The Case of the FSBO in Old Rice Retreat -Cane Bay Plantation

Posted By Alison Goheen @ Feb 8th 2019 1:36pm In: Cane Bay Plantation

Cane Bay Plantation - Old Rice Retreat

Recently my neighbor put a For Sale By Owner (FSBO) sign in his front yard.

Curious I looked up the address as was surprised to see what he was asking for his house. It's a nice home on the retention pond in Old Rice Retreat close to the amenity center. But he was asking for a price much higher than what he could probably sell it for. Not knowing for sure it appears he was going off the Zestimate® from Zillow (as of right now that's not a real word). He bought the house 2 years ago. We bought our house about nine months after that. Our house is about 300 square feet larger and we bought it at a much lower price than he was trying to get a year later.

Some people try to sell FSBO to avoid paying an agent commission.

Did you know a real estate agent can help you without listing your property? A real estate agent can advise you on the price you are asking. My house was built in the first phases of building in Old Rice Retreat. So an agent can look at not only what homes in phase one sold for recently but also what newer homes sold for. A real estate agent can also help in other ways such as hosting an open house. They can help decide who’s a legitimate buyer and who’s just going to be wasting your time. FSBO homes are more likely to appeal to the type of buyer who’s looking for a bargain deal. I know that's what happened when we bought our home from an FSBO. Once the seller decides to list with the real estate agent (Over 80% of FSBO's evenly hire a real estate agent to sell their home) the agent can market the home, show the property (and follow up on feedback from showings) and handle the details once an offer is received. And most important everything is negotiable.

So after about two months trying to sell the home himself and with a couple of showings he moved out and hired a real estate agent.

The home was listed at the same price the owner was trying to sell at. I went to the home to see if any work had been done and if there was any other reason than the price was the cause of it not selling. It's a nice home but he had not done any work since he bought it according to the photos from the prior listing.

After two months on the market with a few showings, a new sign replaced the for sale sign.

Another real estate agent sign listed the home for rent. The rental price was also higher than I feel could be rented out at. It remains to be seen how much longer it will take to rent out or sell but each month may make it tougher.

It's difficult to tell someone that their beloved home is not worth what they think it is.

But pricing a home correctly is going to save time and money in the long run. While your home is for sale you still need to pay the mortgage, taxes, insurance, upkeep, and utilities. So pricing the home high ends up costing possibly more than if you listed it lower.

If you are thinking about selling your home I'd be happy to tell you how I can help.

Scroll through all Cane Bay Plantation homes for sale here!

I'm sure you will love living here as much as we do!

Read all my posts about Cane Bay Plantation here!

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