If you’re considering selling your home, you’re probably starting to look at the numbers and you’re figuring out how much you might make (and how much you’ll have to spend) from the sale.
Unfortunately, there are costs associated with selling your home and the BIGGEST of the closing costs, by far, is paying real estate agents. So, it’s only natural to wonder: can you sell your home without a realtor?
The answer is YES! In fact, in most situations, I encourage people to sell their home on their own.
By selling your home as For Sale By Owner (FSBO), you’re going to save a TON of money, you’ll be in better control of the process, and, because you’ll be focusing on your home instead of treating it like just another listing, you’re likely to sell it faster.
The problem with being a FSBO seller, for many people, is not knowing how to do it. I get it – there’s a lot to know like how to prepare your home, how to effectively market your sale, how to list it on the MLS, how to handle the legal documents, and how to negotiate properly.
That’s why we made the Home Solo program – an online course and resources to teach you everything you need to know and walk you through the entire process.
I’m an attorney who has sold multiple homes on my own and know how the entire process works – I even included things in our program that most realtors don’t know like negotiation skills and how to make a website and run social media ads.
Real Estate Agent Cost
The biggest reason I try to avoid real estate agents is their cost – you’re going to be paying 6% of the sales price of your home to them as their commission fee (3% to the seller’s agent and 3% to the buyer’s agent).
If you sell your home for $500,000, you’ll be paying out $30,000!
If you sell your home for $750,000, you’ll be paying out $45,000!
And, what are the agents doing for all of your money? Well, in many cases, they’re taking a potential buyer to see homes that the buyer already found online and sent to the realtor so that they could meet them there (in their Mercedes) and open the front door while they talk on their phone to another client.
Or, if they’re the listing agent, perhaps the real estate agent is listing your home as an Open House and working on their phone in your kitchen for a few hours while prospective buyers stop by.
If someone offered us $45,000 to host a couple of Open Houses, have pictures taken of a home and list them online, and fill out a pre-formatted home sales contract, we’d jump at the chance – making $45k for about 10 hours of work is an amazing deal (and something I’m tired of paying other people for).
How to Sell Your Home Without a Realtor
Selling your home without a realtor can actually be as straight forward as selling a used car to someone else in your town.
You need to get it cleaned up and fix any issues, you need to take pictures of it and list it online for sale, and you need to meet with potential buyers, answer their questions, and possibly negotiate over the price.
If people are willing to sell an old car themselves, why aren’t they as willing to sell their home themselves?
We believe it is due in large part to how much realtor associations have marketed to convince you to use an agent. Without all of that marketing (and deliberate efforts to make you rely on agents), we would never use real estate agents for our homes just like we don’t use “car agents” to help us sell our used car.
There is absolutely no legal requirement to use an agent in your real estate transaction.
I’m going to walk you through the selling process here but if you’d like a complete education on everything you need to do where I walk you through the entire process and give you all the tips and tricks I’ve learned over the years as an attorney who has sold multiple homes on his own, please consider taking the Home Solo online course.
Step-by-Step How to Sell Your Home Without a Realtor
Time needed: 7 days
FSBO Home Selling Process
- Prepare Your Home
You’ll want to de-clutter your home, clean it (possibly pressure wash the outside), tidy up the landscaping, and make it look appealing to a prospective buyer.
- Research Your Market
Look at comparable homes in your area and see how much they recently sold for. In the Home Solo online course we have an entire system and even a sample spreadsheet for this. This is how you can get a good idea for your market value.
- List Your Home
You’re going to want to get great pictures of your home, write an excellenet description, and list your home for sale.
One of the ways realtors try to force people to use them is that they won’t let you list on the “Multiple Listing Service” (MLS) – they protect that only for realtors as their job security. I’ve figured out how to list on the MLS and I include the instructions in the Home Solo online course. - Show Your Home
Because you followed the Home Solo online course for your home sale, you are going to have interested buyers coming to see your home – you’re going to want to show it to them and answer any questions they may have.
- Conduct Inspections / Negotiations
There’s a good chance that an interested buyer is going to negotiate about something – especially after they’ve scheduled and had their various home inspections (yes, there’s often more than one type).
In the Home Solo online course we give you tips and tricks on how to effectively negotiate and get a good deal for everyone. - Finalize Contract / Close
Once everyone is happy with the terms (sales price, and concessions, etc), you’re going to finalize the real estate contract and other legal paperwork and close on your home with the title company.
The only thing left to do after selling your home on your own without an agent is figure out what you’re going to do with all of the money you saved by not having to pay an agent commission.
We hope to see you in the course.
Yes, you can sell your house on your own (without a realtor)! We show you how to do it, step by step, in our Home Solo online course.
No, there is no legal requirement to use a real estate agent.
You can save around 6% of your home sales price by not using an agent. That is significant money!
