For sale by owner (FSBO) is a very popular way to sell houses in the USA. Every year as many as 20 percent of homes in the United States are sold without the services of a real estate agent. This method is becoming increasingly popular across Europe too, especially in Spain and the UK.

Selling your property without a real estate agent can be a challenging concept if you've never done it before but if you're happy to do the work necessary to both advertise your property and work with potential buyers directly then there are many advantages to this including:

• saving money on commission fees
• selling your property quicker
• stay in control of the selling process

No need to pay commission fees

Many real estate agents, agente inmobiliaria or agent immobilier that list and sell your property get paid a commission of anywhere between 2% and 7% of the selling price of the property. At the higher end this can easily run into tens of thousands of euros for many house sellers. This is one of the biggest expenses for selling your property and if you do it yourself then you save all this money.

Hand over the keys to your property faster

You can sell a property yourself much quicker than an agent can. Its true! This is partially because of the old saying: "the only thing that prevents a property selling is price"

If you deduct the amount that you would have paid out for estate agent fees and then reduce your asking price accordingly then your property will be an attractive proposition in the property marketplace. Your property will be cheaper than any similar properties around and buyers are likely to respond quickly to your offering. Also, even if the savings are not passed onto the buyer, you are more motivated to sell your house than a real estate agent or broker would be. They are selling many properties, whereas you are only selling one.

Stay in control of the selling process

If you sell your home yourself then you make all the decisions. You decide when your house can be viewed and what price you want to sell it for. You are also in control of advertising your property. You decide how the advertisments for the property are worded, where to place the ads and what aspects of the property they will promote. If you like being in control then selling your house yourself is probably a very desireable option for you.

The challenges

Selling your own property may not be right for everyone. It takes a lot of time and energy and its certainly a lot easier to list your home with an agent or a broker. You need to be able to manage the viewings yourself, pay for your own advertising (if you're promoting outside of tudomo) and you'll need to research how to price and portray your home. You'll also have to deal with the lawyers/solicitors, the buyer and the buyer's agents directly.

Selling your property yourself is not the answer for everyone who has a house to sell. It is time consuming and can be frustrating, but it can also be very rewarding and most people will never go back to selling through an agent once they've done it themselves.

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