Atlanta For Sale By Owner's Page

Do I really need help when selling a home in Atlanta? Yes, of course you do! The success rate for For Sale By Owners has changed little over the years.  Only a small percentage will be successful. Nearly four  out of every five buyers will use an agent or broker to complete their transaction.  Eleven percent will buy directly from a builder.  Only nine percent will purchase their home directly from the previous owner.*  

If you came into a small inheritance, chances are you would seek the services of a tax lawyer, an accountant and a financial planner.  So when it comes to selling or buying a home that is a biggest investment of your life, many people do not feel an agent is important.  All too often they are wrong.  The bottom line is that transactions are much more complex than they seem. Real estate deals and finances have become more involved in recent years and for that reason it is important to have professional assistance.

Almost every home seller dreams of bypassing a real estate agent and saving the sales commission. Occasionally, a seller gets lucky.  Perhaps the seller is relocating with his company, and they’ve offered him a bonus if the employee sells the home in a short period of time.  Many times, the bonus is the downfall.  The seller wastes time trying to sell it themselves to keep the entire bonus.  More often than not, the home sits.  A lot of traffic, yet no sale?  How can this be?  Is the home advertised?  Is there a yard sign?  Is it easily found on the Internet?  Well times have changed. 

It used to be a classified ad would bring loads of qualified buyers to a home on a single ad.  The Internet has changed all that.  Today, there are more than 30 million persons on-line on the Internet.  That is more people than own vcrs!  2 out of 3 adults over the age of 12 are on line every day!  Industry studies show, that over 70% of all home purchases begin on the net.  A buyer in Ohio, can view the inside of every major room of a home for sale in Atlanta in full color!  They can narrow their purchase, and the house hunting trip by shopping and previewing homes on line. Today, even a loan can be obtained on the Internet, tax records, school reports, and credit reports.  You have to ask yourself, “Do I have this exposure?” 

Having sold many for-sale-by-owner homes that were unsuccessfully marketed, Ellen and I noticed that a most common error made when marketing their home was “due diligence.”  A buyer advises the seller that they are going to get a letter from a lender within a few days, but the letter never comes!  When asked for a loan letter…they tell the seller they are still shopping around for the best rates.  Again, the letter never arrives.  The reasons are many, and all too often the buyers are not heard from again.  Were they qualified?  Could they afford to buy?  This can be frustrating especially if this drags on for several months.  What are the reasons?  Who knows?  Were they self employed, did they have bad credit, were they a slow pay on credit or did they just not have the correct documentation when inquiring about a mortgage.  The real answer is they did not have anyone directing the buyers to the right lender that can provide a loan suited to their particular needs.

Also, many times buyers that frequent for sale by owner homes are not qualified.  A good real estate agent will always have a buyer qualified before letting them in their car for an afternoon of house hunting.  That is the smart thing to do!  It is important in personal safety to be careful with potential buyers.  If they cannot afford to buy a home, then what are their real motives for looking?  You should remember, the only way an agent gets paid is when they successfully close the deal.  They are not a taxi service. 

So selling a home is no longer a simple process, and getting top-dollar is especially difficult for do-it-yourselfers that don't know the process.  A common mistake is that a seller often overlooks the experience, the network of agents and the connections an agent uses to make things work.  They have contacts, inspectors, handymen, and relationships of many peers that have successfully worked with them before.  It is not unusual for a good agents to perform 40 sales or more a year. Compare that to the home seller that sells a home only when a need arises.

Without an agent, marketing a home to receive its best market value, prepare a legally binding contract, arrange for financing, survey, handling inspections counters and closing the sale successfully takes experience.  It takes more than luck to sell a home. There’s more to it than a planting a sign in the yard, a color flyer and placing a clever ad in newspaper.  That is not even half the job.  Getting it closed is true test. 

Obtaining the best price for your home, with or without a real estate agent, usually takes several steps. The first is getting you home market ready. Getting the home into tip-top shape is just the first step, then correctly marketing it. If an agent isn’t hired, be ready to market the home, prepare a legally binding sales contract, help the buyer obtain mortgage financing and the close the sale. That’s all there is to selling your home without professional help.  But consumer surveys state, the main reason that a persons will shop a for sale by owners it that they think they will save money.  So be prepared to deal with it.

In a practical sense, Ellen and I have been listing homes for years in the Atlanta area.  Most of our sales are always to persons being transferred into the metro area.  The buyers that are relocating... fly in for an average of three days to purchase a home.  Keep in mind, that with a corporate transfer, they already have financing in place.  They are already have loan approval.  Their company offers it as a service to the relocating employee. So on their first day, the buyers get settled into the hotel after traveling, then they get a bite to eat, and a good nights rest.  On day two, they will meet the agent.  The agent briefs them with an overview of the area, the current market conditions, home inventory list, talks about commute times, roads, and perhaps schools.  Then they are off to look at neighborhoods and homes.  

The next day, perhaps the buyer has to check into their new place of work to get acquainted with the surroundings and so forth.  A meeting with a loan officer would also take place. Then off to look at a few more homes.  By this time, the selection has narrowed down, and an offer will usually be drawn up this day. It is not unusual that they will write an offer as the leave town.  It is almost expected.  The agent can handle most of the details for contract contingencies, and inspection.  After all, they’ve done this before, and it isn’t magic. 

A common event during this relocation buying timeframe is that the agent will drive past a for sale by owner home.  Perhaps they notice the sign in the yard, or a flyer box.  If the buyers like the curb appeal, they have the agent call from the car phone to show the home.  The call is made to show the home, but the answering machine is on.  It is frustrating.  They wait in the car for a bit, maybe even drive the neighborhood hoping the seller will call.  The buyers usually mutter that is probably sold already.  After waiting a bit more, they decide to drive on.  Time is valuable!  They'll find something else.

The sad thing is, that the call from the seller is finally returned later that evening, but it's too late!  They were busy at work, or attended an important meeting, and were unable to call.  That is nice, but in the meantime...the buyer’s already left town, and they purchased something else.  Without a lockbox, or the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), the home cannot be shown at the most important time of the day.  When there are real buyers actively looking!

*Source: National Association of REALTORS® 2000 Profile of Buyers and Seller's

 Site Updated 11/12/06