You have done the math. You know what the commission is. You are looking at your house and thinking it is going to sell itself and maybe you are right. Maybe it will. That instinct is not crazy and it is not arrogant. It is a completely reasonable thing to wonder.
This is not a post designed to talk you out of it. It is a post designed to make sure you go in with your eyes open. Because the sellers who get hurt by FSBO are not careless people. They are smart people who underestimated how much happens after the sign goes in the yard.
What the numbers actually show
According to NAR’s most recent data, only 11% of sellers who attempt FSBO complete the sale without a Realtor getting involved at some point. That means 89% of people who start down this road find out somewhere along the way that they need help. And 75% of FSBO sellers end up paying the buyer’s agent commission anyway. So the commission you were planning to save is already mostly gone before you factor in what you left on the table on price.
FSBO homes sold for a median price of $360,000 last year. Agent assisted homes sold for $425,000. That is a $65,000 gap. The typical commission is a fraction of that difference.
FSBO now represents just 5% of all home sales, an all time low. That number has been falling for forty years not because people stopped trying but because people kept trying and kept discovering how complex the process actually is.
The part nobody warns you about
Getting people interested in your home is not usually the hard part. If your home is in good condition, priced right, and in a desirable area, buyers will show up.
What comes after is where things get complicated.
You are going to receive offers you do not know how to evaluate. You are going to sit across from buyers or their agents who negotiate for a living. You are going to get inspection reports that feel like an attack on a home you have loved and cared for. You are going to be asked to make decisions quickly, under pressure, about the most significant financial transaction of your life.
And you are going to feel all of it. Because this is your home. That is not a weakness. It is completely human. But emotion and real estate negotiation are a difficult combination and even experienced professionals have to work to keep them separate.
FSBO sellers report struggling most with pricing correctly, selling within their target timeframe, and navigating paperwork. These are not small things. Pricing too high costs you momentum. Pricing too low costs you money. Getting the paperwork wrong costs you the deal or worse.
Nothing is set in stone including the commission
Here is something worth knowing before you decide. If you have a $700,000 home and a full commission feels like too much, call a Realtor and have that conversation. A good agent will sit down with you and talk through what makes sense for your situation. Commissions are negotiable and a professional worth working with will tell you that honestly.
But consider this. If that conversation feels uncomfortable or you find yourself getting defensive, that is important information. Because the negotiation you have with your agent about compensation is the warmup act. The main event is the negotiation with a buyer who wants your house for as little as possible and has someone in their corner who does this every day.
The sellers who do FSBO well are rare. They have usually done it before. They are comfortable with contracts and technology. They know how to price without emotion and they go in understanding that they are taking on a second job for the duration of the transaction. Even then the data suggests most of them leave money on the table somewhere.
A few honest questions worth sitting with
Do you know what your home is actually worth based on real comparable sales?
Do you know which repairs and updates matter to buyers and which ones do not?
Do you know how to structure your response when three offers come in on the same day?
Do you know what an escalation clause is? An appraisal gap addendum? An as-is clause?
Do you know when your furnace filter was last changed?
That last one sounds small. It is not. Buyers and inspectors notice the details that sellers stopped seeing years ago. A professional walkthrough before you list changes what you know about your own home. An honest pricing conversation before the sign goes in the yard changes what you net at closing.
If you are still thinking about it
You might be one of the people built for this. Some sellers are. But before you decide, call me. Not to talk you out of it. Just to give you a straight read on your specific situation, your home, your market, and your timeline.
If FSBO makes sense for you I will tell you that. If it does not I will tell you that too. Either way you will walk away knowing more than you did before.
That conversation is free. What you do with it is up to you.
David Barlag
Fort Wayne Realtor, Century 21 Bradley Realty
260-750-5737
davidbarlag.com