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Selling your own home seems like a good idea.

You can do so much more with a few thousand dollars than pay it to a real estate agent for commission.

But there are a few draw backs to consider

This is especially true if you have to lower your asking price as many for sale by owner sellers end up doing.

When you sell your home for sale by owner, you take on all the responsibilities real estate agent would normally handle.

This includes marketing the home, fielding phone calls from potential buyers, having open houses, making the negotiations, and closing the deal. If these steps were as easy as they might seem there would be more real estate agents.

Consider that a real estate agent’s only job is to sell real estate. The agent doesn’t have an emotional attachment to the home. He (or she) is experienced in juggling multiple priorities and can quickly determine what a buyer is looking for in a home.

In many cases, buyers feel more comfortable working with a real estate agent because they feel freer to voice their true opinions on the home than they would with the home owner.

Many for sale by owner sellers are not able to show the home to potential buyers in an objective manner. Often the seller skews the home showing to his own point of view, talking about experiences that he and his family have had in the home.

This can make it difficult for the buyer to truly get a feel for what it would be like for them to live in the home.

Pricing the home is vital to the sale of the home. A for sale by owner seller with no prior experience in setting home prices might end up setting a price that is too high.

Often homeowners have unrealistic expectations of how much their home is worth. This expectation stems from emotional ties to the house. A real estate agent, who might work with several houses a day, is better able to look at the home objectively and set a succesful selling price.

For sale by owner sellers often lack the negotiation skills necessary to ensure that they are getting a good deal from the sale of the home.

If the buyer has an experienced real estate agent, it could be difficult for the seller to negotiate a favorable deal. This is the reason that many for sale by owner sellers end up walking away with a lower price on the home than they initially expected.

Buyers have schedules just like sellers do. Selling for sale by owner put the seller in a position where he must schedule his day around showing the home to prospective buyers, some of which might not even show up. This can end up being extremely frustrating for the for sale by owner seller.