25 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Sell Your Own Home

This list does not necessarily include all the reasons why you as a homeowner should not attempt to sell your own home, and if you can think of some that we have left out, we would really appreciate your telling us so that we may add them to this list, which should be used as a guide in helping you decide whether or not you want to sell your own home.

1. Saving the Commission - The principle objection raised with the most frequency is that you can save the commission by selling your home yourself. Experience proves that this usually is not the case. Buyers today are knowledgeable. They feel, whether it is true in particular instances or not, that:

   a. owners overprice their homes

   b. what the owner really expects and wants to get for his home is inflated by the amount of the commission, so that in case he can't sell the home himself the selling price will include enough to pay the broker's commission and still net him what he is seeking to get out of the sale.

   Thus, buyers dealing with home owners will argue and insist, in most cases, on a reduction in price at least equal to what the commission would be. If you, the owner, has to sell at the same price you would net from a sale by the broker, you are the loser because of time, effort, expenses, etc.

    

2. Underpricing Danger - You may not be familiar with often rapidly changing market conditions, and the characteristics of the supply and demand for particular types of homes in particular locations, as is Bob Latigona of Long and Foster Realtors.  As a result, you may underprice your home and by the time all costs and expenses are paid, considerably less is netted than if the sale were handled through our office..
   
    
3. Qualifying Inexperience - Unless you are a former real estate agent with applicable experience, you probably don't have the training nor experience in qualifying buyers from all aspects, including financial ability and qualification of the purchaser to buy your home. Thus, prospects are either lost through poor qualifying, or as in many cases, contracts are signed with buyers who cannot secure the necessary financing. The contract is not only lost but also much valuable time and often expenses are spent and you must start all over again.
   
    
4. Get "Lookers" - Home owner ads bring a great many lookers who aren't qualified to buy, wasting your time and perhaps losing a real prospect for you. The agents at Long and Foster Realtors bring people to inspect homes who are qualified financially to buy and who are definitely interested in the specific type and location of your home.
   
    
5. Difficulty in Purchaser Negotiations - - Since you may be inexperienced in real estate transactions, you can frequently encounter difficulties in negotiations on possible concessions, price and other matters, which might lose a qualified prospect. As the broker, Long and Foster Realtors is the "impersonal, professional go-between" and is in a far better position to handle negotiations that will lead to a sale.
   
    
6. Prospects Hidden Objections - Prospects often are reluctant to bring out and discuss objections with you as an owner because of the personal element involved. They often do not want to put you in a position of defending your own home. Thus, you can't represent yourself properly with many prospects because you may not know that the prospects have unrevealed objections. Real Estate agents, however, are in an impersonal position and the prospect expects to be able to take objections up with us that they would not feel comfortable discussing with you.
   
    
7. Inexperience in Handling Objections - Techniques for handling objections professionally and effectively are the most difficult of all techniques to master in selling. Almost never does a home owner have any such training and experience. Thus, when major objections of any type are raised, which the professional real estate representative can handle, you may not know how to proceed properly. Buyers are certain to raise as many objections as they can, putting the you at a serious disadvantage in trying to sell your home.
   
    
8. The Urgency Situation - When the time in which a home must be sold is limited it is unwise for an owner to take any of that time to try to sell the home with out the aid of an agent. If an attempt is made to sell, and the attempt fails, the broker finally selected does not have enough time to market the home properly to get it sold, depending on the market, before the owner moves out to leave the house vacant.
   
    
9. Problems on Financing - Even though the buyer is theoretically supposed to secure their own financing for the purchase of a home, the financing normally is arranged by the selling broker. Since the selling broker is placing a great many loans, and usually through several lending institutions, he is in a position to get a quicker and often more favorable loan than the purchaser can on her own or working with you the home owner/seller.
   
    
10. Lack of Prospect Sources - It is a truism in real estate selling that the more exposure the home has to qualified buyers, the more likely there will be a quicker and more favorable sale. Most owners are very limited in their sources for prospects, friends and neighbors, organization bulletin boards and home owner advertising. At Long and Foster Realtors we have a constantly renewing flow of prospects from which to choose as buyers for your home.
    
     
11. Lack of Advertising Exposure - As the owner you are advertising one home - your own. As a broker, we are advertising many homes by comparison. It is frequent that a prospect will call us on one ad but buy a home other than the one he called in on first. Thus, through advertising, we provide many more possibilities for qualified prospects.
    
     
12. Lack of Follow-up System - Homes are frequently sold on second visits, which have been brought about by the real estate representative. Long and Foster Realtors has a follow-up system on prospects who haven't yet bought. Usually the broker representative accompanies prospects on inspections of other homes, and when the situation is logical, brings the prospects back to a home they've already seen and which seems better than anything else they've inspected. You can take none of these steps. Often, visitors to your open house will refuse to give their names so that you can follow up with them later. Again, you as the owner will be at a distinct disadvantage.
    
     
13. If Purchaser Has Home to Sell - A prospect may want a home that you are offering for sale, but must sell his or her own home before a purchase can be made. In such a situation, your position is virtually hopeless. As the broker, on the other hand, we can offer some other method of disposing of a buyer's home so that your home can be purchased.
    
     
14. Owner Expenses - As a For Sale By Owner, you may incur considerable expense while marketing your home, while possibly selling at a somewhat reduced price. Such expenses can include newspaper advertising, cost of a for sale sign, legal fees, etc. When the amount of the price reduction and the expenses are added up, you may net little - if anything - over what you would get from a broker sale. When you fail to make a sale, these costs are pure loss. Long and Foster  Realtors provides, as a part of our services, the expense of advertising. 
    
