Annapolis Area For Sale By Owner, Part 1: Know What You're Getting Into
March 1st, 2008 Categories: For Sale By Owner, Sellers
A local manufacturer was in trouble. The equipment in his plant had stopped working and his production of widgets had come to a grinding halt. Try as he might, he couldn’t fix the problem on his own, so he called in an expert repairman.
The repairman went to the control panel, a dumbfounding arrangement of gauges, dials and buttons. He tapped once or twice then proceeded to push this and that. The equipment started right up and the plant owner was back in production.
“That’ll be $5,000,” said the repairman. “You must be crazy!” replied the owner. “You were only here a few minutes. And all you did was push a few buttons! You need to send me an itemized invoice!”
“Happy to,” said the repairman, pulling out a pen and paper. He scribbled a few words and handed the paper to the plant owner. It said: “Pushing a few buttons: $5.00. Knowing which buttons to push: $4,995.”
Going For Sale By Owner Is Like Starting a New Business
The majority of For Sale By Owners elect to sell their own home for one reason: to save the commission. Know that (1) it’s understandable. And (2) if they succeed, they’ll have earned every penny of it.
For Sale By Owners – FSBO’s – will stare at a perplexing numbers of buttons and dials, so to speak, and wonder which choices to make. They’ll invest countless hours learning about contracts, disclosures, marketing and advertising, online and in print.
They’ll hold open houses, follow up with potential buyers, talk to their lenders, title companies and contractors. They’ll consult with lawyers and deal with agents, not of whom are regular readers of Miss Manners. They will, in essence, start a whole new business - home sales - and spend lots of their own money to get it up and running.
In short, they’ll do everything an agent would do, with one key difference: an agent has done it all before. An experienced agent will start a seller at second base – third base if they’re really good – while most FSBO’s are still figuring out where first base is. An agent will know which buttons to push; FSBO’s will have to figure it out for themselves.
Oh, and did we mention that more than 80% of For Sale By Owners will eventually list their home with an agent?
And If That Doesn’t Scare You, You May Be Equal To The Job
You can, in fact, sell your own home. It won’t be easy, especially in this market, but you might as well know what you’re up against going in. Above all, it will take persistence. The novelty will wear off, and when it does you’ll have to dig in. Given enough time, money, patience, and a willingness to learn, you’ll be at an advantage. Without them, your odds of success will be greatly diminished.
Now, before you run out and buy that For Sale By Owner sign – we know you’re anxious – you have quite a bit of work to do to get ready. We’ll start covering that in Part 2, coming soon.
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