For Sale By Owner
A for sale by owner is a person that has advertised their home for sale without representation. They can put up a sign, they can put it on classified ads, or on craigs list. This is an offer of a private transaction, where a person is selling property that they personally own, in a non-commercial way, that does not require a business license or registration with the municipality. In real estate, this is often abbreviated as FSBO, and sometimes pronounced Fiz-bow.
Can a Real estate agent contact an FSBO?
Are they on the Do Not Call List? The Do Not Call list is a federal registry, and it is illegal for businesses to solicit using phone calls to numbers that are on that list. If you are offering a business service to the person on that list, you cannot call them on the phone.
If the FSBO is on the Do Not Call List, what is the purpose of the call?
If you are calling to offer your services to list their home, or represent them in a real estate transaction, this is illegal. The Do Not Call List prevents a business from soliciting them through their phone number.
You are an agent representing a broker. The brokerage is a business, a commercial entity. If you call offering brokerage services to the seller, you are soliciting them to hire you. This is against the rules of the Do Not Call list.
If They Advertise their Phone Number to Contact, Does that Exempt Them From the Do Not Call List?
If a seller lists their phone number online, does that make them exempt from the list? The Do Not Call List does not apply to business phone numbers, and now that they have listed their phone number to sell the home, does that open them to commercial solicitation?
No, selling property that an individual owns personally does not make them fall under the commercial side of the Do Not Call Rules. They are still an individual, and they have listed their phone number with the explicit reason to sell their own property, not to run a business or solicit business calls. They are still protected from solicitation calls from businesses.
What if I have a Buyer that is Interested in Buying the Property?
If you are a real estate agent and you are representing a buyer that has asked to see the home that list listed For Sale By Owner, then you can contact the seller on behalf of your client to negotiate the possible purchase of their home.
What if I have Buyers, but they have not Expressed interest in that particular property?
If you call a seller and tell them that you have a buyer interested in purchasing their home, and none of your buyers that you represent have asked you to contact the seller or to view that particular home, then you are being dishonest. The legal term for lying to a customer is called fraud. You are committing fraud if you call a seller and tell them you have a buyer interested, when you do not have explicit instructions from your buyers to view that property. You would also be breaking the Do Not Call Rules if you called under these pretenses, and then offered your services to list the property.
I have Buyers Asking Me To Help Them Find Properties, Doesn’t that Apply to FSBO?
Yes, it is within your duties as a real estate agent to seek out properties that might fit your buyer’s interest, no matter how they are listed for sale! You should definitely present what information you have about the property to your buyer, and if they instruct you to schedule a listing, then you can do that.
Be careful of starting the conversation with the seller because you have an interested buyer, and then turning the call into a solicitation. You may have started the call with the correct purpose, but if you turn it into a solicitation, you might find yourself on the wrong side of a Do Not Call Complaint.
If you Call A FSBO, What Else Must You Disclose?
You should disclose very early in conversation the true nature of your call, and that you are a real estate agent or broker representing a buyer. You also need to make it very clear to the seller that you do not represent them.
If a seller begins to think that you represent them, then that could create a situation that is called Implied Agency. A seller might have grounds to sue for compensation if an agent representing a buyer only, begins to give too much advice to the seller. If that advice causes the seller to do something that hurts them financially, the agent might be liable. Also the buyer agent should be doing what is in their client’s best interests, which limits the help that they can give to the seller.
In Utah, Agency Disclosure Must Be In Writing
Utah real estate agents and brokers need to disclose in writing who represents who. The FSBO seller needs to get a written disclosure from the buyer agent, that says that the agent is representing the buyer.
Even more clear would be if the agent also has the seller sign a disclosure that explains that the real estate agent does not represent the seller, and explaining all the duties that the agent has to the buyer, and the duties that the agent does not have to the seller.
The Utah state approved form called the Real Estate Purchase Contract, or REPC, includes disclosure about agency representation. In section 5 of the most recent REPC as of 2026, there is disclosure about which agents represent which clients. This is sufficient to cover the basics of agency disclosure, but it still would be more legal protection to also include a signed disclosure of no agency, between the agent and the seller.