Today’s housing market is so hot--homes sell in a matter of hours amidst bidding wars from desperate buyers--why shouldn’t you savethe Realtor’s fee and sell For Sale By Owner (FSB0)? Yet what home sellers may see as an ‘easy’ sale could result in their leaving money--and lots of it--on the table.

We recently listed a property that the sellers thought would bear around $750,000. We advised them that the market conservatively justified them listing at least $25,000 higher. They agreed to list at $775,000. We had the property professionally staged, had professional photos/videos taken and made a marketing splash when we initially put in on the market.

We received over 10 offers and the many eager buyers bid the price up $75,000 over the asking price and, because we removed the appraisal condition from the contract, we closed the sale without a hiccup. After paying our fee, the sellers made tens of thousands of extra profit and raved about how much more they ended up with.