A Few Sneaky Ways to Find Out if its a Sellers Market For Sale By Owner Homes (FSBO)

It's always a good idea to figure out if you will be able to get a good price for your home.  So, before you decide to do all of the work yourself, and put your house up as a For Sale By Owner, follow these easy steps to determine if it is a buyers or sellers market.

Recent statistics show that the number of people who are now offering their (FSB)  home for sale by owner is as high as 25-30 percent.  The average Real Estate Broker's commission is around 5.5 percent, but it can get as high as 8 percent in certain areas. 

In a Buyers market, real estate sales slow down.  This can happen within just a few months and when it does, even if your neighbor's house sold for a huge profit it doesn't mean your home will be able to do the same now.  In this case, you might want to reconsider selling as a For Sale By Owner, because it will take you much longer to get a decent price by yourself.

Your dream come true would be to be selling when it's a Seller's market, where most people are getting more than the asking price and inventories of houses are low.  There are a few easy ways to determine what the market is doing that won't cost you anything but a little time.

Start by being aware of how long houses in your neighborhood are on the market before they sell.  Then find out if the house did sell, or if it was pulled off the market because the owners couldn't get a decent price.

One of the best ways to analyze the number of buyers looking for houses in your area is to drive around your neighborhood, find a few places where the realtor is having an open house, and see how long it will be open.  Then, arrive at the house about ten minutes before the "open house" closes on any particular day.  Introduce yourself, have a cookie or two, quickly walk through the house and chat with the realtor.

You might even be so bold as to ask him or her if they have been very busy today.  Then, before you leave, be sure to glance at the sign-in sheet and note the number of visitors that viewed the house.  If there are only a few names on the list, you might want to reconsider selling as a FSBO house.  If there are a lot of names, you may be in the money!

You can also find out how fast other houses have sold.  If you did your homework and drove through the neighborhood, you will have a general idea.  If you have a friend who is a realtor, try checking the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS) for data about the average number days a home for sale was on the market, and average days to close.  Unfortunately, only a realtor can access the MLS data, so this would probably be your last choice for research.  You could also try getting help from a Discount Broker.

What you're looking for is an average number of days to close of about 45 days.  If it's around this number of days, you can assume it's a hot sellers market.  If the average is six months or more, it is a buyers market and you might want to reconsider selling your house as a FSBO, or take it off the market and wait until you have a better chance for a quick sale. 

Sometimes it doesn't take long for the market to rebound; you can try again in a few months.