FSBO Keeps Pace with Canada’s

As Canada’s real estate market continues to defy popular predictions of a slowdown, privately-transacted sales are keeping pace as homeowners look for ways to pocket the fees usually collected by real estate agents.

Many owners are now choosing to bypass real estate agents to sell their homes themselves in order to save the average six per cent commission most agents charge. On a $250,000 home, this can amount to $15,000, a hefty sum for most Canadians.

Savvy buyers are also seeking out FSBO homes, realizing they can usually get a better bargain without the broker’s fee padding the sales price.

Indeed, real estate agents stand a lot to lose from FSBO. In fact, they stand to lose exactly what sellers stand to gain: a lot of money. So it is little wonder they wish to discourage those who are considering just how much it might pay to sidestep their services.

But despite the statistics widely quoted on all sides of the divide, the truth is that until recently almost no one was tracking FSBO numbers, except the FSBO websites themselves. So assessing just how many people go the FSBO route, and how many are successful at it, has been tricky.

However, a recent study in Madison, Wisconsin by a group of university professors set out to do just that, comparing FSBO with traditional realtor

On average, they found FSBO sales had a higher net gain for the owner, thanks to the elimination of the brokerage fee, while broker-assisted sales were generally faster than private home sales.

Posted by Joe Samson