Real Estate Information Center

You have decided to list for sale by owner, or fisbo, or FSBO – however you pronounce it, and you’ll need to know a ball-park estimate of what this will cost you. Below you will find a list of costs of selling a home in this current market.

The actual cost depends on plenty of ever-changing variables, but let’s make it simple. We’ll make a list of the most realistic expenses when you sell your own home.

First, let’s take a look at the pre-listing expenses:

Inspection Report: $150-$300 (optional)
You may think about hiring an inspector to look over your house and make sure it is salable. This is completely optional but more times than not buyers greatly appreciate this as it saves them the fee.

CMA (competitive market analysis), AVM (automated valuation model) or Appraisal: $0-$350
Before listing your property it is a good idea to have someone (other than you!) figure out the home’s value. You can have a local Realtor run a CMA for you, and they will usually provide this for no cost.

You may also get an AVM, and to have this done it usually costs around $30. An AVM is the same pricing model that lenders have been using for years.

You may wish to have a full appraisal done by an appraiser. This is definitely the most pricey way to go, but might also be a great selling tool if the value is close to your asking price!

Next, you will most likely have some ADVERTISING EXPENSES:

MLS (Multiple Listing Service) Providers: $500
By now you probably know of the best for sale by owner sites that have MLS service providers to help you list for sale by owner. For a full service fisbo package we’ll assume it will cost you a flat-fee of about $500.

Website Expenses
This, of course, is entirely optional, but some companies have pretty good packages that cost around $10 a month and can really help to expose your listing on the web.

Local Newspaper, Craigslist, Etc (Print Ads)
Craigslist is completely free, and you will find a separate section here of people who list for sale by owner. Posting for sale by owner ads in the local papers will end up costing you a few bucks.

Let’s set aside $100 for generic print ads, although newspapers are currently running some VERY inexpensive ad programs because the economy is getting hit so hard – as well as the newspaper companies.

Signage
You can get a for sale sign, for sale by owner flyers, open house signs, etc all for about $150 or less if you do your research and find the best companies to order from. This is easily done over the web and some companies even provide free shipping on orders over $50.

The last couple of fees, with detailed descriptions, can be found on my blog listed below.

Please keep in mind that this is just an ‘average’ list of costs of selling a home fisbo and should give you a basic idea of the expenses you can expect when you sell by owner. The biggest expenses for a fisbo, which is typically the real estate commissions and closing costs, can be taken directly out of your proceeds during the closing.

The up-front and out-of-pocket expenses listed above are some of the smaller ones and, compared to hiring a Realtor, can seem relatively inexpensive when put into perspective.

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