For sale by owner sellers know they may face challenges. Selling a home without the help of an agent comes with its own set of obstacles, but the appeal of saving money and selling on your own makes FSBO worth it for thousands of homeowners every year.
Not only are families looking for their forever home, but investors are looking for new properties to add to their portfolio as well. Real estate is still one of the top investment areas, as millionaires consistently list it as an essential part of their success.
As we all know, “location, location, location” is everything in real estate. It’s also fairly important, it turns out, when it comes to who sells the most FSBO homes. Selling by-owner is more popular in some areas than others, and depending on what state you live in, you may be joining a large number of other entrepreneurial spirits when you list your FSBO home on the market.
So, where do most of these FSBO sellers reside?
To find out which states are the most popular for FSBO listings, we dug into our state-level data to figure out how many sellers per state are listing their homes on ForSaleByOwner.com, how those percentages compared to the national total, along with the median prices across those listings. Now, we’re sharing that proprietary data with you. Additional data has been pulled from the US Census, Bureau of Labor Statistics and US News and CoreLogic to provide factors that are important to home-buying or investing, like year-over-year (YOY) population growth, YOY job growth, US State Education Rank and YOY average home equity increase.
Read on to find out which states outperformed the rest.
Which states in the U.S. held the highest percentage of properties listed and sold on ForSaleByOwner.com? Let’s take a look at the top ten states for ForSaleByOwner.com investments in 2019 (through December 28).
The Buckeye State starts off our top 10 list with 3.8% of FSBO listings. Ohio homes also saw strong year-over-year home equity growth with the average home gaining about $7,000 in value. The average listing price comes in right at $205,000, the most affordable state on our list right behind Illinois.
Mashvisor noted that Ohio is a great place to invest due to its affordability, profitability and appreciation — the top cities to invest in include Columbus, Hudson, Madison and Marion. Some cities have median listings that land below the $100,000 mark, like Dayton at $98,266. The affordable prices and equity growth make Ohio an accessible and worthy market to invest in.
Louisiana comes in at number nine with 3.9% of the listings and a median listing price of $230,000. Homes in this state saw an average equity growth of $6,000. Job and population growth experienced a small decline year-over-year but this slow growth is trending across the US according to the US Census.
The equity returns were strong in Louisiana with an average of $6,000 across homes in the state. If you’re interested in real estate in the Bayou State, Neighborhood Scouts ranked Gibsberry, Hackberry and New Orleans as the top appreciating cities in Louisiana.
Coming in at number eight on our list is New Jersey with 4.0% of listings. New Jersey had the most expensive median listing price on our list at $415,000, surprisingly coming in above New York. You could likely score a great property for less than the median listing by knowing the specific city and neighborhood market well and using some tried and true negotiation tactics.
New Jersey is a great option for families looking to settle down – it offers suburban neighborhoods like Cherry Hill and North Caldwell as well as an impressive education system that ranks #2 in the country. So you can rest assured that when you move with your kids, their education will be in good hands.
The Peach State made our list with 4.1% of listings with the median price of $244,900. Growing families can expect to find a lot of great options as 66% of Georgia’s market is comprised of single-family homes. Some of the best suburbs for families are Decatur, Johns Creek and Berkeley Lake.
Georgia’s average home equity growth was strong at $7,000 year-over-year. Job and population growth were also peachy keen, growing 1.6% and 2.1% respectively. If you’re looking for the best place to kick off your career, Atlanta is your best bet, the Brookwood Hills neighborhood to be specific.
Michigan comes in at #6 with 4.2% of listings and a median listing price of $240,000. There are plenty of starter-home listings for those looking in the range of $225,000 and lower, as well as options for more established investors too. The average home equity growth was about $7,000 across the state.
Ann Arbor (#47) and Novi (#23) earned spots in Money Magazine’s “Best Places to Live” report. If you’re looking for something closer to city life, some top suburbs and neighborhoods include Bloomfield Charter Township or Birmingham outside of Detroit, as well as Eastgate or Heritage Hill outside of Grand Rapids.
Coming in as the fifth-largest state for FSBO properties listed and sold on ForSaleByOwner.com, the Tar Heel state held 4.7% of listings. The median listing price for FSBO homes in North Carolina was $221,500.
That North Carolina made this list is no surprise; the real estate market there has seen a lot of growth in recent years and is slated to only keep getting bigger. In fact, North Carolina cities grabbed two spots in the “top five markets to watch in 2020” of PwC’s most recent “Emerging Trends in Real Estate” report, with the Charlotte and the Raleigh-Durham areas both listed for their growing economies and job offerings, especially in the technology sector.
In fourth place is New York state with 5.0% of listings in 2019. For New York FSBO sellers, the median listing price was $358,500, making it the most expensive state in this faction of the market overview. This makes sense, as New York is home to the most expensive real estate market in the country.
In fact, New York is actually home to several expensive real estate markets. If you look at the boroughs of New York City each as its own real estate market, three of those boroughs make the list of the top 10 most expensive real estate markets in the U.S., with Queens at number 10, Brooklyn at number four and Manhattan at number one.
If you’re thinking of listing your FSBO home in one of these pricey markets, be sure to do your research on 2020 predictions for NYC real estate and be prepared for a buyer’s market.
The third-most-popular state for FSBO listings was the “Land of Lincoln,” Illinois. In 2019, Illinois saw a 5.1% of FSBO listings. Illinois’s median listing price was $214,900.
If you’re planning on listing your FSBO in Illinois, you should know that home sales were lagging as of October 2019, down 2.9% state-wide compared to October 2018. Chicago sales were also down by 2.8%, and were down 3.3% for the overall Chicago metro area, according to Illinois REALTORS®. Homebuyers in this state are looking for affordability, so savvy home sellers should go into the process ready to negotiate.
Everything is bigger in Texas, including its share of FSBO sellers. In 2019, the Lone Star state had 6.9% of ForSaleByOwner.com listings. The average home equity growth was $5,000 and the median listing price for FSBOs in Texas was $229,000.
Texas real estate also made it onto PwC’s list of the top five markets to watch in 2020. Austin, the wonderfully weird state capital, earned the number one spot on that list. Home values in Austin are expected to continue rising through 2020 and the real estate and job markets should remain strong.
Snagging the first-place spot is everyone’s favorite vacation (and retirement) destination, sunny Florida. Florida had an abundance of FSBO sellers in 2019, with a whopping 11.5% of total listings. Florida’s median listing price was $262,250 with average home equity growth of $8,000.
There’s no shortage of people wanting to move to Florida, which means that demand remains high year-round. This is good news for sellers – especially those who are in the most desirable areas. What’s more, home values are projected to rise faster in Florida than the overall U.S.
As a FSBO seller, you understand the importance of being educated on the market you’re selling in and doing research on any real estate trends you need to be aware of. By being able to see the median listing prices and the top states, you can get an idea of what other FSBO sellers are doing and what kind of challenges you may face.
While selling solo can be difficult at times, knowing your home’s worth and being aware of the common pitfalls of selling FSBO (and how to avoid them) can greatly improve your chances of success and make the process go much smoother.
This data was pulled from ForSaleByOwner 2019 databases (January through December). States were evaluated for their total listings against the national totals, listing conversions, total properties sold and median listing price. Also included is data pulled from the US Census, Bureau of Labor Statistics and US News and CoreLogic to provide year-over-year (YOY) population growth, YOY job growth, US State Education Rank and YOY average home equity increase as supplementary data for investors, sellers and buyers.
This data is provided solely for educational purposes and is not a guarantee of how your property listing or home offer could perform.
