Member Login | Not a FREE member yet? Sign Up Here!

Selling You Home Without A Real Estate Agent
By: Raynor James

If you’re thinking, "I should sell my house without a realtor," the current real estate market and explosion of the Internet will make your job easier.

Sell My House Without A Realtor

If you are looking to sell a house without a realtor, you are known as a "FSBO" seller. FSBO stands for the phrase “for sale by owner.” Although FSBO sellers have always existed, they have become much more prevalent in the last few years due to two primary factors.

Hot Real Estate Market

An insanely hot real estate market has made realtors somewhat irrelevant in many parts of the country. For instance, homes in San Diego, California were known to be on the market for less than two weeks on average in early 2005. Keep in mind, this was the average time it took to sell a home including the run down messes. In such a market, many homeowners started wondering why they were paying six percent commissions to a realtor who didn’t have to do much.

Internet Use

The creation of FSBO real estate listings sites has exploded over the last three or four years. As buyers and sellers became more familiar with these sites, they often searched online for homes instead of driving areas with a realtor. This resulted in sellers wondering why they should pay a commission of 6 percent to a realtor when a site like fsboamerica.org only charged $25 a month to list a home on the site. Many couldn’t come up with a reason.

No Realtor

The decision to sell you house without a realtor is one you should make carefully. If you’re comfortable with the sales process, going FSBO makes all the sense in the world. If you’re not comfortable with the negotiating process, then you may want to consider using a realtor. Ultimately, your first step should be to buy a FSBO book in your local bookstore or visit a FSBO site and read up on what is involved.