Taking Real Estate Agent Calls When Selling Your Home FSBO

The FSBO (pronounced as “fizbo”) style of selling real estate is quickly gaining ground. Many home owners opt to sell without the assistance of real estate agents primarily because they want to avoid giving up at least 6% of the sale price as commission, which may be considered as an unnecessary expense.

The minute after you put up the big “For Sale by Owner” sign on your lawn and release all your posters, brochures and newspaper advertisements, expect to be swamped by calls. No, unfortunately the initial barrage of phone calls will not be from prospective buyers but from real estate agents – most of which with only one goal in mind: to sweet-talk or convince you to secure their professional services. ARGH!

When you are caught in this predicament, you should never, even if you have reached the end of your patience, be rude to the agents. Turn down their offer to handle to sell your property politely and, if pressed by them, cite the reasons why you and your family have decided to sell the property without professional assistance. Take down their contact details (their name, the company they represent) and reassure them that, if you do decide to seek the help of real estate professionals, you would consider their services. There is another underlying purpose as to why you should get their contact details, and that is to inform succeeding real estate agents that one of their colleagues has already contacted you about their services. By doing this, the time of the real estate agent is not wasted, and you will be able to free the phone line for much awaited calls from potential buyers.

Don’t feel frustrated that during the first few weeks or months, you will receive more calls from real estate agents than from possible buyers. In time, real estate agents will know that you are not keen on seeking professional assistance; more people will be aware that your house is out on the market; and you will be receiving less real-estate-related calls and more serious inquiries on your property