Realtors: Here's 6 Talking Points for Dealing With For Sale By Owners

With Realtors like this in abundance, it’s no wonder For Sale By Owners are so difficult to sell your services to. When they start in with their objections many Realtors just throw up the first argument that comes to mind. Fortunately, there are Realtors that are confident in their value to any transaction. We call these Realtors Professionals and they exist at minimally quantifiable levels all over the place. A good Realtor knows that FSBOs are making a bad move by trying to sell their own home. Here’s a few points that can help a good Realtor explain the stakes and help them see the light…

1. Real Estate Transactions are Complicated in 2010

Buying or selling a home usually requires disclosure forms, inspection reports, mortgage documents, insurance policies, deeds, and multi-page government-mandated (RESPA) settlement statements. A professional guide through this complexity can help sellers avoid delays or expensive mistakes. 2010 is seeing a massive amount of change in the title and lending industries and makes Realtors even more critical to the success of a closing.

2. Real Estate Agents are experts in their field

A good professional has spent a lot of money and effort marketing their client’s homes for sale. Why not capitalize on all of their hard work? They stay objective in an emotional process, keeping all parties on task.

3. Time

It will take much longer for a seller to sell their own home (if it sells at all) than to list with a Realtor.

There are lots of reasons for this but the main one is exposure. A real estate agent and the company they work under spends countless hours marketing and promoting their company, themselves, and their listings both locally and around the world. Most, if not all, home owners do not have the resources to match this ‘total marketplace exposure’ that a good Realtor provides.

4. Privacy and Safety

When you place a ‘For Sale by Owner’ sign in your yard it gives anyone in the free world the immediate right to call you or just stop by and take a look at your house. Real Estate Agents have processes for weeding out window shoppers and focusing on serious buyers. Saving you time (see #3) and keeping you and your family a little safer through the process.

5. Real Estate has it’s own language

Now most people know what CMA’s are these days but the deeper you get into a residential or commercial real estate transaction the more terms you will have thrown at you. HUD, PUD, MI, LTV, PITI, FHA, VA, FNMA, the list goes on. Experienced Realtors know this language and navigate it on a daily basis.

6. Professional agents have resources and leverage you don’t know about and don’t understand.

Building a marketing plan for a home is no small task, especially today. Just doing all the things that a good agent does to market your property every day is a full time job… more so if you DON’T do it everyday. Through an agents leverage of their existing resources and connections, they can market and expose a property far more effectively than your average homeowner.

Are there people that can sell their home themselves and do… yes. What’s that percentage you ask?

7%. I wonder how many of those were smooth transactions?

Think you’re better at this than 93% of home sellers who use Realtors? Unfortunately, most if you that choose to go that way will find out the hard way that you aren’t.

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.