FSBOs: Few And Far Between But Worth Checking Out
Time to check in on homes that are for sale by owner (FSBO) in Berkeley and north Oakland.
The obvious advantage to a homeowner of handling the sale of their home is that they avoid having to pay real-estate agent fees. But there are potential benefits for a buyer too, so it’s always worth keeping an eye on these listings.
As a buyer you may also end up saving money as the seller often factors an agent’s commission into their asking price. This isn’t a consideration for a FSBO. Your questions about the house will be addressed to the seller, not a middleman, and subsequent negotiations will also be between the two parties. (Depending on how much you enjoy negotiating, this could be seen as a benefit or a disadvantage.)
Of course real-estate agents will argue that there are many reasons why it is preferable to have one of them on board when you are looking to buy. And I’m not one to disagree. It’s just horses for courses as far as I’m concerned, and if one of these homes grabs your fancy there’s no reason not to pounce:
1840 63rd Street (between Dover Street and MLK ) is a 1/1, 900 sq ft apartment for $415,000 ($461/sq ft).
17 Neva Court in Montclair is a freshly listed 4/3, 2,452 sq ft single family home for $1,395,000 ($569/sq ft).
6041 Fairlane Drive also in Montclair is a 4/1, 4,200 sq ft modern-Tudor home priced at $1,995,000 ($475/sq ft).
[Photo credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org]
