Why You Shouldn't FSBO Your Vacation Home

Many first time home sellers may think that For Sale By Owner has the potential to save them money, but the truth is that FSBO is not the best idea, especially when selling your vacation home.

Factors such as travel time, lost wages, advertising costs and attracting undesirables to your property are all issues that make selling your own vacation home a nightmare.

Travel Time and Costs

For most people, going to your vacation home consists of at least half a day of travel or more. Then factor in how much your transportation costs are to get there and back. Now, imagine making the run to your vacation home once a week or more to show it to interested buyers.

If you can't make the trip, you could lose the sale. If you hire someone in the local area to open the house to buyers for you, you will be sinking more money into the sales process. The time and costs of the constant back-and-forth will quickly stack up and negate any savings you hope to gain. Not to mention that hiring a local and trusting them with your key has its own risks.

Lost Wages

Even if you do hire unskilled help locally, you will need to go to your vacation home much more than you normally would. Unless you are self-employed or your employer offers a lot of paid time off, you could lose wages for all the time you spend trying to sell your house.

in contrast, if you hire a local real estate agent, you will only need to attend the closing. Everything else can be handled via phone with your real estate agent acting on your behalf for all other meetings and showings.

Attracting Undesirables

By hiring a real estate professional to sell your vacation property, he or she will be able to keep it discrete. Because real estate agents have an array of advertising and marketing means, there doesn't have to be a sign in the yard or a huge lockbox on the front door. However, if you decide to FSBO, you will need to advertise somehow.

If you do put up a sign, you may run the risk of vandals, thieves and even the homeless being drawn to your empty house. Should you decide to advertise online or in the local classified ads, you will need to pay more money. Either way, you are risking your property or putting out more money to do the sale yourself.

To save money, time and aggravation, hire a local realtor to help you sell your vacation home.