Need help with For Sale By Owner

[polyfan]

Has anyone sold their home this way- for sale by owner? Please give me some tips and advice- I really don;t want to use a realtor because of the cost.

 

[chrissyk]

We've done it twice, and my sis has done it 3 times. I'd never sell a home any other way, especially after seeing how realtors DON'T work in your best interest on a recent 20/20 (very interesting if you can get a copy of the show). Anyways, do a search for FSBO and you should bring up some recent threads on this topic. I'd encourage anyone to go FSBO if they possibly can. There are VERY few reasons that I'd ever involve a realtor (job relocation is really the only one that I can think of).

 

[ducklite]

I sold my home this way. I had worked in the mortgage industry for years, and had sat umpteen open houses with Realtors, so I knew what to do to show the house for top dollar.

I also spent many hours tracking sale prices in my neighborhood, as well as original list prices.

I was in an area with a hot sellers market. My home was a perfect "starter" home in a decent neighborhood.

We repainted the entire house in a warm light cream color satin paint (ceilings in celing white, trim in the same cream but in a semi-gloss). Top to bottom. Ceilings, walls, inside closets, even the garage. Every bit of trim, it was all done. We replaced the carpet with a light beige throughout the enitre house, and put new vinyl flooring down as well. We cleaned out every bit of clutter. When I put it on the market I had one thing hanging on one wall--a clock in the kitchen (which I left for the young couple who bought the house). I had clear counters, and no furniture in most of the rooms--anything not going to the new house with me was long gone to the curb or Salvation Army. It looked almost empty, and HUGE! We took all the glass globes off every light fixture inside and out and put them through the dishwasher. Every window sparkled, every fixture gleamed. We ripped out the overgrown landscaping and replaced with fresh new shrubs and remulched all the beds. I replaced the tired slats on the verticals with new ones cut to fit at Lowes, and replaced all teh horizontal mini's with new cream colored ones.

I had an open house on Memorial Day weekend, and got an offer that day for a bit under my asking price, which I accepted. The offer fell through a day or two later when the guy decided he really couldn't afford it. Whatever. I raised the sales price (yes, prices were going up that fast!) and held and open house the next weekend and had a three couple bid war, with two of them being VERY strong buyers. I got more than my asking price, and had a very smooth transaction with the couple we chose--they had a bigger downpayment.

I did it all exactly like they say to. NO clutter, the house looked and smelled brand new. Everylight and ceiling fan was on, curtains and blinds all open, it looked spacious and bright. I had light jazz playing on the stereo. The comment we got from everyone was how clean it was.

I ran an ad in the paper, I wouldn't waste the money to do that again, I had a lot more interest buy putting large for sale signs from Home Depot in conspicuous pleaces in the enighborhood, and didn't try to cram too much info--just the words "For Sale, 3 Bedroom/2 1/2 Bath" and the street address. the sign in the front had the phone instead of the address. We also put balloons on the signs during the open house, and added "Open House" signs next to the for sale signs (all in all I think we had seven signs pointing people in the right direction).

We had an attorney represent us, and he took care of it all. I didn't even go to the closing, I had already moved to Florida and gave POA to my husband!

BTW--My total cost to paint/carpet/floor/blinds/etc. was about $5000, I think it made me close to $20K!

Let me know if there are any questions I can answer for you!

Anne

 

[CarolA]

My realtor was worth EVERY penny I paid her and then some. SHe did a wonderful job marketing the house etc... The house sold in under two weeks in a market that was not "hot" and in a subdivision where houses were still being built.

She also dealt with the idiot buyers agent.. (I would have killed that woman LOL!)

I will not purchase without an agent so if you won't agree to pay my agent comission then I won't see your house. I just am not a real estate agent and have had some friends who wound up in some HUGE messes..

 

[ChrisnSteph]

Whether or not you sell by owner really depends on the market, and how quickly you want to sell. We sold our previous home by owner, and it was a nightmare. The market had slowed down, and around here agents tend to blacklist FSBO homes and not show them. They say they don't do that, but I've had several admit to me that they do. If you're in a hot market where homes are selling within a few days of being on the market, I say go for it. We used a realtor once, and our home sold to the first couple that looked at it, and we showed the house ourselves. The agent made thousands of dollars off of our equity for doing very little work. But times were different then because the homes were selling like pancakes.

