For Sale By Owner Review

Our main concern was that people wouldn’t want to deal direct with the owner, but we found that all buyers who viewed the property would rather deal direct with the owner and get ‘straight answers’ immediately rather than wait for a real estate agent who would possibly not give a ‘straight answer’. The other bonus was that we were able to be more flexible with our price because there was no commission to worry about, and this resulted in us getting an offer after just two and a half weeks.

I think many people are scared of trying to sell their own property because it is their most valuable asset, but in reality it is no different to selling anything else. The house sells itself and as long as you have a reliable conveyancer or solicitor helping you with the contract of sale and the transfer, then the process is really quite simple. I just find it ridiculous that you can be charged so much in commissions for a service which adds absolutely no value to your property.

To give you a quick example – I am a registered land surveyor and when I carry out a 2 lot subdivision for example, I might charge my client $5k for what will return them $70k in profit. A real estate agent will charge that person $15k to sell that block of land and that is just lost money. It’s a dying “profession” and it can’t die quick enough as far as I am concerned!