For Sale By Owner

Lots of articles on the internet suggest that selling your home is an easy Do-It_Yourself job. And the lure of saving a few thousand dollars definitely is attractive. But it's not a simple as it seems.

Anyone can sell a home but to sell a home without making expensive mistakes (and they can be very expensive), takes a real knowledge of real estate.

Real estate agents earn their money and it's due to their knowledge and experience that they get paid. The piece of mind you get with the skills and knowledge an experienced realtor has is worth quite a bit in the long run.

I have compiled our version of the 6 best reasons to contract with a realtor to market your house:

1) Price:
In many real estate surveys, the major For Sale By Owner (or FSBOs as they're called) concern is determining the selling price. If the price of your house is high based on the area, your home could sit for quite a while. You'll lose some of your potential investment value if you list it at a low price. If you hit the right price for your area, you get the best mix of money and time.

2) Price:
Agents can create CMA's (Comparative Market Analysis) for your home thru the special tools and software they have access to. A definite competative advantage over the do-it-yourselfer. Realtors have the software and expertise to price your home, with all its features, to sell at the highest price in the shortest time.

3) Price:
Dont't Forget About the Value of Time: It will cost approximately 1% of the sales price each month you hold on to your home. Agents can earn a huge part of their commision just by saving you that 1% each month. They have the expertise to tget that right balance of price to get your home sold quickly.

4) Marketing:
Real Estate Agencies have access to the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) which sends out all current listings to all the trained and State licensed Realtors in the Charlotte NC area. Their business is to sell your home. In most places it is hard or expensive fora non-agent to access the MLS. (Around Charlotte North Carolina, "MLS Only" Companies typically will run you somewhere between $295 and $995, but I'm confident you could pay more.)

5) Marketing:
They Know the People Who are Looking. Since almost 90% of home sales are handled by Agents, Agents have the most qualified leads of buyers for your home. You can't aregue that Realtors have the best lead sources. Most Agents can email the top real estate producers in your area in moments.

6) Marketing:
Who better than Agents to know where to advertise? With over 75% of home buyers starting their search for a home on the Internet (and almost 60% using the Internet at some time in their home search), do you plan to effectively advertise your home on the Internet and push it out to Google Base, Zillow.com and all the other Search Engines? Make sure you ask prospective Agents if they will use signs, newspapers, the Internet, etc. to adverise your home.

Don't think of selling your home on your own unless you're completely confident you can handle these items. Realtors can make the difference and save you a lot if you can't.

More home sellers are looking to save by doing more themselves due to various reasons; the least not being the economy. In the past, "For Sale by Owner" (or FSBOs as they're called) were folks who had a strong distrust for anyone professional or real estate agents listing their own properties.

In the age of "dot com everything", there are a number of sites and companies that home sellers can use to do many tasks of the traditional realtor You can save a lot of money over the cost of listing with a realtor if you are a FSBO seller.

If you are looking for an inexpensive place to list your house or real estate, visit SaleByOwnerMLS.net site, Thousands of home owners from Portland, Maine to Portland, Oregon, from Washington state to Washington DC - are saving money by selling homes themselves, and as someone selling a home, you can save thousands of dollars too!

Most homes do not sell by the listing offices! Most homes around the country sell through the MLS system. In actuality, most sales involve two different offices, a listing office and a selling office.

Introduce your house to thousands of prospective buyers!

A bit of important advice about selling that cannot be over looked is paying six percent of the selling price to a broker can often mean the difference between breaking even on the sale or having to dip into your savings.

And of course dont forget to Get the Word Out. Putting a "For Sale" sign on your lawn is probably not going to sell your house. To know why, just think like a buyer. Most buyers don't have time to drive around neighborhoods, searching for signs. The fact is that most buyers will begin their search either on the Internet or by asking a realtor to search the listing services of the local market for them.

2 FAQ's from their site:

Question: How long does it take to be listed on the MLS?
It usually takes less than 24 hours to be listed on the MLS, depending on if we receive all the information required to list a property on the MLS. Once submitted, all members of the MLS will have access to the full listing instantly and it usually takes a day or so before it is available on the Partner Websites.

...and...

Question: What if I sell the house on my own?
If you find your own buyer, you will not be obligated to pay a commission to anyone on the sale.