While this type of competitive seller's market is certainly good news for those who want or need to sell their home, it can also cause critical errors to be made during the selling process. One of these common mistakes is considering a for-sale-by-owner or FSBO sale, instead of utilizing the services of a licensed real estate agent. Sellers who are considering selling by-owner should be aware of the following problems before making their final decision about how to sell their Goodlettsville home.

A FSBO Sale Often Leaves Sellers Struggling to Market Their Home Effectively

Marketing a home successfully is one of the most difficult parts of selling a home, especially for homeowners competing in a crowded marketplace. While posting a sign in the yard and running a newspaper ad were once reliable methods of marketing a home, today's web savvy buyers rarely read traditional newspapers and may never see the yard sign.

Instead, today's prospective home purchaser typically relies on web-based apps or online information to keep themselves abreast of the latest listings. Many of these sites are fed accurate information directly supplied by the multiple listing service (MLS) or other large real estate data sites and allow buyers to sign up to receive instant notification of new listings that meet their chosen buying criteria.

A FSBO Sale Can Result in Selling a Home Below Market Value

Pricing a home correctly is another problem that homeowners routinely face when opting to sell their home by-owner. There are two distinct reasons for this problem.

On one hand, some homeowners may feel that they should start by setting an initial price that they know is too high just to see if they get any interest from buyers. But a home that is priced above the market is sure to be ignored by qualified buyers who have studied market trends for their area.

On the other hand, many FSBO sellers actually make the mistake of under-pricing their home. This happens because they do not have access to reliable market data to show them what comparable homes are currently selling for in their neighborhood.

Pricing a home too high or too low will both end up being a costly mistake. A better option is to opt to work with a professional agent who has reliable information about prices and trends at their fingertips. This data can be used to create a comparative market analysis (CMA) that will pinpoint the best possible price for the home to help seller's enjoy an excellent selling process while maximizing their proceeds at closing.

A FSBO Sale Makes Vetting Buyers Difficult or Impossible

Sellers who are faced with having to decide whether a prospective buyer is financially capable of purchasing their home can have difficulty doing so. This can mean wasting hours of time showing their home to unqualified buyers or even accepting an offer that will ultimately fail because the buyer cannot obtain a mortgage. Even worse, allowing unknown, unqualified prospective buyers into the home can result in home burglary attempts or other instances of criminal behavior.

Real estate professionals take a number of steps to screen buyers to protect their seller clients, including requiring buyers to present photo identification and financial documents that prove they have adequate financial resources to purchase the home.

In addition to the scenarios detailed above, a by-owner home sale can be an extremely difficult process for a busy homeowner to deal with, especially when they must also deal with the demands of a busy family and demanding career. Before making a decision to go by-owner, sellers owe it to themselves to discuss their selling situation and concerns with an experienced, successful listing agent in their area.

In addition to providing proactive marketing, expert pricing, and careful buyer qualification services, skilled listing agents work hard to simplify the entire home sale transaction for their clients, including negotiating important details and dealing with inspections and