Welcome For-Sale-By-Owners (FSBO's)!

CORY REAL ESTATE welcomes those of you who plan or are in the process of personally trying to sell your home.  We offer you the opportunity to advertise your home on our website at no charge.  We only ask that you consider CORY REAL ESTATE if you later decide to seek representation from a real estate professional. Advertising your home on our website will give your home more exposure.  People find their way to our website in one of three ways:  internet searches, our website address which is displayed on our real estate signs, and the CORY REAL ESTATE Marketing Program.  Our Marketing Program ensures that on 25 of the 30 real estate search sites on which we advertise, when someone clicks on one of our listings that person will be redirected back to the CORY REAL ESTATE website where they will be immediately presented with the details of that listing.  After viewing the listing, one is then free to view any listings on our website, including FSBO homes!  FSBO homes can be found by clicking on the FSBO Homes for Sale link under the Listings category.  In the real estate industry, FSBO is pronounced FIZZ-BO. 

FSBO’s must complete the following before we can advertise your home on cory-real-estate.com.

• FSBO Advertising Agreement

• Notice of No Agency Relationship Form
• Provide photos of your home

• Allow CORY REAL ESTATE to take measurements and note the features of your home

FSBO Advertising Agreement

CORY REAL ESTATE requires that FSBO’s complete the FSBO Advertising Agreement because we need verifiable proof that we did receive your permission to advertise your home.

Notice of No Agency Relationship

The Illinois Real Estate License Act of 2000, Article 15, Sec. 15-10 requires that a Real Estate Agent provide written notification to a consumer prior to the consumer releasing any confidential information if the Agent will be performing any actions that go beyond what is considered informational or clerical in nature, but the Agent’s intent is not to enter into an agency relationship.  For this reason, CORY REAL ESTATE requires that all FSBO’s sign a Notice of No Agency Relationship form, which serves notice that we will not be acting as your Agent.    

Pictures of your Home

CORY REAL ESTATE requires that FSBO’s have professional pictures taken before their home is advertised on our website.  We insist upon professional pictures because any listing that we add to our website must reflect the professionalism and quality of our company.  Professional photos also benefit the Seller because the better the image the more likely it is that Buyers will become engaged with and emotionally attached to the home.  Pictures help sell homes! CORY REAL ESTATE will be happy to make arrangements with Visual Home Tours (VHT) to take the pictures.  VHT is a visual marketing services company that specializes in real estate photography.  FSBO’s are welcome to contact VHT directly, but it would be less costly if CORY REAL ESTATE made the arrangements for you.  CORY REAL ESTATE does not receive any compensation from VHT or any other company.   

Specifications of Your Home 

Photographs alone will not provide enough information for Buyers.  Buyers are looking for the details, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, total number of rooms, whether the house has a basement, room dimensions, garage size, etc.  FSBO’s should be providing Buyers with the same information that is being provided for homes that are defined to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS).  CORY REAL ESTATE will measure and document the features of your home at no cost to you. 

Disclosure Documents 

Federal and State law require that Sellers complete disclosure documents.  You can view and print all disclosure documents by clicking on the Listing Documents link under the Sellers category on the navigation bar.  Free of charge!   

Things to consider ...

There are some things to consider as one thinks about becoming a FSBO. 

• Real Estate Agents are much more successful than FSBO's in selling homes because Real Estate Agents have access to the MLS.  That is the bottom line!  Click on the Commission Rates link under the About category on the navigation bar, and refer to the Commission Splits topic under the Why Commission Rates are so High section for more information on why the MLS is so critical to getting a home sold.  FSBO's have no access to the MLS, so getting exposure for their home is limited to verbal communication, a For Sale sign on the property, newspaper advertising, internet advertising, and not much more; these taken collectively are generally ineffective because they reach a small percentage of Buyers and virtually no Real Estate Agents.  Real Estate Agents search the MLS to locate homes for their clients.
• In general, a FSBO’s home is going to be on the market longer than a Seller that is represented by a Real Estate Agent.  Given that the MLS exposes a home to the entire Chicagoland area through Real Estate Agents that are representing Buyers and given the limited exposure of a FSBO’s home, this should come as no surprise.  While a FSBO’s home is sitting on the market hidden from the view of Buyer Agents, Buyers, along with their Agents, will be visiting homes that were found in the MLS.  As Buyers purchase these homes, the number of Buyers in the Buyer pool will continually decrease, which may result in a FSBO accepting a price that was once considered unacceptable or having to wait until next year when the next wave of Buyers come to the market looking for a home.  The higher the number of Buyers in the pool the more leverage Sellers have in negotiating a price that they consider acceptable.  The opposite is also true, the fewer the Buyers in the pool the less likely it is that Sellers will be able to command the price they are seeking.    
• If a Buyer Agent discovers that a FSBO’s home is for sale, that Agent may approach the FSBO to let them know that they have a potential Buyer for their home, but there is virtually no chance that the Agent will tell the Buyer about the home unless the FSBO agrees to pay the Agent a commission.  This would be a partial win for a FSBO because there would be no Seller Agent to pay.  I need to digress here to warn you that there are Agents who will bring their “client” to your home for a showing.  That client in some cases could be another Real Estate Agent.  This is a tactic that some Agents use to get in the home of a FSBO, which gives the Agent an opportunity to try to develop a friendly and trusting relationship with the FSBO.  The Agent’s hope is that the FSBO will contact them if they later decide to enlist the services of a Real Estate Agent. 

CORY REAL ESTATE wishes you success in locating a Buyer for your home.