BOOK REVIEW : ‘Kit’ Aids Those Wanting to Sell Home Themselves

“The For Sale by Owner Kit” by Robert Irwin (Dearborn Financial Publishing Inc., Chicago), 1993, 176 pages.

Prolific real estate writer Robert Irwin has authored a very realistic guidebook for selling your home without a professional real estate agent. Irwin carefully explains the pros and cons of selling without an agent and then encourages homeowners to give it a try. But he admits many do-it-yourself sellers will fail and eventually list their homes for sale with a professional realty agent.

Knowing most FSBO (for sale by owner) sellers fail, Irwin explains why. Overpricing, negotiation difficulties and distrust are just some of the reasons. But Irwin shows home sellers how to overcome these drawbacks for successfully selling their own homes.

This extremely well-organized book is filled with checklists and work sheets to guide home sellers. Even those who decide it’s too much work and eventually list with a professional agent will benefit from the wealth of knowledge explained by Irwin. His easy-to-understand style makes the book both interesting and fast-paced.

Although this book is jam-packed with profitable tips for selling your home without a professional agent, it isn’t complete enough for most homeowners to make a successful sale, unless they are very fortunate. For example, it doesn’t include samples of the necessary forms such as the sales contract. Instead it advises taking the buyer to a lawyer’s office to prepare the sale papers. Hopefully, the buyer won’t catch “buyer’s remorse” along the way. This is the best of the “how to sell your home alone” books and it rates a nine on my scale of one to 10