Sale By Owners On The Rise

Planning to sell your home? Your chances of getting the house sold are likely to increase with a realtor than trying to sell on your own, a survey conducted by HomeGain, a real estate marketing service provider, showed.

According to the survey, 66 percent of home owners sold their home through realtor compared to 30 percent of for-sale-by-owners (FSBO). And 22 percent of the FSBO eventually decided to use a realtor to sell their home.

“The value of a realtor in a real estate transaction is made strikingly apparent in our 2012 FSBO verses Realtor survey of home sellers,” Louis Cammarosano, general manager of HomeGain, said in a blog. “A qualified realtor understands the dynamics of the market and can better assist home sellers in the pricing and preparation of their homes for sale.”

Another reason for the success of realtors compared to FSBOs, realtors feel, is the access to the multiple listing services (MLS) data base. When a property is listed on the MLS, the chances of it getting sold are relatively high.

However, statistics provided by the National Association of Realtors show that over the last couple of years FSBOs are on the rise, though the properties are often sold below the market value.

FSBOs accounted for 10 percent of home sales in 2011. Compared to $215,000 for agent-assisted home sales, the typical FSBO home was sold for $150,000. Whereas, in 2010 FSBOs accounted for only nine percent of home sales and the typical FSBO home sold for $140,000 compared to $199,300 for agent-assisted home sale.

FSBOs with successful transactions are positive to go alone the next time around too. The HomeGain survey showed that close to 90 percent of FSBOs who managed to sell their home said they would go FSBO again.

But hassles such as getting the right price, understanding and performing paperwork, preparing and fixing up home for sale and selling within the planned time frame often plague owners selling their properties.