Top Tools for FSBO Sellers

About 90% of U.S. homes are sold with a real estate agent, but 6% of home sellers choose to go it alone.[1] This approach is known as for sale by owner (FSBO).

Selling your house without a realtor can save you money on listing agent commission, which averages 2.82% nationwide. But you’ll face a slew of challenges. The home-selling process is highly complex, involving everything from preparing, listing, and marketing your home to handling the contracts and closing.

Fortunately, there’s an array of services, platforms, and resources to help you manage virtually every step of the transaction. Read on to learn more about the FSBO tools at your disposal.

If you find this list of FSBO tools overwhelming, there are other ways to save money on realtor fees without putting in so much effort.

For example, Clever Real Estate can help you connect with top local agents who charge just 1.5%. Sellers save $7,000 on average while still getting full service. Just put in your zipcode, answer a few short questions, and we'll send agent recommendations to your inbox.

Overview of FSBO tools

FSBO tools for presale improvements

Presale improvements will enhance your home’s desirability and boost the price it can command. These are some of the upgrades with the highest return on investment:

• Garage door replacement
• Fresh coat of paint
• Landscaping

FSBO tools for pricing your home

Figuring out your home’s value and setting an appropriate asking price are crucial steps in the FSBO process. Many sellers botch this, asking for a price that’s too high (deterring potential buyers and delaying the sale) or too low (leaving money on the table).

Online valuation tools

As a starting point, you can try using popular online tools to get a rough estimate of your home’s value.

Online valuation tools can be useful, but you shouldn’t rely on them for accurate insight into your home’s value. Websites like Zillow and Realtor.com draw on available data and make assumptions, meaning their estimates aren't always correct.

You can use these sites to research comparable properties and come up with your own estimated home value. However, you should work with a professional realtor or appraiser for the most accurate pricing of your home.

Professional valuation tools

One of the most important services a realtor can provide is a comparative market analysis (CMA). A CMA evaluates comparable properties that have sold in your area to estimate your home’s fair market value.

You can also hire a licensed appraiser to provide a pre-sale appraisal, which gives you another starting point for pricing your house. Whereas a CMA represents the price you can reasonably expect to procure for your home, the appraisal value is whatever the appraiser decides your home is worth. Appraisals cost about $350, depending on the property’s location.

FSBO tools for listing your home

Unless you have a specific buyer in mind, you’re going to need to list your home (that is, put it on the market) as a FSBO seller. Your options include using a flat fee MLS listing service, listing your home on a free FSBO website, or hiring a full-service discount broker to manage your listing from start to finish.

MLS listing tools

For the best marketing results, you should create a listing on the local multiple listing service (MLS). MLSs are private databases that realtors use to help their clients buy and sell homes. Homes on the MLS are syndicated to all the major real estate websites, such as Redfin and Zillow.

Only licensed realtors can access the MLS. But FSBO sellers can have their listing put on their local MLS by a flat fee MLS company for $100–500. You can search for a flat fee MLS company in your state or go with one of the top nationwide flat fee MLS companies.

FSBO website listing tools

You can also list your home using a free FSBO website, like listing on Zillow. While this approach is cheap and easy, it has serious disadvantages. When you sign up with a flat fee MLS company, your home will be syndicated to every major real estate platform, but when you sign up with a FSBO website, your home will only appear on that site.

Also, remember that you'll be competing with many other sellers in your area, most of whom have hired professional agents. Those agents will be aggressively marketing their clients’ homes across hundreds of websites, not just one free FSBO platform.

Traditional realtor tools

As an alternative to FSBO, consider a full-service discount brokerage. You’ll get the services of a professional realtor, including having your home listed on the MLS, while saving potentially thousands on commission.

The typical listing agent fee is 2.5–3%. Discount brokers offer rates as low as 1.5%.

Some discount brokers compromise on some aspect of the transaction, such as reduced services or less dedicated support.

But the companies below deliver the best savings with service and support comparable to that of a traditional realtor charging standard rates.

FSBO tools for marketing your home

In addition to listing your home, you should develop a marketing strategy to boost your home’s appeal and command higher offers. Reaching interested buyers and making your home stand out should be a top priority.

FSBO sign

A "For Sale By Owner" sign is a cheap and easy way to let passersby know your home is for sale. In addition, it can provide information about the property, such as how to schedule a showing and where to find the listing.

On the other hand, the internet has made yard signs less effective. Although a significant percentage of FSBO sellers use yard signs to market their homes, only about 4% of buyers find their home through a yard sign.[3] Also, your sign may invite annoying calls from real estate agents trying to get you to use their services.

If you decide signage is right for you, avoid DIY signs. Instead, order a custom FSBO sign from a reputable custom sign company.

Great photography

Posting attractive pictures of your home is one of the most important steps in marketing your property. The best approach is to hire a professional photographer who will know how to take high-quality pictures that make your home look desirable.

If you decide to take photos yourself, use a good camera and other equipment for the best results. Shooting with ambient light is generally ok, so you don’t need external lights, but you’ll want a tripod to stabilize the camera and a wide-angle lens to capture entire rooms in one shot.

Virtual staging software and apps

Virtual staging is an increasingly popular real estate technology that enables potential buyers to see what your home could look like with different accessories, decor, and furniture.

