Ethical Homes

Real estate, sadly, is one of those fields where a consultative model hasn’t yet caught on—most people aren’t willing to pay an expert just to advise them, whereas they do seem willing to do so (albeit begrudgingly) for lawyers, accountants, and other professionals. Realtors thus earn their livings by representing people who are either buying or selling property, and receiving a commission based on the final sales price of that property; given that fact, why would a Realtor be willing to help people who are trying to sell their homes without using a broker to represent them?

The truth is that most real estate agents aren’t willing to help FSBOs, and in fact many are actively antagonistic to them; others view them as a prime market for exploitation (FSBOs are guaranteed both to be interested in selling their homes and to not be currently represented by another broker, which is true of no other group of people) and will “farm” FSBOs, trying to convince every FSBO that they can find to sign a listing contract—and, sadly, many of them resort to deceit and trickery to do so.

I will admit that I do “farm” FSBOs as well—or, rather, I will admit that I do contact as many of them as I can; my motivation and methods in doing so, however, are very different from most other Realtors.

My primary purpose in talking to FSBOs is to see if I can find any buyers for their homes; part of my duty to my buyer clients is to keep track of all of the properties in the area, and so even if did I agree with those Realtors who are antagonistic to FSBOs, I would be doing my clients a disservice if I didn’t keep track of FSBO properties just as diligently as I do properties listed in the MLS. Add to that the fact that homes sold by FSBOs do tend to sell for less than ones sold by Realtors, and that those FSBO homes tend to have fewer bids submitted (which reduces the chances of getting into a bidding war over them), and FSBO properties actually often become the best value for my buyers.

Obviously, I wouldn’t object to having a FSBO decide to sell their home using my services, but I would never solicit a listing from a FSBO, for the same reason that I wouldn’t solicit a listing from anyone: until someone trusts me (either through direct interaction or by referral from someone else whom they trust) enough that they want to approach me on their own to ask me to work for them, they aren’t going to be comfortable working with me, and if they aren’t comfortable working with me, then I’m not going to be able to help them.

Instead, then, I treat FSBOs the same way that I do everyone else: I treat them with the utmost respect, offer them as much general advice as I reasonably can, and where possible try to offer Fair Trades for specific services that they might need.