For Sale By Owner. The Selfie of The Real Estate World, Are They Just As Dangerous as Regular Selfies?
Selfies have gone from just taking pictures of ones self to one upping each other. The selfie crazy driven by the use of cell phones and the ability to spread thru social media has given risen to an increasing and alarming trend. Death by Selfie. Is this just local?
Let us take a look at what is going on. Right now the most deaths by selfie involving electric trains, standing too close to trains, falling off cliffs, bridges and other high places and getting caught by waves. A couple in Spain were trying to take a selfie with their 5 & 6 year old kids and fell into the ocean off a cliff and died. A man in China was found dead at the bottom of a cliff with a selfie stick and camera near his body. In Pamplona, Spain selfies have been banned from the running of the bulls because of people getting gored and killed taking selfies in front of the bulls. A guy in Oregon was trying to take a selfie with a train going by, a train came the on the other tracks. The air vacuum pulled him under one of the trains.
Let’s not talk about the Idiots with gun selfies. The first rule of gun safety always check and make sure it is unloaded. Several have shot and killed themselves on accident taking a selfie. Accidentally shooting themselves is not fodder for the anti-gun people, it is a fact that some are not smart enough to own certain items. Why would anyone pose with a gun to their head for a selfie or under their chin is beyond me. To top it off 2 guys pull the pin on a live grenade and blow themselves up taking a selfie. The phone survived I am checking into that brand of phone because I am hard on phones and that is the one I should own.
Plane crash has killed 2 while taking a selfie, car crash, blah blah… I was being forced to listen to the John Tish radio show by my daughter the other night on the way home from somewhere when I heard some of these stories. A writer by the name of Zachary Crockett wrote and article about this in Priconomicson January 24, 2016 edition he did the research from 2014 . Zachary Crockett very strong name by the way. To have the name Crockett brings up Davey Crockett in my mind and Zachary is just a cool name.
Back to my point we as people are competitive, we try and out due each other. Have the coolest whatever, have a great picture be a the best in our group at whatever. In real estate, I have found people want to buy their house for the least amount, sell it for the most and have the lowest interest rate on the street. Why is this? We are naturally competitive. When some one has the lowest purchase price, the lowest interest rate and sell for the most the person becomes significant. Being significant is a basic need of humans. I have met with many that have told me numbers, sells price, sold price and interest rate, that are not totally accurate according to deeds of trust and county records so I know this is not limited to just a few.
How does this relate to selfies? If a person sells one’s home themselves is like taking a very dangerous selfie. How is this? A train you don’t see can comes along and hit you, a rock you think is secure could slip out from under you and cause you to fall, a wire you are too close to could literally fry you, or you could just lose control of the situation, resulting in death. Not physical death , however, the death of your real estate profit. I will bore you with one statistic on for sale by owners, they end up selling for 15% under the value of similar properties. All to save 6–7% of commission. Does not sound smart does it? What about disclosures? In California, we have a total of about 150 pages of disclosures that go with each real estate transaction. Each different disclosure is a result of lawsuits brought from homeowner against a homeowner. So there is value in having all the right disclosures. A real professional real estate agent carries errs and omissions insurance to protect both the agent and homeowner. Does this not also have value? So why risk taking that selfie? Or Why would you risk selling that house yourself?
Let us consider an actual story of a for sale by owner that experienced real estate death. I went to meet with this couple to talk about selling their house. She wanted to sell the house use the proceeds to live on while she went back to school to get her nursing degree. I went over the condition of the property, market conditions what to expect with the house as is or if they put some work into it. They said that they wanted to discuss it because they want to Sell by Owner tomaximize return. I agreed that maximizing was my goal for them as well. We discussed several different ways to sell a house and they were not prepared for any of the situations that arise. Indulge me a minute and let me go over somethings that are not normal for those outside of my business to consider.
Types of Buyers
The number one buyer in this market place is 1st time buyers. 1st buyers have lots of questions and need guidance and advice. Is the average home owner equipped to handle this? No. How are the 1st time buyer people going to find the property? Craigslist brings out the worst in buyers and most 1st timers don’t look there. Yes Zillow has a section for For Sale By Owner, this is just not very effective for reaching Qualified buyers. That brings up another issue how is Seller going to get buyers properly qualified to purchase property? Does seller know what VA and FHA requires so what to have fixed or repaired to avoid it being called out by appraiser? 1st buyers will be FHA or VA buy the way. If the house is a condo is the complex approved for VA or FHA?
Relocation buyers
These are the 2nd types of buyers in my market place. These come into town with limited time to find a home and need to move fast. Are they going to rent a car drive around town looking for, For Sale By Owners? No, this type of buyer wants to know what schools are like, what neighborhoods are like, where is the shopping, utility companies are and general information about the area. Are For Sale By Owners going to take the time to help with all this? I think not. I go through this exercise 4–5 times a year. I have sheets I hand out with this information all put together including where to look up crime statistics for the area. So now we have discussed about 70% of all the buyers in my area. Do you think these types of buyers want to work with a professional that can help with their needs or an amateur with their biggest asset their home purchase?
Now we have talked about 70% of the market that has now been eliminated from purchasing a house because the seller wants to save 6–7% does any of this make sense to you? It does not to me. The rest of the buyers are investors that require to buy under market value and lease option customers. Neither of these are about maximum return for seller. So what is the point that their are challenges to over come as a seller.
Now there are several markets where houses are selling fast and For Sale By Owners do good in these markets that is not the case all the time or everywhere. So For Sale By Owner For Sale By Owner is a dangerous as a selfie leaning over a cliff, climbing on top of a train, standing between trains, getting close to a wild animal, driving your car, flying a plane, ect ect….. Now back to my story of the nursing school student what happened? Well they tried to sell the house themselves. I believe in the the Yoda school there is not try only do. Well they were foreclosed on. The house did not sell they lost the 60,000 in equity that we could have gotten them in the condition the house was in. They went down the dangerous road of aand died financially with their largest asset and investment their home. I have other stories just as heart breaking and others where the owners sold for way below where they should have because they got tired of the process and lost profit because of not working with professional.
Let me share one more idea with you. If you go and look at a watch at the jewelry store. Pretend it is a Rolex and that Rolex is $6000.00 great looking watch and you really want it however $4000.00 is your budget. Remember we are pretending this could be a lot to you or not that much so bear with me. Now on Saturday you stop by a garage sale, at this garage sale you see the exact same watch still in them box never been worn. Now do you expect to pay $6,000.00 for that watch? No it is a garage sale, you expect to get a deal maybe $3,000.00 right. Why? A professional sales person is not involved, is it any different for a For Sale By Owner?Not having a professional involved changes precipitation in the buyers mind, does it not? Is the precipitation the same in your mind? How are you any Different for the most of us? So work with a Professional.
I understand not wanting to work with an agent that does not call you back or communicate. The lack of communication is the cause of most divorces so I get it. A true professional will communicate with you to let you know what if anything is going on. The real issue for, For Sale By Owners is marketing. Marketing is the basis for any successful business transaction. How is a non-professional that has not studied marketing going to be successful? I see lots of challenges that make it very dangerous for a For Sale By Owner
This is why I took part in an experiment with other agents around this country and in Canada, England, and Australia to come up with a book to help protect homeowners profit. We as a group are fighting against the same thing you homeowners are, the greed and selfishness that has become and epidemic in the real estate world today. Join us in this fight order the book The Value Drive-Approach to Sell Real Estate, Go to http://freebook4mankind.com to get a copy for yourself don’t do the fatal real estate selfie and try a For Sale By Owner.Hire a true professional to help you protect your profit in your house.
