Big jump in New Yorkers listing their own homes

Properties listed "For Sale By Owner" up 30 percent since last year

A home at 244 North Fifth Street in Brooklyn listed "For Sale By Owner"
A home at 244 North Fifth Street in Brooklyn listed "For Sale By Owner"

More New Yorkers are opting to list their homes themselves instead of hiring a broker to sell the properties, recent data shows.

The number of New York City homeowners who have listed their homes “for sale by owner” has gone up 30 percent since last year, according to figures from real estate search site StreetEasy.

Homeowner Samantha Saturn, who created her own website to market her apartment at 244 North Fifth Street for $1.395 million, told DNAinfo the choice to go it alone was a financial one. The combined fees of the owner’s and buyer’s brokers typically add up to 6 percent of the sale, according to DNAinfo. In Saturn’s case, selling her own home could save her more than $80,000.

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“The money I need to invest in our relocation is significant at this point,” Saturn told DNAinfo. “So to save five figures helps. By the end of it, I may see there are skills I need and have to hire a broker.”

Such skills may include handling migraine-inducing bidding wars, evaluating potential buyers and closing the deal, according to the article. [DNAinfo] – Angela Hunt