Can FSBO sellers succeed in this market?

Absolutely. Look at this screen shot from fsbomadison.com. All of the listings below are for homes on the west side of Madison. Note seven of these eleven listings have either sold or are waiting to close. Not bad at all.

On the flip side, look at this screen shot. All of these fsbomadison.com listings are from the village of DeForest. None of these eleven listings are shown as having sold or as having an accepted offer.

Why the difference? Location is a big factor. The west side of Madison has only 6.5 months of inventory, compared to 10.8 months of inventory for the village of DeForest. In other words, housing supply relative to housing demand is much lower on Madison's west side.

If you're planning to go the FSBO route for the sale of your home, research the months of inventory for your area. If your area has 8 or fewer months of inventory, your odds for success will be quite good compared to many other sellers who choose the FSBO route.

We'll offer tips for FSBO sellers in a future post.