SUNDAY, JULY 3, 2016
Fewer sellers are using FSBO (For Sale By owner) real estate listing sites. In 2003 over 80% of owners used live Realtors to list property for sale and about 12% used FSBO sites in order to save the fee Realtors charge. The FSBO sites may save money if they are effective, but from 2003 to 2015 the number of sellers using “self-sell” sites has dropped. In 2015 almost 90% of home sellers are using the traditional “live agent” method for selling homes and under 10% are using FSBO websites.
FSBO websites were difficult to use and did not combine FSBO listings together with Realtors listings, but that has changed over time. New generation FSBO sites can cost modest fees to post owner’s homes by the owner, but are being listed together with Realtor’s listing information. The difference is service.
The level of service with FSBO sites is modest, hovering around 10% while full service postings from Realtor sites remains at 80%. Also, Realtors are typically paid on performance and fees charged by FSBO sites are paid whether the property sells or not.
