Selling Your Home - Alone or with a Broker?

How do you decide whether to sell your home (or land, farm, ranch, etc.) on your own or use a real estate broker? There are pluses and minuses to each approach. Let's look at some of the key ups and downs. Only you can decide which approach has the most pluses in your situation.

Why go FSBO?

"FSBO" stands for "for sale by owner" and tells buyers you are not using a realtor to represent you. The biggest upside to going FSBO is you save thousands of dollars in broker commissions when you sell the property. This may seem obvious, but the savings are very real.

The downside to going FSBO is it takes your time to market and show the property. (You'll need to prepare your property for sale in either case, but that's a whole separate topic.) You also need to be familiar with how the real estate sales process works in your part of the country. It isn't necessary to be an expert; just make sure you understand what things one must generally deal with in a real estate sales transaction.

Also, it's important to have access to the helpers you need. Examples include a lender who is willing to qualify your prospective buyers, someone qualified and willing to draw the sales contract and a person or firm qualified to close your sales transaction. Fortunately, there are many lenders and settlement offices willing to work directly with the principals to a transaction. And, for the brave and hopefully, very experienced, there are on-line, fill in the blank, sales contracts.

Why use a broker?

Does the above discussion leave you feeling insecure instead of alert, thoughtful, and excited? If so, you probably want a real estate broker to sell your home for you.

Other instances when you may want to use a broker include:

1. Inexperience - If you have not had much experience buying and selling homes, a broker may be the answer.

2. Local Conditions - Are you aware of the unique issues of the geographic location? If you have bought and sold in Virginia (where termites and radon are concerns) and you are now planning to sell the one home you've owned in Colorado (where water and mineral rights might be on the discussion table), it's possible you may want a broker.

3. Time, Time, Time - If your profession provides for you and your family very well, but takes up enormous amounts of your time, ditto.

4. If you have no notions about how you'd go about marketing your home using the Internet, magazines, newspapers, bulletin boards, brochures, signs, word-of-mouth, etc., a broker can get you the marketing exposure you need.

The Right Choice?

There is no one right choice. Only you can decide what's best for you. Hopefully, this look at the pros and cons will get your mental juices flowing nicely. I hope your sale goes smoothly.

Raynor James is with http://www.fsboamerica.org - providing homes for sale by owner, "FSBO", properties. Are you thinking, "Should I sell my home?" Visit http://www.fsboamerica.org/seller.cfm to sell your home sale for free for one month.

More than 40 states signed onto a proposed $25-billion deal with major mortgage servicers over faulty foreclosure practices. New York, Nevada and Delaware joined California in holding out for better terms.

More than 40 states signed onto a proposed $25-billion settlement with major mortgage servicers over faulty foreclosure procedures, but California, New York and other key states were still not among them.

California has until Monday to share in a multi-state deal with banks to obtain mortgage relief and reforms. Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, who walked away from talks last year, says the door remains open.

With a Monday deadline at hand, California officials have resumed direct talks with the Obama administration about joining a multibillion-dollar, multi-state mortgage settlement with the nation's largest banks, a source said Sunday.

The talk show host pays $12 million for the 4,088-square-foot house with four bedrooms and four bathrooms. The ocean-view home sits on 1.26 bluff-top acres with beach access.

In one of the more talked-about transactions in town, actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have sold their Malibu beach house to daytime host and comedian Ellen De Generes for $12 million.

The four-bedroom, five-bathroom house built in 1920 for industrialist James Wigmore lists for $2,875,000.

A decorative cast stone entrance opens to this restored Spanish Colonial Revival-style house in Pasadena's South Orange Grove area. Built in 1920 for industrialist James Wigmore, the house retains such original details as coffered wood ceilings and arched doorways.

They don't believe they can sell their property for what it's worth, so they're spending money on making their homes more comfortable.

Do you fit any of these descriptions?

A biennial research report by the National Assn. of Realtors indicates that a handful of real estate agents and brokers and their clients either don't know the law or don't care to follow it.

When it comes to lawsuits, real estate agents and brokers tangle mostly among themselves.

The president aims to help about 3.5 million people with good credit who are unable to refinance at historically low rates because their homes are worth less than their mortgages.

 

The White House hopes to help millions of homeowners lower their monthly mortgage bill with a $5 billion to $10 billion plan to set up a streamlined refinancing program for people who are current on their payments.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index of 20 large U.S. cities fell 1.3% in November from October as foreclosures continue to drag down the housing market.

Three straight months of home-price declines in the biggest U.S. cities showed that foreclosures remain a significant drag on a housing market that is entering its fifth year of deterioration.

L.A. Clipper Chris Paul may be quick down the court, but he moves pretty fast when it comes to buying multimillion-dollar real estate too.