Listing a home For Sale by Owner (FSBO) is rarely a good idea.If a property is for sale by owner it means that the owners have chosen not to hire a real estate professional to sell their house.People do this because they think they can save money by cutting out the selling agent.However, FSBO sales rarely go smoothly or save the seller any money.There are a number of reasons for this.
Realtors list homes for sale around the world for a reason:they know what they're doing when it comes to buying and selling homes and they can do it a lot better than the average person. One of the biggest disadvantages of selling your home yourself is that you don't have the advertising resources that realtors have access to.For instance, you can't list your home on MLS if it's FSBO. In some cases, you can have a real estate agent post your FSBO property on MLS for a flat fee but you have to pay a commission to the broker anyway if someone puts an offer on your home as a result of the listing.If your home doesn't get enough exposure because you didn't use a real estate agent, you'll be less likely to get the price you want for it because there's less competition between potential buyers.When a home's been on the market too long, people become suspicious and wonder why it hasn't sold.This makes your home even more difficult to sell.
It's especially important to use a real estate agent when buying a new condo because you'll be dealing with the developer's real estate agent, who only has the interests of the developer in mind.Real estate agents also get inside information from developers and can often get special deals and bonuses for you that are not available to the public.Also, developers release units to real estate agents before they release them to the public.New condos in Toronto go quickly, and without the insight of an experienced real estate agent, you could miss out.
