1.   What is FSBO?

FSBO, otherwise known as ‘For Sale By Owner’, is the sale of a home without the use of a real estate agent in the process. This method of selling a home is primarily used to save money, but it isn’t always the easiest way to do so. 

Without representation from a real estate agent, you’re responsible for everything involved with the home sale. This means setting the price, managing all of the legal paperwork, negotiations (i.e. home price, repairs, etc.), and the marketing of your home to make sure your property is getting the amount of exposure it needs to sell.

If you’re able to handle all of these aspects of selling your home, great! You won’t need to pay an agent, which results in saving a few thousand dollars in the process. However, if you mess up somewhere along the way, it could cost you more money than it would’ve taken to hire an agent. It’s important to find the happy medium between paying a large commission fee for an agent vs. taking the risk of doing everything yourself.

That’s where Scout Realty comes in. Rather than worrying about commission fees, we sell your house for a low flat fee. 

That’s right. No commission and no hidden fees. 

Just one low, flat fee.

This gives our clients the best of both worlds. We handle the marketing, paperwork, negotiations, open houses, and anything else that’s needed to sell your home so you don’t have to list it as FSBO, but you won’t pay that large commission fee that you would with a traditional brokerage.

2.        Pro’s and Cons of selling FSBO

As with anything in life, there are plenty of pro’s and cons of listing your home as a FSBO. Before we dive in, let’s first take a look at a couple of key statistics: 

According to Zillow.com, “36% of sellers attempt to sell their homes themselves, but challenges along the way lead many of them to eventually hire an agent. In the end, only 11% of sellers end up selling their home without a real estate agent.” This simply proves the level of difficulty that’s associated with selling your home without using an agent.

Another statistic to note comes from DaveRamsey.com, and states “Sellers using the FSBO option sold their homes for less than the median selling price of other homes. In 2018, FSBO homes sold at a median of $200,000. That’s a lot lower than the median price of $264,900 for agent-assisted home sales.” 

So, if you’re really trying to save money by listing your home without an agent, it’s important to note that you may end up selling it for far less than what it’s really worth.

Let’s take a look at some more Pro’s and Cons:

Pros:

–   The most notable “pro” to listing your house as FSBO is that you won’t have to pay a commission fee to a real estate listing agent. This is a large reason why most people go this route.

–   You’re the only one that knows your house as well as you do. This gives you plenty of expertise when discussing its best features and attributes that might be appealing to buyers.

–   You’ll control the open houses, viewings, negotiations, etc. This gives you the control over the entire sales process.

Cons:

–   Although you aren’t paying a commission fee to a listing agent, you’ll still more than likely end up paying anywhere from 2.5% – 3% to a buyer’s agent. If you don’t offer a commission fee to buyers’ agents, they will be reluctant to show your home, resulting in a much longer time on the market.

–   The amount of work required would be quite daunting. Negotiating contracts, scheduling showings and open houses, staging your home, and making sure everything is being done legally will take quite a lot of time and effort, which many people can’t afford to spare.

–   You may undervalue your home, which means you lose out on thousands of dollars.

Fortunately, Scout has been able to help clients that originally tried to list their home as FSBO.

Take Leslie for example. Here is her take on why using Scout to sell her home was far better than listing her home on her own:

 What made you decide to list with our agent?  

“I could get full-service assistance selling my home while saving a considerable amount of money.”

What advantage did you see over listing by yourself? 

“Listing with Scout gave me much broader visibility with being on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service). Plus, I needed to move before my home was sold. By listing with Scout, they took care of all the showings and kept me updated with immediate feedback from potential buyers.”  

Did you get the result that you were hoping for by listing with us?  

“I had a solid offer on my home within 2 weeks.”

What would you tell other DIY sellers after your experience selling with Scout?

“DIY sellers have to rely on potential buyers driving by and seeing your signs. I wasted a month thinking I could do it myself.”

Why were you considering selling on your own?

“The potential savings on commission is the biggest attraction but with Scout, you still save money without having to deal with the hassle.”

