You've finally decided to do it! You're selling your home by yourself in order to take control of the process and save thousands of dollars in expensive real estate commissions. You've also decided to do it the RIGHT way! You called FSBO Sherpa. They came out to your house and helped you put together a comprehensive, step-by-step plan to get your home sold. They guided you through the Five Steps to success as a FSBO. You've followed all their advice: You prepared your home properly, you priced your home accurately, you've built a stunning marketing campaign with the folks at FSBO Sherpa and you just pressed "Go!" and your listing is now live for all the world to see. But instead of your phone ringing off the hook with potential prospective buyers, you're getting inundated with calls from a bunch of real estate agents. Why?
To understand why this is happening, you have to understand real estate agents. Most real estate agents work strictly on commission. They make money only after a home sells. In most cases, there is no weekly paycheck. In order to get paid they need to be involved in home sale transactions. The main way agents make money is when (A) a buyer that they represent buys a home, or (B) a seller that lists their home with the agent sells their home. Therefore, they are constantly on the hunt for leads. They are always on the lookout for people who are interested in buying or selling homes in hopes of introducing themselves and contracting to help them buy or sell a home. The best lead in the real estate industry is a listing lead. As a For Sale By Owner, you are often viewed as a listing lead. A For Sale By Owner listing is a definitive signal that someone is absolutely interested in selling their home! In fact, many new agents are often given the advice from their office to "prospect FSBOs" and get them to list with you. If you're a new agent and you need new business, calling up people who are actively trying to sell their homes isn't a bad place to start. There are entire industries dedicated to teaching new agents how to approach and turn For Sale By Owners into listings. If you don't believe me, Google the phrase "FSBO scripts" and see what comes up. When you list your home For Sale By Owner, you are in theory raising your hand and saying, "Yes please. I'd like to sell my home". To many real estate agents, that is a hot lead. Some of the things you'll hear from agents are "You know most FSBOs fail, right?" or "Do you know that most FSBOs sell for less than agent listed homes?" (FALSE) or various other discouraging messages telling you that you're doing it wrong. Don't listen to them! Some agents will tell you they have a buyer interested in buying a home like yours and would like to come by and "preview" the home for their buyer. Usually it's just an excuse to get invited over to your house so they can convince you to list with them. When you're waiting for buyers to call you, it can certainly be annoying getting calls from real estate agents either discreetly or overtly trying to convince you to list your home with them. But if you understand that they're simply trying to do their job and pay their bills, the calls can be a little easier to stomach. Our advice is to always be polite. There is no benefit in being rude. Calmly inform them that you are confident in your ability to sell your home on your own. Tell them you are grateful for their offer to help, but for now you're sticking with For Sale By Owner. You can even turn it around and get something you want out of THEM! Something like, "Thank you but we're going to try the FSBO route for now, but I would be very curious to hear your thoughts on our pricing". This will open a conversation up about your current pricing strategy. Do they think you're priced too high? Too low? What recent sales are they basing their thoughts on? You can gain a lot of useful information just by getting the agent to open up over the phone. Just don't be surprised if they push for a face-to-face meeting at your home. That's just Sales 101. So when those inevitable real estate agent call start coming in, remember to be polite, but stick firm in your For Sale By Owner plans. Direct them to your property website if they'd like to "preview" the home for their buyers. Ask them what they think of your pricing. If you are cooperating with buyers agents, explain what type of compensation you are offering and see if they'd like to make an appointment WITH THEIR BUYERS to see the home. Most of all, remember that you are NOT a lead. You are a motivated, educated, do-it-yourself homeowner who know what they're doing, is in full control of the sales process and is well on their way to saving thousands of dollars in expensive real estate commissions.
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AuthorField Notes from the FSBO Sherpa. Helping guide motivated, DIY homeowners through the For Sale By Owner journey, one real estate transaction at a time. Archives
December 2023
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