Today I learned something not so surprising.  CEO of ForSalebyOwner.com, Colby Sambrotto sold his home using a Realtor! said the article title.

He’d used his FSBO site for 6 months, then listed the property and sold it in weeks, …. for thousands more than he’d been asking no less. Why  is this NOT surprising to me? I’ve been in the business 30 yrs as a 2nd generation multi-state broker and even I know the value of not representing property yourself, Yes, I too have listed more than 1 property with other offices. Why ? I practice what I preach, that’s why.

With face to face buyer/seller situations I see many opportunities for immediate loss of strategy.

The buyers may think:

• ‘Well, you’re not paying an agent so I’d like to save that cost’ (you get nothing extra for all your work).
• They ask a question, seller answers, they move in and have a problem and say “well you said such and such and now I have this problem. (extra pain, no financial gain).
• Or buyer is old, seller is young – buyer thinks, ‘we’ll offer much less since we should be in a better negotiating position due to our age’.
• Or seller is old, buyer is young – buyer thinks, ‘we’re young and craftier then seller, we’ll make sure we get the better deal’.
• Or seller is _____ and buyer is ______, the list goes on what personality and etc things can get in the way.
• Forget the possibility for sellers violating disclosure requirements, HUD Fair Housing parameters, silent fraud, implied warranties,….

So what about me a buyer going it alone and buying from a FSBO ? Been there done that didn’t go well. Did it once and never again. If an agent isn’t there to talk sense into a seller on my behalf re: price/ repairs/ etc etc, it ends up a waste of my time. Unrealistic sellers that don’t have a plan of attack may even say YES to my fair price, but then I have to do all the work from then on with little to no help or cooperation  from them. So I have to earn my discount running things about, setting up appraisals, closings, inspections, and no lockbox makes for a really (not) fun time getting back in the property after acceptance of offer.

I’m not surprised the FSBO chief used an agent, after all, I – a broker – prefer not to rep my own properties !