Are you wondering how to convert FSBOs into listings? For-sale-by-owner homes are a great opportunity for real estate agents. The owners are clearly ready to sell; they just don’t know that they need your help yet.
Converting FSBOs to listings is all about offering help before the sellers know what they need. You need to overcome the owners’ reason(s) for choosing the FSBO route, which typically includes:
- Not wanting to pay real estate commissions.
- Thinking it’s not that hard to sell a home.
- Believing that marketing a home online is enough to get a reasonable offer.
You know better. But in most cases, FSBOS don’t want to be told that they’re not qualified to sell their homes. They need to give it a try and find out for themselves how difficult real estate really is.
So our approach to converting FSBOs to listings is about offering genuine advice about how to sell a home…then being there for your FSBOs when they decide they’ve had enough, and they’re ready to list.
Here’s what you need to know about how to convert FSBOs into listings.
How to Convert FSBOs into Listings
Converting FSBOs to listings starts with finding your FSBOs.
How to Find FSBOs
You might find FSBOs on the MLS, but there’s a better chance you’ll find them from outside sources:
- General real estate sites like Zillow
- FSBO-specific sites like Fizber or FSBO.com
- Classified sites like Craig’s List
- Print publications like newspapers or local real estate brochures
- Yard signs you see as you drive your neighborhoods
How to Make Contact with FSBOs
You can certainly call FSBOs, which is what most agents do. Or you can show up in person, which is becoming less welcome by homeowners in our text-first world. Maybe try taking a more casual approach by texting, emailing, or contacting them through social media. This contact will stand out by being less aggressive than other agents.
What do you say when you contact them? You congratulate them on their listing and ask them the magic question: May I ask what your buyer broker agreement rate is?
Most FSBOs will have no idea what this means. And that’s a good thing. It gives you a chance to explain that buyer’s agents are typically paid by the seller, that buyers with an agent probably won’t even consider a FSBO listing if they have to pay their agent out-of-pocket, and that this limits potential buyers to industry insiders (like professional investors) who know how to take advantage of FSBOs.
This also gives you a perfect opening to offer your free FBSO Guide or invite them to your monthly FSBO Seminar!
Your FSBO Guide
Your FSBO Guide is a short booklet (in digital form, print, or both) that gives real, valuable information about the process of selling a home. The fact is, once sellers see how much time, knowledge, effort, and skill is involved in selling a house for top dollar, they will likely list. And they’ll list with the agent who was willing to help them try to do it themselves.
Your FSBO Guide should cover topics like:
- An Introduction to You as an Agent. Keep this brief. They want to know that you’re qualified to teach them about home sales, but they don’t care to learn too much about you at this point.
- The Process of Selling a Home. A general outline of the steps.
- Pre-listing prep
- Pricing properly
- Marketing your listing
- Qualifying buyers
- Showings
- Reviewing offers
- Contract to closing
- A Deeper Dive on Each Step of Selling:
- Pre-Listing Prep. Offer a list of steps to take to make the home market-ready.
- Pricing Properly. Explain the art and science of valuation, including a basic overview of how CMAs work.
- Marketing Your Listing. Give your sellers different options for marketing including
- Online listing services.
- Social media marketing.
- Local print publications.
- Open houses.
- Qualifying Buyers. Explain how pre-approval works and why sellers should insist on it.
- Showings. Offer insider tips for showing properties. Things like:
- Prepping the home for showings.
- Inviting buyers to feel at home.
- Linking features to benefits throughout the tour.
- Closing techniques.
- Reviewing Offers. Tell sellers what to look for in an offer. Explain that they can:
- Accept.
- Reject.
- Counter.
- Contract to Closing. Give a timeline of the tasks that need to be completed before the deal can close.
- Working with Buyers’ Agents. Explain that most buyers work through an agent and that payment for that agent will need to be arranged.
- Recommended Vendors. Offer a list of the vendors you use and recommend.
- A Call to Action. Invite your FSBOs to contact you for something small first. Like the state-specific contracts and disclosures.
You can create your guide yourself in a design program like Canva if you have the time and design skills. But you’re probably better off purchasing an affordable, customizable template on Etsy.
Following Up on Your Guide
Follow up a day or two after sending the guide to see if they’ve had a chance to review it, if they have any questions, or need anything.
Then follow up again each week or two to see how they’re doing. Be ready to present your listing presentation at a moment’s notice! And, if your FSBO happens to sell on their own, great! Send them a card or small gift of congratulations as soon as you see that it’s under contract. They’ll certainly remember you if they fall out of escrow or if they have a referral to send to an agent.
Your FSBO Seminar
Some markets will have enough FBSOs to justify offering a free FSBO seminar. Your seminar can be in-person or online. You can send personal invitations to all FSBOs you can find, and advertise on social media for anyone who’s considering going the FSBO route.
A seminar provides some unique benefits:
- You get to spend a few quality hours face-to-face with a group of FSBOs.
- Meeting with a group is more efficient than meeting one-on-one.
- Teaching a seminar automatically positions you as the expert.
- Marketing your seminar online will boost your local recognition.
- Your FSBOs can talk to each other about the struggles they’re having with their homes, further establishing that it’s not easy to sell a house.
Your seminar should follow the outline of your FSBO Guide, but you can offer real-world examples and more detail in your seminar.
For a more flexible offering, consider recording your seminar and hosting it online so future FSBOs can access it on-demand!
The Bottom Line
Converting FSBOs to listings takes a little effort and a lot of patience. Don’t expect a listing the first, second, or even third time you speak to your FSBO lead. It will likely take 4-7 conversations to earn their trust and give them time to try to sell on their own.
But stick with it, and you’ll always have a pipeline full of listings!