 

[chrissyk]

One other thing...you are under NO obligation to show the house to anyone represented by a realtor. My very first question to EVERY caller that I got on our 1st FSBO was whether or not they had signed ANY paperwork to work with a realtor. If they had, then I declined to show them the house. Just like the poster above isn't interested in looking at FSBOs that won't pay her realtor, a lot of FSBO sellers aren't interested in buyers who have a realtor. It's a 2-way street.

We had no problems selling the house even with refusing to show to anyone represented by a broker. It sold in 12 days, for way more than any broker wanted to list it at. The biggest issue that we had during that home sale was keeping the brokers away. We told them NO, and they kept calling, showing up, leaving letters in our mailbox, etc. At one point, I nearly called the police on one broker who was pounding on our doors and peeking in our windows. I guess that they don't understand the word NO. It didn't matter that our ad stated "Principals only". They brokers were undeterred. This was really irritating.

On our 2nd FSBO, the town was a different story. I knew that we were going to have to list in the MLS and offer a buyer-agent commission because of the nature of the market there, so I paid $399 for a 6-month MLS listing. I listed a 3% buyer broker commission, and I raised my price by 3% over what I would have priced it at as a straight buyer-to-seller FSBO. I have news for you...if you buy a FSBO with an agent in tow, YOU the buyer are paying that 3% commission. Our buyer paid dearly for the "covenience" of using an agent

 

[Disney Doll]

The market had slowed down, and around here agents tend to blacklist FSBO homes and not show them. They say they don't do that, but I've had several admit to me that they do. .

Why would you logically expect a realtor to sgow a house for whih they will rceeive no benefit whatsoever???? Of course they blacklist them. Now, it's too bad they lied to oyu, but common snese should tell you that no orealtor is going to waste their time showing a house that will bring them no possible income. Would you want to work for fee??? Neither does a realtor.

 

[ashjohnson80]

Why would you logically expect a realtor to sgow a house for whih they will rceeive no benefit whatsoever???? Of course they blacklist them. Now, it's too bad they lied to oyu, but common snese should tell you that no orealtor is going to waste their time showing a house that will bring them no possible income. Would you want to work for fee??? Neither does a realtor.

You can offer a realtor a 3% commission if they sell the house. I had several agents show my house before it sold.

 

[Disney Doll]

The biggest mistake I see people make with FSBOs is that they tend to overp[rice them. That's OK if it's a "hot" market, because people get stupid and pay ridiculous amounts of money for houses, but if you live in an area where the market is "cool" or "cold", an overpriced FSBO is going to just rot there.

I can remember looking at some FSBOs when we were house-hunting, and every one of them was grossly overpriced. And every one of them tried to justify their proce by pointing out all the "special" things they did to their house. The problem was, many of them had no taste, so the "special" things were awful and I would have ripped them out anyway the minute I owned the house. So I was certainly not going to overpay because of all that "specialness".

Take the time to go to town hall & research what comparable houses in your neighborhood have sold for over the past 6 months or so and price your house accordingly. Do a little "neutralizing"....neutral paint, carpet, blinds, do a little "decluttering" so the house looks bigger, price it right and make sure you have a good lawyer.

 

[Disney Doll]

You can offer a realtor a 3% commission if they sell the house. I had several agents show my house before it sold.

But unless you make that very clear in your advertising etc, there's no realtor in the world who's going to waste their time on your home.

Plus, quite frankly, a 3% commission isn't all that hot, at least not in my area, so lots of realtors probably would just steer their buyer to a different property. There are very few "one-of-a-kind" houses around. Chances are, another house would work just as well as a FSBO. It's just a matter of finding it.

 

[ducklite]

You can offer a realtor a 3% commission if they sell the house. I had several agents show my house before it sold.

That's what I did--actually 2 1/2%-- if they sold my house to their client. I ended up selling it to someone without a Realtors involvement. I actually sent an e-mail with a description of the hosue to about 100 local Realtors, and clearly stated "Buyers Agents protected to 2 1/2%".

Anne

 

[ashjohnson80]

But unless you make that very clear in your advertising etc, there's no realtor in the world who's going to waste their time on your home.

Plus, quite frankly, a 3% commission isn't all that hot, at least not in my area, so lots of realtors probably would just steer their buyer to a different property. There are very few "one-of-a-kind" houses around. Chances are, another house would work just as well as a FSBO. It's just a matter of finding it.

