hands, the property quickly received multiple offers, before finally closing at a price that was 7.5%
higher than Mr. Sambrotto's original listing, and thereby more than offsetting the cost of Mr.
Buckler's fee.
INCORRECT PRICING IS THE #1 REASON THAT FSBOs FAIL
Colby Sambrotto's experience is merely a reflection of what many FSBO sellers across North
America are discovering for themselves: that trying to do a FSBO isn't quite as easy as Mr.
Sambrotto and his friends would have you believe.
Typical among the problems faced by FSBOs is a tremendous lack of exposure. When signing up
with a FSBO company, sellers are usually given an online listing, a yard sign and perhaps a few
flyers to hand out; everything else is left up to them. Many sellers realize too late that you need a
lot more than just a sign and an online listing if you want to sell your home successfully.
SOME REASONS WHY REALTORS® SUCCEED WHERE FSBOs FAIL:
•REALTORS® have better marketing tools and resources
•REALTORS® know how to price properties to sell
•REALTORS® are always uptodate on the latest trends and market conditions
•REALTORS® get maximum exposure for properties by using their professional networks
What many sellers don't know is that REALTORS® market properties to other real estate
professionals as well as to the general public, thus reaching the maximum number of possible
buyers. This is something that's next to impossible for a FSBO seller to achieve.
4 MOST COMMON REASONS FOR DOING A FSBO:
Did not want to pay commission fee: 38%
Sold it to a relative / friend / neighbor: 32%
Did not want to deal with an agent: 12%
Buyers contacted seller directly: 11%
While there will always be forsalebyowner enthusiasts out there, what does it say for their
credibility when a founder of a major FSBO company himself needs an agent to sell his property
for him?
Written by: Sundaybell Inc.Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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