{"id":218,"date":"2021-07-08T02:29:43","date_gmt":"2021-07-08T02:29:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/?p=218"},"modified":"2021-07-08T02:29:43","modified_gmt":"2021-07-08T02:29:43","slug":"the-fsbo-rant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/?p=218","title":{"rendered":"The FSBO Rant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bob: Hey, Dan. I saved $15,000 on a lawyer by representing myself!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dan: Good for you! Let\u2019s go out and celebrate!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bob: OK, but can you wait two years? I\u2019m in jail right now.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve heard the ads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJonny hired \u2018FSBO Inc\u2019 and saved over $15,000!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Really? How does Johnny know he saved $15,000? How does he know he didn’t actually lose <\/em>money by choosing not <\/em>to hire an experienced, highly skilled agent?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Answer: Johnny doesn\u2019t know, and he\u2019ll never know because he\u2019s already sold his home to some lucky buyer who cashed in on his massive naivety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re a professional REALTOR\u00ae, so you know exactly what I\u2019m talking about, right? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But how do we explain this to the public?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How about simply telling them the straight-up truth? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Note: You might need to tone down my snarkiness a smidge.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The straight-up truth about FSBO, Inc:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. They claim you\u2019re going to get \u201cprofessional representation\u201d to help with all the paperwork, marketing, negotiating, etc. Ask yourself one simple question: If these people were actually good at what they do, why are they working for peanuts for \u2018FSBO Inc\u2019? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. When it comes to negotiating, you\u2019re on your own (see #1 above). So, how do you think you\u2019re going to fare negotiating your first real estate transaction against a shark who does this for a living? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Despite the \u201crules,\u201d most agents will avoid showing your property and will discourage buyers from writing an offer on it. Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, there\u2019s a high probability that it\u2019s overpriced, based on the combination of the terrible advice you\u2019ve received from the FSBO \u201cagent\u201d and your own \u201cfeelings\u201d about what your home is worth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, every professional REALTOR\u00ae knows that working directly with a FSBO seller is likely to be a painful experience compared to dealing with a professional. It\u2019s usually twice as much work and three times as much stress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, there are additional legal liability concerns because a FSBO is simply not held to the same reporting and disclosure standards compared to a professional real estate brokerage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. You really have no choice but to pay the buyer\u2019s side of the commission anyway (you already know how to explain this.) On top of that, there are listing costs from \u2018FSBO, Inc\u2019 that need to be paid up-front, whether you sell or not. So tell me again, how much are you going to \u201csave\u201d? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Quality of Buyers – There are three types of buyers. (1) Potential Buyers – anyone who wants to buy a home, (2) Qualified Buyers – those who have the ability to buy a home, and, (3) Serious Buyers – those who are actively looking to buy a home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the ONLY buyers who matter are both (2) qualified and (3) serious. You can have a serious buyer who isn\u2019t qualified, or a qualified buyer who isn\u2019t serious, right? So, guess what? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost ALL serious, qualified buyers are working with a professional real estate agent – the ones who want to avoid showing your FSBO! <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The people who call you directly? Those are potential buyers, but are they qualified? Are they serious? How will you know? Have fun showing your home to a bunch of looky-loos who have no intention of ever buying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s expand on this and look at serious, qualified buyers from a different perspective. All of the following buyers are both serious and qualified:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018A\u2019 Buyers <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018A\u2019 Buyers are every REALTOR\u00ae\u2019s dream client. They\u2019re getting transferred from a city where prices are significantly higher than in your market. For me (Calgary), this could mean they\u2019re coming from Toronto or Vancouver. If you\u2019re in one of those cities, maybe your buyer is international, Hong Kong or New York, for example. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These buyers are moving to your market area because they\u2019re probably getting a promotion\/raise, and they\u2019ve got a pocket full of cash, having just sold their home in (expensive city). They\u2019re working with a highly qualified agent referred by their trusted local agent, and they\u2019re flying in on the weekend to look at ten homes and choose the best one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They can\u2019t believe the \u201cbargains\u201d in your city! But guess what? The REALTOR\u00ae wants to make the most of the short time they have together, so they’re not going to waste valuable time looking at FSBOs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No \u2018A\u2019 buyers for you! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018B\u2019 Buyers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These buyers are local, but they\u2019ve just sold their existing home. They\u2019ve got a short window of opportunity to find their new home, and they\u2019ve already developed trust and rapport with their agent, so guess what? This agent isn\u2019t going to waste time with their valuable repeat-business clients looking at FSBOs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No \u2018B\u2019 buyers for you!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018C\u2019 Buyers <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are first-time buyers. They\u2019re scared, and they don\u2019t know the process. They were referred to their agent by their parents or someone else they trust. The agent takes this responsibility seriously and will not risk getting into a messy deal with a FSBO. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No \u2018C\u2019 buyers for you! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018D\u2019 Buyers <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are bargain hunters and investors. They know the market, and they\u2019re looking for people selling undervalue. They LOVE \u2764\ufe0fworking with FSBOs!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congratulations! You get all the \u2018D\u2019 buyers! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You still think you \u201csaved\u201d $15,000, Johnny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

(Thanks to my friend Pete for this simple A\/B\/C\/D presentation. He does it on a whiteboard, overflowing with confidence, and he\u2019s never once in his entire career NOT successfully converted a FSBO back to their senses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honestly, despite my snarkiness oozing in this article, the truth is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel sorry for FSBOs.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mean, how are they supposed to know, if you don\u2019t explain it to them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I completely understand how people can conclude that FSBO is the way to go, if they\u2019ve had one or more bad experiences with an unskilled, unprofessional, apathetic agent, which\u2014let\u2019s be honest\u2014is not a rarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These agents are the seagulls of the bird world – obnoxiously loud, squawking scavengers who serve no useful purpose, at least to the untrained ornithological eye. I\u2019m sure seagulls are good for something (?).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No wonder people turn to FSBO Companies. They think we\u2019re ALL seagulls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you a seagull? Or are you an eagle?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be an eagle. If we were all eagles, \u2018FSBO Inc\u2019 would not even exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Disclaimer: The Agent Skills Master\u2019s Program contains NOTHING about FSBOs in the entire course. I\u2019ll fix that with the next update, but here\u2019s why it never occurred to me to include it the first time around:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I always knew how to demonstrate my value. As a result, I attracted high-quality clients who trusted me as a professional and would never even consider selling their own home, or represent themselves in court, for that matter. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you really want to convince people not to go FSBO, demonstrate your value with actions, not words. It\u2019s not as difficult as it sounds.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be an eagle.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bob: Hey, Dan. I saved $15,000 on a lawyer by representing myself! Dan: Good for you! Let\u2019s go out and celebrate! Bob: OK, but can you wait two years? I\u2019m in jail right now. You\u2019ve heard the ads. \u201cJonny hired \u2018FSBO Inc\u2019 and saved over $15,000!\u201d  Really? How does Johnny know he saved $15,000? How […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}