I don’t presume to know why people do things, especially try to sell a home on their own. From a distance it looks like a “do it yourself” job and between the years 2000-2005, for the most part, it was a Do-it-Yourself kind of task. There were more buyers than there were houses for sale–the definition of a seller’s market. Today, however, the roles have been flipped (real estate is cyclical). In today’s market, how do you sell a house when there are more homes for sale than there are QUALIFIED buyers? The truth is that the task is so overwhelming that many licensed and experienced agent are quitting the business. In my experience, the top 5 reasons why homeowners decide to go it on their own are:
-
05: EXPERIENCE
They’ve sold a home before on their own. So how difficult could it be to do it again?
-
04: KNOW WHAT TO DO
They are going to do what the REALTOR® was going to do anyway; advertise in the paper, hold an open house, and put a sign in the yard.
-
03: ALREADY TRIED
They’ve tried it with a REALTOR® and it didn’t sell.
-
02: TIME
They’re not in a rush, and they wanted to try it before listing with a REALTOR®.
-
01: MONEY
And the #1 reason homeowners chose to sell on their own is to save the commission.
Heck, I would too! That is if I didn’t do this for a living. The truth is, that you can save a lot of money by performing the appropriate market analysis to price the home to sell vs. having it for sale, implementing the right level of marketing, by screening the serious buyers from the sightseers, by scheduling showings and most of all, by completing the proper legal disclosures and contracts.
Ultimately, money is the motivating factor. You should, however, also calculate your opportunity cost or the loss of your personal resources (time/money) while attempting to sell your home. If it’s worth it to you, then I say do it otherwise, hire a professional. And please interview at least 3.
