Selling a home isn’t rocket science, but it’s not a piece of cake either. Here’s what you need to know if you’re thinking of doing it on your own.

The younger you are the more likely you are to try to sell your home without help from a real estate agent. According to Zillow, 57% of Millennial sellers take the “for sale by owner” (FSBO) route compared to 32% of Gen Xers, 19% of Baby Boomers and 19% of Silent Generation sellers. One of the biggest reasons people choose FSBO is to save money on real estate agent commissions. However, FSBO is not for everyone; those savings will cost you time and energy. Here are factors to consider before trying to sell a home on your own.

Can you be objective?

Preparing your home for sale means decluttering and de-personalizing. Can you objectively look at your home through a buyer’s eyes to decide what needs to be eliminated, rearranged or changed? If you can’t do this, do you have a friend who can look at your home with a critical eye? Or, are you willing to hire a professional to stage your home? If your answers are no, it may be difficult to make your home appealing to buyers.

How marketing savvy are you?

Home sellers have more online marketing options than ever but that doesn’t mean all FSBO sellers know how to use them effectively. Ask yourself these questions:

• Can you write a concise and accurate description that reframes negative features in a positive light?
• Do you understand how to market your home’s benefits and not just its features?
• Are you comfortable doing a comparable analysis (comps) to determine the fair market value of your home?
• Are you willing to create listings on multiple sites like Zillow, Craigslist and MLS?

You’ll still have expenses

Photos are one of the best marketing tools for selling your home. Unless you’re skilled with a camera and can take appealing photos of your home’s interior and exterior, you’ll need to hire a real estate photographer.

Agents won’t show your home if there’s nothing in it for them. Consider offering a 2-3% commission to buyer’s agents to entice them to show your home.

Most home sellers are not well-versed in real estate law and contracts. Hiring a real estate attorney is a smart move to protect you from what you don’t know about real estate transactions.

Do you have the time and energy to sell your home?

Home repairs and updates, marketing, showing your home to buyers, negotiating the sale and closing the sale all require time and energy. Are you willing to add these tasks  to your existing responsibilities?

If you’re confident that you can prepare your home, market it and negotiate the sale, sell your house FSBO. If you’re not, save your time and avoid frustration by finding a real estate agent to sell your home.

Consumers helps more than 1,000 members finance land, homes, and home improvement projects each year. When you need a mortgage or home equity line of credit, call us at 800-991-2221. We’re here to help you get the home of your dreams!