3.       Do FSBO sellers pay commissions?

If you decide to sell your home without using an agent, you cut the amount of real estate commissions that you’ll have to pay in half (roughly). However, more than likely, you’ll still end up paying 2.5% – 3% in commission fees to the buyer’s agent. This means the notion that FSBO sellers “don’t pay any commission fees” is false. As mentioned prior, if you decide to not offer the buyer’s agent any commission fee, they will more than likely not show your house to potential buyers, which can significantly increase the amount of time your house is on the market.

4.       Can FSBO homes be listed on the MLS?

The MLS (Multiple Listing Service) is one of the best ways to increase foot traffic on your home. Listing your home here allows realtors, brokers and third-party sites, such as Zillow.com, realtor.com, etc. to pull your listing into their database. However, only licensed real estate agents have access to post listings on the MLS database. If you are listing your home ‘For Sale By Owner’, you will still have the ability to list on the MLS, but you’ll have to pay anywhere between $99 and $500 for a package to do so. The price you’ll pay typically depends on the length of time you are going to list your property, and whether or not you’re able to include photographs, legal forms, etc. With Scout, we handle all of that for you in our flat fee listing packages, so you’ll never have to worry about how much you’ll end up dumping into the MLS before your home sells.

In summary, if you’re wondering whether or not to list your home with or without a real estate agent, just know that with an agent from Scout Realty:

1. You can avoid the full-time job of having to balance your normal just with being a full-service real estate agent on your own.

2. You can avoid the stress of worrying about meeting all of the legal requirements that are associated with selling a house, as well as locating all of the legal documents needed to close.

3. Your home will be seen by far more active buyers, which means your house sells faster, and for a more competitive price.

1. What is Flat Fee Real Estate?

Flat Fee Real Estate is exactly what it sounds like. Instead of paying a traditional real estate agent a percentage of the sales price of your home, you only pay a low, flat fee for their service. In a traditional real estate transaction, you can expect to pay anywhere from 5% – 7% in commission fees when selling a home. However, with Scout Realty, you can list your house for a low, flat fee instead, which allows you to retain more of the equity that you’ve built up in your house.

Scout Realty adopted this strategy in order to shift the real estate experience in favor of the homeowner. By doing so, we are able to provide an unparalleled customer experience, regardless of the price of your home. Whether your home sells for $200,000 or $2,000,000, you still pay the same flat rate. As our founder, Jonathan Harris, explains it, “We’re on a mission to eliminate commission fees. This is how we best serve and create value for our clients.”

2. What are the Benefits of Using a Flat Fee Broker vs. a Traditional Agent?

There are a variety of reasons to sell a home – whether relocating for a job, up or down sizing, or maybe the equity in your home is too good not to capitalize on. Making a profit might not always be the reason you’re selling a home, but one thing is for sure – no one wants to lose the equity that they’ve built up by paying outrageous commission fees. In fact, by selling your home for a flat fee, you’re able to save over $10,000 on average. This is cash that can be used to make a down payment on a new home, or maybe to take that dream vacation you’ve been wanting to take for years.

In order to truly capitalize on the equity you’ve gained in your home, it’s important to understand the difference in how much money you’ll be spending when selling your house with a traditional agent vs. a flat fee broker, like Scout Realty. With Scout, we don’t charge a crazy 6% commission fee that most traditional brokers do. We only charge one flat rate for you to sell your home. Because a traditional real estate transaction has a standard brokerage fee anywhere from 5% – 7%, the listing agent and the buyer’s agent typically split that commission fee. If a listing agent doesn’t offer the standard rate of 2.5% – 3% commission split, buyers’ agents might refer their clients to other properties, which will slow down the process of your home being sold.

3. How Do Commission Fees Really Work?

 Ss mentioned previously, in a traditional home sale, the commission fee is typically around 6% of the final sales price of your home. The commission is split evenly between the listing agent and their broker, which means each party receives roughly 3% of the sales price,

Here’s an example: If your home sells for $500,000 and you agreed to pay your agent and the buyer’s agent a total of 6% percent of the sales price, then you’re automatically out $30,000 in commissions, and can be down over half of YOUR equity!

When you choose a flat fee broker, there’s no need to worry about the crazy overhead of selling your home, regardless of how much a buyer agrees to buy your home for. Instead of worrying, you’ll know BEFORE you go under contract exactly how much you’ll pay to sell your home. There’s no hidden fees or charges – with Scout, it’s one flat fee no matter what.

