"For Sale By Owner" IS A LOSING GAME.

Even though selling as a pure For Sale By Owner (FSBO) can be the cheapest way to sell, it is BY FAR the least successful method around. The last year that a national survey was performed (2013) showed that only 14% sold this way and we're sure some of them actually had to pay a Buyer's Agent (ultimately paying around 3%) to sell. Of the 32 FSBOs that we tracked in Metro Milwaukee in 2013 and 2014 only 6 did not convert to sell with a Realtor at some point and may have sold as a FSBO (7 actually converted to our program).

The very reason we exist is the result of FSBOs. It was winter of 1984 when our founder walked away from buying a For Sale By Owner (FSBO) after he realized the Buyer's legal cost and time away from work necessary to meet with a lawyer (lawyers are NOT fond of meeting after business hours). He wondered how many other buyers walk away from buying a FSBO if Realtor assisted homes are easier to make offers on. A little research at the central library consisted of surveying 100 FSBOs from the newspaper ads of 3-6 months before, showed that very few sellers were successful (at that time only 16% of FSBOs were able to sell without any Realtor help). THE SUCCESS RATE IS DISMALLY LOW. It was then that he realized that there it has to be a better way for real estate to be sold and Homeowners Concept was born as the "missing link" for FSBOs to achieve the Realtor advantages without the hefty commission.

It is the time one loses trying to sell as a FSBO (usually 9-12 weeks) that damages the home's chance of getting sold or getting sold at its highest price. It is the buyers' reluctance to enter negotiations with the seller directly and spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars in legal fees plus maneuver through the transaction on their own that dooms the FSBOs. Most buyers do not want to spend ($500+ upfront ) on a retainer to make an Offer to a seller. If the Offer does not go together the retainer is gone. If any issues come up during negotiations or inspection (and these days it seems that there is always inspection issues) or thereafter it is more money the buyers are on the hook for. Can you blame Buyers for skipping buying a FSBO?

One of the fallacies sellers have is that a buyer will use "their" lawyer to do the buyer contract, counters, amendments, etc. That is extremely rare as buyers are reluctant to go to the seller's attorney. Keep in mind that attorneys list their homes with Realtors at the same rate as any other profession (THEY know better). Over the years we have had hundreds of sellers who were trying it on their own, turn to our company and within a number of days to a few weeks get an accepted offer as a result of us being involved.

With our 1.5% commission there is absolutely no reason why anyone would want to attempt selling FSBO. If sellers knew all the facts, they would never resort to sell a property as a FSBO not as long as companies like Homeowners Concept are around.