Real Estate Articles » For Sale By Owner (FSBO)

How To Choose A Fsbo Company

By: Jane FSBO
Submitted: 03:06PM on Wednesday 17 September 2008

Let’s talk about the drawbacks of selling “For Sale by Owner.” Basically there are two things to seriously consider:

1) You have to do the work. You’re going to make your own marketing materials, take your own photographs, organize and post listings, etc.

2) You have to find the buyers. Will you put an ad in the paper? List at Craigslist or eBay or a FSBO company’s site? Whatever you do, you have to plan the best strategy for connecting your home with the right buyer.

Personally, I’m convinced that the pros outweigh these drawbacks. And I think that the best plan of attack for these issues is to use a FSBO company. I’m also convinced that one organization does the best job, but I’ll leave you to make that call for yourself.

A FSBO company can effectively answer all your questions, help you with every step of the process and make sure your advertising looks professional. At least, a good FSBO can do these things.

When deciding which FSBO company to choose, these are the things I want to find:

Attention to professionalism
The photographs, the text, the listing itself–everything about the company and the way it operates should exhibit professionalism. I want to know that my money is getting something, not just a listing, but professional service.

Ads that direct buyers to me
One of the biggest drawbacks of a using a real estate agent is that potential buyers could see your house, call the listed number, and never talk to you personally. The agent may decide to show them another house that is also listed; the agent doesn’t care if they sell your house, just that they sell a house. For this reason, I demand that a FSBO ad point buyers to me, the seller. I should be the one getting the calls.

Available customer service
If there’s a problem with my listing, if I have a question about something or want a mortgage lender referral, I should be able to talk to someone. Again, this is the benefit of paying for a FSBO company’s service.

A website/listing that draws a large readership
The best part of advertising with a FSBO company is the larger amount of viewers you can reach. The bigger a site’s readership, the more likely that my property will be sold. I can usually determine the popularity of a sight by its amount of listings and its word-of-mouth credibility.

Assistance with prequalifying buyers
One of the most annoying things about selling on your own is dealing with non-serious buyers. Neighbors might want to tour your home, bored people might be looking for something to do… but in the end, they just waste your time. I want a FSBO company to solve this problem for me by helping me determine who’s really looking for a home.

This may seem like a lengthy list of requirements. Am I aiming too high, do you think? I say no. I’ve actually found this service before, believe it or not. It’s available.