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5 Things You Shouldn’t Expect Agents to Do If You Sell Your House “For Sale by Owner”
If you decide to sell your house “FSBO” (For Sale By Owner), the last people you want to hear from are real estate agents. What you really want is a bunch of eager buyers knocking at your door, but what you often end up getting is a never-ending parade of real estate agents knocking, calling, and mailing you things instead.
As much as you don’t want to deal with them, chances are you will, no matter how much you tell them to stop calling you. And when you do, there’s a good chance you’ll ask them to do one of five common things that they’re probably going to be either unwilling (or unable) to do.
Let’s take a look at what they are, and why you shouldn’t expect them to, just to make sure you have reasonable expectations…
1) If you’re an agent, don’t bother calling…
No matter how nicely, or how aggressively you ask agents not to bother calling you when you’re trying to sell your house on your own, you’re still going to get calls, knocks on your door, or mailers from agents!
They get that you want to sell your house without an agent, but there’s also a good chance they may have a buyer that’s perfect for you house, so of course they’re going to reach out to see if your house is a good fit for any of them.
2) Send me any buyers you have that would like my house…
For the time being, you’re in the same business as real estate agents. A large part of the job is finding buyers, and finding them isn’t as easy as it may look, as you’ll probably find out.
So when you ask an agent to send you any buyer clients they know who would like your house, you’re basically asking them to just send you a walking, talking paycheck they’ve been working hard to earn over the course of many weeks and months of education, advice, and showings.
That said, if one of their buyers would like your house, they may want to bring them to see it… as long as you’re willing to cooperate with them and allow them to remain involved in the purchase!
3) If you have buyers that want to buy my house, they need to pay your commission…
Once it becomes apparent you may need to agree to working with buyers who have an agent, the next thing you might feel inclined to tell an agent is that you’ll only work with them if the buyer pays their commission.
Most buyers don’t have the money to pay their agent separately from the transaction, which is why it is most often paid out of the proceeds of the sale. So, if you want to work with a buyer who’s represented by an agent, be prepared to offer them a commission, and agree upon how much that will be before they show your house to their buyer.
4) Can you send me the contracts and forms you use so I can use them?
In addition to the actual contract for the purchase of your home, there are also a lot of other forms and disclosures that need to be filled out as part of the process. This catches a lot of homeowners by surprise when they try to sell their own house. It’s not always easy to figure out exactly what forms and disclosures you need, because they vary from one area to another, and are often not that easy to find copies of that you can use. So, many FSBO’s find themselves asking agents if they can give them blank or editable versions of all the paperwork they’ll need.
The problem is, you’re asking them for proprietary legal documents. Their docs are probably specifically written for their use, and include their company and personal info. And they (or their company) paid for the creation and use of those documents. It could also open them up to potential legal issues. So don’t be surprised if agents won’t just send you copies of their forms, disclosures, and contracts.
5) Can you list my house on the MLS for a small fee?
There are some real estate agents and companies that list houses on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) for a fee. But you can’t ask and expect every agent to be willing to do this.
The majority of agents list properties on the MLS as part of their entire package of service to a seller client, not as an a la carte option. This is another area where liability and insurance issues, as well as their broker’s rules, would prevent many agents from doing it, even if they wanted to.
