Selling Your Home Privately
Many sellers consider selling their homes privately rather than listing with a traditional real estate agent. It has been estimated that private sellers account for up to 20% of the total resale home market. However, statistically MLS listings get 8-12% more cash return on the sale of their property. Some American studies have shown the difference to be as high as 16%!
The obvious reason for a seller to sell privately is to save the cost of real estate commissions that can be as high as 5% of the selling price of a home. Often private sellers (commonly referred to as For Sale By Owner or FSBO) offer commissions to real estate agents working with buyers to encourage these real estate agents to show their homes.
For Sale By Owner properties do not have the benefit of exposure on the local real estate board Multiple Listing Service (MLS) or on the real estate industry internet websites like mls.ca and realtor.com. A private seller can only expose their home for sale to potential buyers by newspaper advertising and marketing efforts which are extremely costly. Hundreds and even thousands of dollars can be expended without ever coming close to the exposure that a home for sale receives when listed on MLS.
Private sellers do not receive any assistance that a real estate agent could provide including coordination of the process and any ongoing advice.
A seller cannot not have their home listed on MLS without engaging the services of a real estate agent. Many potential private sellers end up listing their home with a real estate agent to simply ensure MLS exposure.
The choice is of course, up to you. But consider the commission of your sale price - take your asking price and multiply it by 5%. That is your average commission going to be split by the selling and listing agents and their brokerages. Now start calling to see how much it costs to advertise in local papers, major papers and any other marketing costs. Think about the personal time you’ll need to devote to this if you sell on your own. Consider the fact that most buyers of FSBO homes are in fact “looking for a deal” and investors that usually know what they are doing and are good negotiators. Do you need that headache?
If you choose that you can handle it then, more power to you and I wish you the best of luck. If you realize that this may be too much for you, then please give us a call and we’ll give you a free market evaluation and then we’ll list it on MLS.
————————————————————————————————–———-
Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information - 416-388-1960
