I listed our home FSBO (before I become an agent) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana 1 year ago and thought I can do this on my own. I didn’t have the money to lose in commission and seriously how hard could it be. There were other homes for sale by agents in my neighborhood so if they were looking at those why wouldn’t they stop and look at mine. I put it on a FSBO website in Baton Rouge and even spent tons of money running ads in the newspaper. Nothing!! I had not received any phone calls or emails in weeks. So then I tried advertising on Craigslist. Still nothing! I then started holding open houses and then I started to get some interest. People were saying they were interested, and they were ready to buy! I was positive I had sold our house after just a few open houses. No one ever called! I wasted an entire year of doing this and cleaning my house spotless every weekend for an open house and was exhausted and just mentally frustrated.

St Augustine Real Estate Foreclosures

I was desperate to sell our house because we needed to move to Florida and I had already found the home we wanted to buy, but I needed to sell first. After talking to some friends, they convinced me to list with an agent. They said that I would be pleasantly surprised at the results and everything our agent would do for us. Shortly after we listed with an agent we had consistent showings, phone calls and our realtor did a lot of marketing on our house that we would not have access to. If I would had listed with an agent a year before, that would have paid for her commission but instead I wasted that time and paid a mortgage for a year when it could have already been sold.

St Augustine Beach Real Estate Foreclosures

Our realtor had great success and we are now in Florida. There were several things that I would have changed but that was a learning experience and I now know how to treat my customers and how to meet their expectations because I once was the seller. Here are a few reasons why we listed with an agent and you should consider before you list your home FSBO or maybe you are the frustrated FSBO:

-An agent can weed through those “lookers” who will waste your time and ultimately get your hopes up when they never intended to buy
-An agent networks with other agents who have potential buyers
-An agent is going to know the accurate price to sell
-All the marketing information they have access to!
-There can be a lot of complicated paperwork involved and your agent will understand this and have a working knowledge with these documents
-Wide internet exposure especially if you have an educated internet realtor
-Give advice on home staging if needed
-Help with buyer qualifications when you do find that potential buyer
-Experience with negotiating and counter offering
-Take the time factor out of it for you as a seller. It can cost you several hours a week answering calls and showing your house
-Open houses…instead of you trying to do this have a professional hold these. They know how to ask the right questions to buyers and find the right one for your home. The Realtor will also know your neighborhood information and history of what has sold and when

St Augustine Short Sales

The National Association of Realtors reported that the majority of FSBO end up listing with an agent. Find an agent you feel comfortable with and start doing your homework with them and get your house listed! I had not known exactly what a realtor did for their customers, but now I know and highly recommend listing with an agent as someone who tried to sell by owner. The commission was well worth it!

St Augustine Oceanfront Real Estate Foreclosures

St Augustine Real Estate Agent