     
15. Lack of Home Selling Experience - Home buyers today are usually "shoppers", that means they want to see several homes as a basis for comparison in making a decision. As the For Sale By Owner, you are again at a disadvantage. Home selling has become a profession requiring a high degree of skill and experience. Without previous real estate selling experience, you may not know how to show a home professionally, to present benefits, or to use closing techniques that bring results. Thus visitors, whom our sales experts could turn into buyers, are lost and more time passes without the home being sold.
    
     
16. Buyer's Reluctance on Inspection Details - Many buyers, when they are going through a home with an owner are reluctant, or will not, open closet doors, cupboard doors, medicine cabinets, etc., because they feel they are intruding on the privacy of the owner. This feeling does not exist with the impersonal real estate representative. Not inspecting important areas such as cabinets, closets and cupboards can dampen interest and lose a sale.
    
     
17. Don't Know How to Justify Selling Price - Most prospects do not make buying decisions until they feel the selling price is right and justified. Rarely does an owner of a home have a record of sales of closely comparable homes in a general area as one justification for the selling price. Nor does the owner know how to "build up" facts and features about the home, the area, and possible future developments that will result in a good appreciation in value, which is a significant factor in justifying the selling price.
    
     
18. Not at Home Problem - Rarely can you be at home virtually all the time to receive visitors. When the visitors often find nobody home they go on to look at other homes and do not return to the home which had no one to receive them. Our real estate representatives, with a key to the home, are available to show the home at virtually any time. When prospects drive by and like a property from the outside, they simply take the broker's phone number from the sign and a showing is arranged.
    
     
19. Strangers Have Access to Your Home - The "For Sale By Owner" sign on the front yard is an invitation to anyone to ask to see your home. While such occurrences may be infrequent, it can and has happened, that an undesirable individual can gain access to your home. There have also been instances where thieves have posed as prospective buyers to learn what might of value in a home, which they can steal later when no one is at home. If the sign is up only when you are home, this means good drive-by prospects may be missed. Our agents, on the other hand, pre-select those who will be shown the home, making as certain as possible that the people are legitimate home buyers. Those with any criminal intent usually do not take the risk of being accompanied by a licensed representative who could later be a witness against them.
    
     
20. Problem of "Outside Lookers" - Some potentially good prospects for a home will drive by, see the "For Sale By Owner" sign but for some reason may not be impressed with the exterior. What they may not know is that the interior is just what they are looking for. Since they only saw the outside, they keep driving by, and the prospect is lost. With a Long and Foster Realtor sign on the lawn, there is a reasonably good chance that the "drive-bys" will call us about the home, thus learning that the interior offers what they really want.
    
     
21. Lack of Future Interest - Many buyers often feel that the owner has no future interest in them, as our sales agents would. The owner sells, moves away and no local and personal contact can be established in case any problems arise that were not evident at the time of purchase. The buyer knows that we at Long and Foster Realtors have a future interest in him or her as a satisfied customer. Thus, the buyer accepts far more readily the representations of our sales agents. Thus, with some buyers this knowledge or supposition of a lack of future interest deters or prevents the buyer from negotiating directly with an owner.
    
     
22. "Grain of Salt" Problem - Many buyers feel that sellers are not objective about their homes and are emotionally involved whereas our real estate professionals are not. Emotional involvement means that the owner sees everything about the home in a much more favorable light than may be justified objectively. Many buyers take what a home owner says "with a grain of salt" because they know their opinions are biased towards their emotional feelings of the home. They have gotten used to things many buyers may not like. Again, this puts the home owner/seller at a disadvantage.
    
     
23. The "Settlement" Problem - Once a contract is signed by you and the buyer, a complicated process starts which leads to the date of settlement. The process involves loan processing which can cause "snags" or problems to arise, the legal aspects of title and deeds and possible easements and other factors involving the final transfer of property from the old owner to the new owner. These and other matters must be coordinated on a time schedule that will assure completion of the various steps in time for the settlement date. The purchaser must be advised on all that must be done and it must be assured that what is required is completed, such as bringing a certified check that will be required at settlement. When concessions are involved and the owner must fulfill certain conditions before settlement, such conditions must be met before settlement can occur.
    
     Rarely, by experience or competence can the owner set up the necessary program schedule that will lead to the settlement and make sure that everything is done when it should be done, including preparation with the closing agent.
     
24. Market Age Problem - If you should fail to sell your home yourself and the home is on the market for any fairly long period of time, it acquires what is known as "market age". Market age is a deterrent to later selling at the proper market price. Buyers invariably ask, "How long has this home been on the market?" If your home has been on the market for a lengthy period of time, including your FSBO time, buyers tend to think something must be wrong or the home would have been sold. Thus they become more objective and you risk getting less for your home than you would have had it been on the market for a shorter time.
    
     
25. The Co-op Sale - Close to 50% of all homes sold are sold by someone other than the listing real estate agent. This is done by cooperating with other real estate agents and offices through the Multiple Listing System (MLS), in an effort to get a home sold faster than if the agent were working on his or her own. As a home owner/seller, you are not afforded the luxury of having other agents seeking buyers for your home. All of your prospects must come from your efforts only, losing any prospects that could have been gained through Multiple Listing Exposure.

There are numerous advantages to hiring a professional real estate sales agent to assist you with the sale of your home. Feel free to call me,  to arrange a more in depth consultation.