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If you are about to sell your house, you are probably wondering whether to do it by yourself or hire a real estate agency. It’s a serious dilemma because there’s a lot at stake here. After all, the right decision will save you time, money, and nerves. Should you sell a house privately or work with a real estate agent?

It doesn’t matter if you are selling a home on the beach or a small downtown house – the uncertainty is still there and you need to get over it. Studies show that for sale by owner (FSBO) is not the most popular choice as only 8% of owners choose to sell their home this way.

However, we believe that FSBO brings you a number of practical advantages. We don’t want to list all of them in one post, but let’s take a look at the five most important benefits of selling your house privately.

Private Sale is Cost-Efficient

The main reason why some owners decide to sell a home privately is very simple – it earns them more money. If your primary goal is to maximize profit (and it almost always is), you should go for this sales arrangement.

Why is that so?

Well, real estate agents work for commission. The general rule of thumb is that house owners pay 5% to 6% of the final price to the sales agents. The fee is distributed equally between the buyer’s and the seller’s agent. Here’s an example to make things simpler – a 6% commission for the house sold for $300 thousand is $18 thousand.

It’s a serious compensation for sales agents’ work, so you might as well decide to skip the middleman and do things independently. Although you don’t have the necessary experience, a little bit of extra effort is definitely worth $18 thousand.

You Control the Process

If you are a control freak, you definitely hate letting someone else do your job. If you opt for FSBO, you can direct and monitor the entire sales process without any external interference. And it’s not only about money, even though the price of your house definitely represents a major concern.

You also get the chance to prepare and execute the best marketing plan. As the owner, you perfectly understand the pros and cons of your house and it’s easier to promote the good sides while hiding negative features.

You know the type of family or person who would appreciate living in your property, so you can adjust the promo strategy and use the most relevant communication channels. Besides that, online platforms such as Zillow make it easy for almost anyone to engage and launch the FSBO procedure.

You Can Provide Detailed Information About the Property

Real estate prospects are looking for all sorts of property-related information and you are probably the only person who can answer their inquiries. A real estate agent can learn the basics, but they rarely ever go beyond the simplest details.

On the other side, it’s easy for you to reply to every remark or question. It doesn’t even have to be related to the house itself.

For example, potential buyers might ask you about the neighborhood, nearby schools, stores, restaurants, shopping malls, and so on. You can give them detailed information about all these features and explain what makes the location so interesting and attractive.

In such circumstances, it is much easier to market the place and give prospects additional reasons to buy your property.

You Are Fully Focused and Dedicated

Are you aware of the fact that real estate agents sell dozens of properties at the same time? They do it all simultaneously, which basically means that your house will only get a small fraction of their time. Real estate agents will often redirect clients to another house as soon as they notice even the smallest signs of hesitation and doubt.

It doesn’t have to be like this if you choose to sell the house privately.

If you are doing it independently, you are going to be fully focused and dedicated to your property. In other words, you will spend 100% of your time trying to create the right marketing plan and looking for prospects interested in your house.

You won’t give up easily and your persistence may as well convince a potential customer that your place is worth buying.

You Are In Charge of Communication

Finally, the fifth benefit of selling your house privately is that you stay in charge of customer communication and pay attention to every aspect of your conversations. There is no middleman to consult with, tell what to do, or ask about the latest meetings with your prospects.

You can take part in direct communication instead, thus making the whole interaction clearer and more straightforward. If needed, you can also bargain directly and avoid any hidden fees or “lost in translation” moments. This privilege is enough for many house owners to try and sell their properties privately.

Of course, each of these pros comes with a few cons of their own, but that’s a completely different topic that we want to discuss in a separate post.

The Bottom Line

Trying to sell a house is almost never an easy feat, particularly if you try to do it single-handedly. But this sales strategy has a few upsides as well because it gives you much more independence and the opportunity to market the offer however you like.

AUTHOR BIO

Leon Collier is an essay writer and blogger from London, UK. He is mostly focused on writing about business, real estate, finance, and new technologies. When not writing, you can find Leon reading or playing tabletop games with his friends. Follow him on Twitter @LeonCollier12

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We hope you found this blog post on 5 Advantages of Selling Your House Privately useful. Be sure to check out our post on 17 Mistakes to Avoid When Selling Your House for more great tips!

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