Why we get no showings after listing For Sale By Owner?
You decided that you want to sell your house or a condo and listed it on a Zillow or Trulia in “For Sale by Owner” (FSBO). You prepared the house for showings but for some reason there is little or no activity with buyers. You asking yourself over and over – Why we get no showings after listing For Sale By Owner ? Is my FSBO house being ignored by realtors? What could be done to increase showings after listing For Sale By Owner?
Why we get no showings after listing For Sale By Owner
See, these days 99% of QUALIFIED buyers ( meaning pre-approved for a mortgage and with verified initial deposit) work with the buyers agent. Why?
Because buyers agent does a lot of very useful “free stuff” for them – advice about approval for a mortgage, schedule showings, calling for availability – asking if the house is for sale or already in escrow, driving them from house to house, writing up a contract, performing negotiations, accompanying them at the home inspection and so on.
Since your house is listed only on Zillow or Trulia, AND it is NOT listed in the local MLS – Multiple Listing Service – (the ONLY service used by Buyers agents when searching for the homes for their clients) buyers agents simply UNAWARE that your house is for sale.
- #1 Reason for not showing FSBO property to a buyer – Buyers agent dont know if he/she ever gets paid because there is no signed commission agreement at the time of showing.
- Buyers agent is afraid that without listing agent review of property value it might be overpriced and after appraisal is done deal will fall apart.
Now in case “For Sale By Owner” they dont know if the Seller offer ANY compensation to them for all their hard work they put for several weeks working with buyer.
They would need to contact YOU, the seller, negotiate a commission, sign listing agreement with you and on top of that to deal with a DUAL AGENCY they just created – basically they have to be equally loyal with their fiduciary duties to both Buyer and Seller. Buyers agents dont have time to do all that.
- Realtor will perform price evaluation analysis and make sure you property is not under priced (we see over and over that FSBO sellers sometime list their property $30,000-$40,000 below recent sales)
- You will get FULL and Professional Representation meaning Realtor will represent you with your best interests in mind.
- Buyers always represented by a realtor, and you should too! You will get negotiating power and might avoid many pitfalls, unnecessary hurdles and surprises during the transaction.
- You will get latest contract forms and all legally required disclosure forms shielding you from potential lawsuits and litigation.
What about “Flat FEE MLS” where I would pay $149 to list the property in MLS?
You will be surprised, 70% of FSBO sellers do not understand the benefits of listing property for sale in MLS.
The program with $149 listing in MLS: You still would want to offer 2-2.5% to the buyers agent. If you just pay $149 and wont offer anything to buyers agent, they simply will not show your property to their buyers clients. After all why would they show a property where they 100% sure that THEY WONT GET PAID?
Further, lets say you pay $149 and offer 2% to the buyers agent.. Offer comes in, its time to review it, negotiate and proceed further. Who will be representing you for $149? You are on your own, while buyer is representing by a experienced Realtor.. Most of these “Flat Fee MLS” companies are “Listing farms” they charge you $149 and then re-sell your info to SEVERAL local realtors who will offer you to list your property for 5 or 6%.
Then its a matter of having access to current forms, disclosures and electronic signatures -Docusing, and most importantly – Experience of a Realtor who represents YOU!
