Selling a home on your own can be a daunting prospect. So much so that the founder of website http://forsalebyowner.com which specifically helps FSBo’s market their property decided to user a broker to handle the sale of his own apartment in New York.
Colby Sambrotto, a founder and former chief operating officer of ForSalebyOwner.com, a large website for owner sales, spent six months trying to sell his condominium himself through online listings and classified ads, before turning over the listing of the 2,000-square-foot apartment to a broker at Bond New York in November.
The broker, Jesse Buckler, said he told Mr. Sambrotto the apartment in the Lion’s Head building on West 19th Street near Sixth Avenue was priced too low and wasn’t drawing the right buyers.
By May, it went into contract, he said, after attracting multiple offers. It closed in the last few days for $150,000 more than the original asking price.
“At first he wouldn’t let me increase the price,” Mr. Buckler said. “I told him I know what I am doing—the market is picking up.”
Here are some stats from the National Association of REALTORS on FSBO’s.
For Sale By Owner (FSBO) Statistics
FSBOs accounted for 9% of home sales in 2010. The typical FSBO home sold for $140,000 compared to $199,300 for agent-assisted home sales.
FSBO Methods Used to Market Home:
- Listing on Internet . . . 27%
- For-sale-by-owner Web site . . . 11%
- Yard sign . . . 46%
- Friends/neighbors . . . 39%
- Newspaper ad . . . 12%
- Open house . . . 14%
Most Difficult Tasks for FSBO Sellers:
- Getting the right price . . . 23%
- Preparing/fixing up home for sale: 18%
- Selling within the planned length of time: 14%
- Having enough time to devote to all aspects of the sale: 13%
- Understanding and performing paperwork: 10%
If you have tried selling your home on your own without success. Feel free to give me a call. I never hard sell and I’ll be happy to give you some tips on getting a fast sale even if you don’t want to list your house with me.