Calgary Community Reviews

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The Actual Savings from FSBO (Example) Let’s assume you choose to sell your $800,000 home FSBO to avoid using a listing agent. Although at first glance, it would appear you save the 2.5% commission, or $20,000. However, let’s calculate the additional costs that eat into the savings. Increased legal fees: Most lawyers will charge 20% more for FSBO transactions. If this isn’t the case for you, we recommend paying extra for an experienced lawyer. We expect this to cost an extra $500. Allowance for legal mistakes: Even with an experienced lawyer, your FSBO sale is more likely to end in a lawsuit due to a mistake. If we estimate 10% of FSBO transactions end with a lawsuit settlement of $10,000 this translates to an expected $1,000 cost. Marketing costs: If you already have a buyer, you can ignore this cost. However, the most expensive cost of selling FSBO is attracting buyers. You’ll have to work extra hard to prove the deal is legitimate to suspicious buying agents who don’t like FSBO listings. Also consider the cost of staging your home which the agent would’ve covered. Depending on your marketing strategy, this can range from $0 to $4,000. Valuing your time: If you have a buyer you can also ignore this section. However, consider the time it takes to coordinate open houses, negotiations, and managing interested buyers. If your house is valued at $800,000 we’ll assume your hourly wage is at least $40. Additionally, we predict it takes 50 hours of active management to finalize the deal. This translates to a cost of $2,000. Overall, if you have a buyer you can expect to save $18,500 by selling FSBO. If you need to spend time and money promoting your home, you can expect to save $12,500 to $16,500. You can use these savings to offer a larger discount and attract more buyers. At the end of the day, you’ll have to deal with the uncertainty and stress of handling the transaction.