4. Is Scout Realty Considered a Discount Brokerage?

At Scout Realty, we believe that discounting your cost and discounting your value are two totally different things. We create something that we call ‘Value Innovation’. We’re often asked “how do we create value for people if we don’t charge a full 6%,” or “if we don’t charge 3% on the seller’s side, are we considered a ‘discount brokerage’?” Our goal at Scout is to 1. Eliminate or reduce our costs for our clients, and 2. Raise or increase the value we provide for them. So, whenever we reduce or eliminate commission fees, this automatically increases the value we have for our customers, and provides them the opportunity to retain as much of their home equity as possible.

5. Will My Home Be Listed on the MLS?

An important thing to note is that even when you use a flat fee realtor like Scout Realty, your home will still be listed on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), so that it can be found just like every other home that’s listed in Nashville. The MLS is the main online directory that real estate agents use to list their properties and share them with other agents that also belong to the local MLS. This is an important thing to note because many third-party services, such as Zillow, Realtor.com, NextDoor, Trulia, etc. pull their listings from the same MLS, so your home will get maximum exposure for only a fraction of the price.

6. Would My Home Sell Faster With a Traditional Broker?

In the month of October, Scout Realty sold our flat fee Nashville listings in an average of 11 days. The average for all other Nashville homes that were sold by other brokerages during the month of October was 21 days. So, Scout’s listings sold in 10 less days, on average. This is great news for anyone looking to move quickly and avoid paying thousands of dollars in commission fees. 

Another thing to note is that when you meet with a traditional real estate agent to discuss the sale of your home, you’ll generally get a presentation on how well they plan to market your home. However, an overwhelming majority of properties are sold by the cooperating MLS agent, rather than a listing agent. So, why would you invest a large portion of your equity in someone who will more than likely lean on another agent to sell your home instead? 

This is where Scout Realty comes in. In our basic listing package, we provide professional photographs listed on the MLS, an open house to generate maximum exposure, a feature in our email blast, organic posts on social media and much more! We offer a fully-integrated marketing strategy for every property that lists with us, designed to help your home sell as quickly as possible. 

2020 has been a year for the history books here in Nashville, Tennessee.  

While headlines of tornado destruction, pandemic-related problems, and the presidential election dominate our headlines, there is a bright spot in Nashville. 

The Nashville Soccer Club is on a march to the playoffs. 

This gives all of Middle Tennessee something good to rally behind in our community. 

The partnership between Scout Realty and Nashville Soccer club is inherently aligned around growing the community and celebrating all that Music City has to offer. 

Scout Realty is proud to be the exclusive real estate partner of Nashville Soccer Club and support the good that MLS brings to our city. 

NASHVILLE, TENN. (PRWEB) OCTOBER 29, 2020

Scout Realty has announced a strategic relationship with Nashville Soccer Club that includes Scout Realty as an official sponsor of the club and the team’s exclusive Residential Real Estate partner.

Scout Realty is the new way to sell and buy your home because they offer full service real estate for a fair flat fee which saves you thousands in commissions, closing costs, and more—all while making your process easier, more efficient, and more enjoyable.

“We are excited to celebrate Nashville Soccer Club’s inaugural year. The presence of an MLS team in Nashville speaks to our city’s growth. Nashville is a great place to live and we are honored to partner with Nashville SC to serve them and their fans,” said Jonathan Harris, Founder and CEO of Scout Realty.

Scout Realty’s vision is to help 10,000 Nashville families save $100 Million dollars of their equity by making homeownership easy, efficient, and enjoyable.

“Scout Realty is thrilled to support Nashville SC as they continue their march towards the playoffs,” said Jonathan Harris.

Other aspects of the relationship between Scout Realty and Nashville SC include increased visibility for Scout Realty through TV broadcasts, the club’s digital platforms, digital in-stadium signage that will feature ScoutRealty.com, participation in fan giveaways, and other opportunities that will be announced later.

ABOUT SCOUT REALTY

Scout Realty has reinvented real estate in favor of homeowners. Scout offers a full service experience for a fair fixed fee; the average client saves over $10,000. Instead of charging outrageous commissions on a home sale Scout helps clients save more of THEIR equity.

For more information about Scout Realty visit ScoutRealty.com