THE PROPERTY PROS REALTY GROUP INC
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

Should I Market/Sell my home myself? In the old days, selling a house was easy.  The owner of the house for sale stuck a sign up in the front yard and waited for a knock on the door.  I tried that once.  After a year of prank calls I signed with a realtor and the house sold two months later—at a good price, too.  Although we are biased, it is not recommended that you try to sell your home yourself. Fizz-Bo.  Kind of sounds like a cross between a carbonated beverage and an old rock ‘n’ roll icon.  What it actually is, though, is the phonetic pronunciation of the acronym “FSBO”—which stands for “For Sale By Owner.”  Most FSBO sellers either have no access at all to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) or go through a third-party service (for a fee) to get their property listed. The material on our website is intended to provide only general information and comments as a courtesy to the general public and potential real estate clients. Although we make our best efforts to ensure that the information found on our website is accurate and timely, we cannot, and do not, guarantee that the information is either. Nor do we guarantee the accuracy of any information contained on websites to which our website provide links. A few weeks back, we posted an article discussing why you should use a realtor when buying a home. This got us to thinking about the main reasons people refuse to use a realtor in their home buying or home selling process. “I can do it all myself, they say.”  How many times have you heard that one?  Especially, when it comes to using a realtor to buy a home or sell a home. The biggest reason, it seems, that people don’t want to use realtors is the commission.  For some reason, people who either want to buy a home for sale or sell a home just cannot stand the idea that the realtor should be paid for the work that they do.  Other times, they think they can get a better deal (either a lower price for a homebuyer or more money in the pocket for a home seller) if the commission is not a factor.  It rarely turns out that way in real life.  Sellers don’t lower their prices to reflect the lack of commission, they just start thinking about the extra money they’ll get.  Of course we are extremely biased, but we take pride in what we do on behalf of our clients. It's not the easiest of processes and more often than not, handling things "by owner" or yourself costs you extra time, money, and valuable sales assistance. Do yourself a favor…stick to a professional realtor. The material on our website is intended to provide only general information and comments as a courtesy to the general public and potential real estate clients. Although we make our best efforts to ensure that the information found on our website is accurate and timely, we cannot, and do not, guarantee that the information is either. Nor do we guarantee the accuracy of any information contained on websites to which our website provide links. Make no mistake about.  When you are trying to buy a home for sale, you—the buyer—are ultimately responsible for making offers and either accepting or rejecting counter offers.  However, the realtor does help in the negotiation process.  Quite a bit, in fact. Most importantly, the realtor will help you to decide what a reasonable offer is.  The realtor will have access to recent sales (i.e. “comps”), the appraised price of the property and the overall state of the market. The realtor will also serve as the intermediary between you and the owner of the home for sale.  This may not sound like much, but a negotiation is much easier to do when the two concerned parties are not face to face in an adversarial situation.  Whether you want to lowball, hang tough or throw up your hands and give in, it helps to not have the object of your struggle sitting across the table from you.  It keeps the emotions out of the way. The material on our website is intended to provide only general information and comments as a courtesy to the general public and potential real estate clients. Although we make our best efforts to ensure that the information found on our website is accurate and timely, we cannot, and do not, guarantee that the information is either. Nor do we guarantee the accuracy of any information contained on websites to which our website provide links. Damage to your home. Without power, sump pumps can't run, putting homes at risk for flooding, and fans and dehumidifiers can't operate to help dry out a wet basement. A power outage during a severe storm can destroy basements and pose significant hazards to homeowners. Basic costs to pump out and thoroughly dry a basement lightly flooded with clean water can start between $500-$1,500 and increase to $2,000-$10,000. But a flooded basement can be prevented, even during the most severe storms, with a home backup generator. Having an automatic home backup power system can help to avoid these costs, and other costs, related to power outages. A recent Federal Trade Commission study showed that approximately 26 percent of consumers have credit report mistakes that could lead to higher loan and insurance payments. More than a quarter of participants in the study found at least one error on their credit reports, and five percent had errors serious enough to affect loan terms. - Consumers should check their credit score at least three months before making a purchase. If they identify mistakes, consumers should write a letter to the credit bureau and organization responsible for reporting the inaccurate information. In the letter they should explain why the information is incorrect and what should be changed on the credit report. - The credit utilization ratio is one of the major factors that contribute to the overall credit score. Using too much of the available credit can have a negative impact on a credit score. While it’s possible to fix this issue by paying down debt, sometimes consumers may not be able to afford it. To avoid having a low score, consumers should call their card provider and ask for a reduction of their interest rate. This could help consumers to pay off their balance quicker.