Well I didn't advertise that at all, and I had realtors calling at least once a week offering to show the house, they would just ask me if I would do the 3% commission first when they called.

 

[ChrisnSteph]

Why would you logically expect a realtor to sgow a house for whih they will rceeive no benefit whatsoever???? Of course they blacklist them. Now, it's too bad they lied to oyu, but common snese should tell you that no orealtor is going to waste their time showing a house that will bring them no possible income. Would you want to work for fee??? Neither does a realtor.

Why are you assuming I didn't offer a commision? I offered a commision a 3.5% buying agent commission - based on our local rates, they would have made as much off my house as any other. And we used Help-U-sell, so we were listed in MLS. But most realtors - particularly those doing drive-bys - would not show my house because they didn't bother to check and see that there was a commission offered. My dh's aunt (who is a realtor) even admitted that they tend to just overlook the FSBO homes and not even bother to see if they offer agent commissions or not. In fact, the people that ended up buying our house were driving through our neighborhood with their agent, saw our house and wanted to see it. Their agent came to my door to see if they could walk through, wasn't very polite to me, and when I asked if he could come back in about 30 minutes so I could tidy up the house, he said "oh, that's ok, don't worry about it". What a guy. An hour later he reluctantly came back and said that his clients were insisting on seeing the house. I knew he wasn't thrilled, and he even had the audacity to point out things in my house that the buyers might not care for! He was such a jerk, but when I finally told him I offered a commision his entire tone changed, and then he tried to backpeddle. They ended up buying my house, and I hated the fact that I had to pay that jerk agent for anything, since I pretty much sold the house myself. I'm sure there are wonderful agents out there, but I have yet to have a good experience with one.

 

[chrissyk]

Why are you assuming I didn't offer a commision? I offered a commision a 3.5% buying agent commission - based on our local rates, they would have made as much off my house as any other. And we used Help-U-sell, so we were listed in MLS. But most realtors - particularly those doing drive-bys - would not show my house because they didn't bother to check and see that there was a commission offered. My dh's aunt (who is a realtor) even admitted that they tend to just overlook the FSBO homes and not even bother to see if they offer agent commissions or not. In fact, the people that ended up buying our house were driving through our neighborhood with their agent, saw our house and wanted to see it. Their agent came to my door to see if they could walk through, wasn't very polite to me, and when I asked if he could come back in about 30 minutes so I could tidy up the house, he said "oh, that's ok, don't worry about it". What a guy. An hour later he reluctantly came back and said that his clients were insisting on seeing the house. I knew he wasn't thrilled, and he even had the audacity to point out things in my house that the buyers might not care for! He was such a jerk, but when I finally told him I offered a commision his entire tone changed, and then he tried to backpeddle. They ended up buying my house, and I hated the fact that I had to pay that jerk agent for anything, since I pretty much sold the house myself. I'm sure there are wonderful agents out there, but I have yet to have a good experience with one.

I wonder if that is area-specific or market-specific, though. We definitely had the opposite experience...realtors were really wanting to show our FSBO. The only thing that I can figure is that the majority of the homes in the town were selling FSBO at the time, and the agents weren't seeing a lot of action. Maybe they thought that they could get our house as a listing if they were persistent enough One even sat in front of my house in her car and wrote us a page-long letter of why we should let her show our house to her clients (this is after I ignored her calls and her home visit). Another one banged on our doors and peeked in our windows to the point where I was just about to call the police when he finally left. He actually scared me. My sister had the same experience with realtors wanting to show the property with 2 out of the 3 FSBOs that she's sold in the past 5 years or so.

The one that we listed on the MLS offered a 3% commission, and we had lots of realtors call up wanting to show it. It went under agreement very quickly, so we only did a few actual showings though. Overall, I wasn't thrilled to have to involve a realtor in that transaction, but again, my bottom line was 3% higher on that house because of her involvement. I think that realtors in that particular town would blacklist FSBOs that didn't offer the 3% commission, but would show them no problem if they offered the 3%. Again, this was totally area-specific. In my present town, lots of people sell FSBO with no agent involvement, and people who list FSBOs on the MLS only offer 2%. You just need to know what the norm is for your area when you are selling FSBO.