The software digitally places these elements in the interior spaces to showcase your home in a variety of ways. Agents usually handle virtual staging, but there are many platforms and apps that allow you to do it yourself.

Video walk-through

A video walk-through, unlike a 3D walk-through or virtual staging, shows potential buyers what your home looks like now. As the name implies, it’s a video shot by someone walking through your house.

Zillow allows you to create and upload video walk-throughs, but you might also consider posting a video walk-through on YouTube. A report by the NAR Research Group found that 37% of home buyers use online video sites to search for a home.

3D walk-through / 3D tour

You can also showcase your home to potential buyers with an interactive 3D walk-through or 3D tour (sometimes called a virtual tour).

3D walk-throughs allow users to navigate a virtual representation of your home. They can also click and rotate the image to view the space from different angles. 3D walk-throughs are often clunky to use, and a video tour may be preferable.

Drone photography

Drone photography shows the exterior of your house in all its glory, as well as some of the surrounding neighborhood. You probably want to hire a professional for drone shots unless you're an experienced pilot.

If you buy a drone, you’ll need to register it with the Federal Aviation Administration and abide by all relevant regulations.[4] Also, you’ll probably want insurance to cover any potential damages or injuries caused by the drone.

Drones can be pricey (up to $10,000), but there are some entry-level models you can buy if you choose the DIY option.

Social media

Apart from the major real estate platforms like Zillow and Trulia, you can also reach a potentially large audience with social media.

While social media is not the standard way to market real estate, you may be able to find interested buyers on the major platforms. All of these sites are completely DIY, so you’ll need to do the marketing legwork yourself.

These platforms are geared towards different user bases and each has its own quirks.

Craigslist

Craigslist is one of the most visited listing sites on the web, with about 478 million visits each month. Generally, it’s not an ideal place to market your house because of the difficulty of finding qualified buyers and the risk of scams.

But Craigslist attracts lots of investors who are looking for distressed properties to flip, so it can be a good option for houses that are tough to sell to a standard buyer — for instance, those that are condemned or in disrepair. The site has basic features, meaning you need to do all the work of writing a description, pricing the house, uploading photos, and so on.

Facebook Marketplace

Facebook Marketplace is a free e-commerce platform with more than 1 billion users each month. Although it’s not the most popular place to hawk real estate, the site allows you to create a home listing, so it may be a good option for boosting exposure to your property.

Similar to Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace is completely DIY and lacks FSBO-specific tools, so you get no help with marketing, photography, closing, etc. On the plus side, the site is easy to use and allows you to target interested buyers with mobile-friendly listings.

Instagram

With about 1 billion monthly active users, Instagram is a potentially effective way to get the word out about your home. The giant photo- and video-sharing network gives you the chance to feature visually compelling photos.

You can use Instagram ads (which allow you to turn any post into an ad) with location targeting to boost the visibility of your home.

Pinterest

Pinterest is an image-sharing site with 454 million monthly active users that allows you to create an account and post pictures of your house. It’s better for posting house images than for listing or open house information.

Realtors are better positioned to get value from Pinterest than individual sellers because they can post lots of houses, create "boards" around specific topics, and drive conversation and engagement. But enterprising sellers can try their hand at Pinterest marketing if they’re up for the challenge.

FSBO tools for contracts and paperwork

Real estate transactions require a lot of paperwork, including contracts, forms, and other documents. These resources can help you get your paperwork in order.

Legal resources

If you don’t plan on hiring a real estate agent, you should at least have an attorney review your paperwork. Many U.S. states require an attorney to be involved in the home sale process. Even if it’s not legally required in your state, running your documents by a lawyer is always a good idea.

Real estate forms providers

Some companies provide real estate contracts and other legal documents for DIY transactions.

FSBO tools for closing

Ordering a title search and purchasing title insurance are key components of most closings, when the seller transfers ownership of the house to the buyer.

Most home sellers cover the closing cost of the buyer’s title insurance policy. Generally, the buyer's agent uses their connections to recommend a title company for the buyer (in many cases, the seller isn’t involved in this process at all).

However, a FSBO seller may want to research a title company if the buyer doesn’t have an agent to recommend one. Also, some FSBO sellers prefer to choose their own title company for the buyer to work with, often to ensure that the company is affordable.

Four title companies account for 80.5% of all title transactions nationwide,[5] so going with one of them is probably a safe bet.

Overwhelmed? Hire a realtor instead

FSBO sales have declined over the years and now represent only 6% of all home sales in the U.S.[1] Going FSBO is an option to consider if you know the prospective buyer and you’re experienced with real estate deals.

For everyone else, the process of selling a house is usually too complex, risky, and time-intensive to go it alone — even with access to online tools. FSBO homes also sell for $55,000 less on average than those sold with an agent,[1] which may negate any savings from forgoing a realtor.

If you’re a less-experienced seller or if a FSBO sale seems like too much risk for too little reward, consider finding a real estate professional to help you.

A free service like Clever Real Estate is the fastest and easiest way to find a great local agent. You'll fill out a quick quiz and get matched with top-rated agents in your area who will handle your sale for a 1.5% commission (half the typical rate). This way, you can save on commission, maximize your sale price, and skip the hard work of selling FSBO.

FAQ

Related articles