Stan Suther's Real Estate and Stuff

If you find yourself in the situation of wanting to sell your home in the Lake Norman/Iredell County area, but you’ve got the itch to try to do it yourself, I say, “go for it!”  You don’t know if you don’t try.  You might find it odd for a real estate agent to say that, but really, it’s no big deal.  We agents know that lots of people have to scratch that itch, and some are successful.  Over the years, anywhere between 12 and 16% of people selling houses did so as a FSBO (For Sale By Owner).  Of course, in around half those cases, they already knew the person who bought the house, so that’s not quite like having to advertise the house, attract buyers, and negotiate a good deal.  We also don’t know how well they did on getting the most possible net price for the house.  We don’t know how much they spent advertising their homes or taking time to show their homes to complete strangers who may or may not actually be interested in or financially able to buy a home.  They may have just been curious or worse yet, interested in finding out what valuables the home seller had around the house.  We see lots of FSBO signs go up and stay there for a few weeks, then see that the owner has gotten tired of the process or scratched that itch enough to hire a real estate agent.  Fact is, we can usually help the seller negotiate a price that nets higher than he would have gotten him/herself even considering our sales charges.

If you really want to try to sell your house yourself, then let me know.  I’ll be glad to give you some advise to help you sell it in exchange for letting me help you find another home locally or by referral to another agent in your destination.  I just look at you as being a potential buyer rather than as a seller.  I’d also like to get the list of people who looked at your home and didn’t buy it, because I may be able to help them buy one of my listings or find them another home to purchase. 

So, you see, I don’t need to push you to list your home with me in order to give me a reason to want to help you, although after you’ve scratched that itch, if you’ve not been successful and want to get on with it, I’ll be happy to help then, too!