When you are looking to sell your home, you may want to strike out on your own, especially if you have done it before. You can handle the sale—this isn’t your first rodeo! And why relinquish a portion of the profits to someone else? 

While it might seem like a better option, privately selling your home without an expert to help is not easy.

Kelowna real estate and the neighbourhoods you’ll find it in are well-known and some are very sought after. No matter which one you choose, you’ll find a place that’s best suited for you and your family.

Privately selling your home is a full time job

If you are serious about selling your house, you will have to do the work, and there is quite a bit to be done. When you choose to sell your home privately, you now take on the responsibility of arranging viewings, marketing, and negotiating prices. The time it takes to organize these items and the mental and emotional bandwidth to manage them may not fit in with your daily life.

Undervalue or overvalue

While you may have an educated guess of your home’s worth, you need a proper evaluation from an experienced realtor. Prices can fluctuate in as little as a few weeks, and you need to know exactly how much your neighbours’ homes are worth or how much comparables are in your area to avoid over (under) valuing your home.

If you undervalue your home, you lose out on any potential profit you could have had. If you overvalue, you may be sitting for weeks, even months, waiting for a serious offer. A realtor will know the right amount to list your home and get you what it’s worth.

Off the buyer’s radar

While you may think selling your home privately is a way to attract more interest, most people won’t ever know it’s for sale. Unless a potential buyer drives by and sees your little ‘For Sale by Owner’ sign, you may not get many offers. Buyers like using realtor sites to look at all the details collected in one spot, and if you’re selling the home yourself, it won’t be in those searches.

Unqualified buyers

Realtors are aware of their buyers’ financial situation. You may not. You need to do your due diligence to know that an offer is being made in good faith to avoid having the potential buyer bail on the sale and forcing you to start the process all over again.

Handling multiple offers

Home deals can happen at all hours of the day and night, depending on the situation. Are you willing to give up your free time to get into negotiations if multiple offers are coming at you? There are rules and regulations to follow that a realtor would know, but a non-realtor might not. A buyer’s realtor will have experience in negotiating, and if multiple realtors are coming at you all simultaneously, you will get overwhelmed very quickly.

Bias of the home

You might think your home is perfect, so of course, you feel there’s no reason why someone wouldn’t want to buy it. A realtor is aware of what sells a home, and it’s different from your grandmother’s collection of glass figurines on display in the hall. They will tell you how to set up your home and tend to know how it will appeal to potential buyers.

The legal issues

A lot of legal paperwork goes into selling your home, including a seller’s disclosure. A seller must disclose any fact that materially affects the property and can be held liable for fraud, negligence, or breach of contract if they do not disclose it adequately. Realtors likely know more about this than private sellers and have insurance to cover any potential errors. If you don’t disclose everything, especially the bad, the buyer would have the right to sue. 

Should you sell your home privately?

If you want to sell your home without any hassle, call the Mayne Brothers! We have the experience and knowledge to make selling your home a breeze. Call us at 778-363-9132, and let’s get started!