I can't say what does and doesn't work in other US markets but I do know that selling FSBO in the Dallas/ Ft. Worth area is a futile move.
Granted, a good percentage of people do it FSBO because they simply don't have sufficient equity in the property to cover the 6% Realtor fee's but, as I teach/preach in my classes... Compare extended holding costs to what Realtor fee's would be.
Here is a decent example:
[b]$1,000 per month holding costs for a property of 100K value.
*With Realtor:
Rehab time (1-2 months), Listed time on MLS (1-2 months+), Contract, Option and Pending time (3-4 weeks). Up until the closing of the sale. And that's IF a contract doesn't Fail!
$4,000 total holding costs - 4 Month
*Without Realtor:
Rehab time (1-2 months), FSBO advertising time (1-4,5,6 ++ months), Contract, Option & Pending time (3-6 weeks w/o Realtor guidance) and GOD HELP YOU IF A CONTRACT FAILS!!!
$4,000 up to but not limited to $12,000 +
Bottom line: Use a Realtor and pay them up to if not more than the regular fee. It motivates BOTH Realtors (listing & buying) and cuts holding times (listed time) into the single and low double digit times.
All that does is SAVE MONEY on the holding costs!
Hope it helps.
Jim Watkins[/b]