FSBO Guide - Authorify

Step #3: This Strategy Makes It So Much Easier to List FSBOs

You are now in the process of following up with the FSBO lead. You’re staying in touch. They’re close to listing with you, but they’re hesitant. They know you’re the best agent, and they’re going to list with you, but they’re reluctant to commit. What do you do? I use the Smart Seller’s Plan , which is essentially an exclusive agency listing. This kind of agreement means that the seller lists with you and agrees to pay you your commission if you or any other Realtor® sells the house. At the same time, the seller retains the right to market their house on their own and owes you nothing if their house sells as a result of their own efforts. When I call a FSBO lead and ask if this plan seems attractive to them, a lot of them will say that it does because it doesn’t require full commitment to a Realtor®. They still have the right to market on their own and to hold out hope of selling their home that way. What’s interesting, though, is that once you list the house and begin doing the work to market it, the seller will often stop doing their part of the marketing because they feel that a professional is handling it. Within two or three weeks, they’re relying on you to sell their house. In my experience, I have never had a problem with homeowners selling their homes out from under me after I assume the listing. Even if that does end up happening on occasion, the potential benefit to you outweighs the risk of this approach. You can do two things to minimize your risk: make sure that your sign is the one in the yard and that the Zillow listing is under your name or company. If the seller already has a Zillow listing, Zillow’s support team can help deactivate it so you can put the house back up with your name as the listing agent. There can be complications with this if the Zillow listing is not correctly transferred. Again, this approach is not without risk. But everything comes with a risk, and this is still a great way to get listings no one else gets. Sometimes there is an issue with listing an exclusive agency house with MLS. If that situation occurs, I simply list it as an exclusive right-of-sale agreement. In that case, I write into the agreement a little bit of legalese stating that, if the seller were to find a buyer on their own, they would not owe me a commission. This is similar to the approach taken when, prior to listing with you, the seller already has a buyer lead. Overall, this approach may not be traditional, but it does work, and I’ve made a great deal of money from listings that I’ve secured through this method.