I'm looking for some good advice, re: selling a home FSBO vs realtor

[Wonk]

re: FSBO (for sale by owner) particularly. Tips, tricks, pitfalls to look out for, good books on the subject, etc?

As I've mentioned here before, my grampa, who was a widower, passed away in May this year. It's taken us this long to sort all his stuff and clean out his house, and now the time has come for us to sell it. My uncle and I think that going with a realtor would be the way to go, but my folks want to do it FSBO to save on paying the commission, and they think they might get a better price for it than a realtor would, too. :shrug:

I'm looking for both advice on how to do a FSBO well, and also arguments pro & con for FSBO vs using a realtor, if any of you have experience with this kind of thing, which we don't.

Thanks in advance :-)

[SheilaT]

1. If you go FSBO,

the buyer will also expect to save on commission, so won't pay quite as much as through the Realtor.

Do you -- or does anyone in the family involved in selling this house -- have the knowledge and expertise to do a FSBO?

The Realtor can give you realistic value assessments. If you go the Realtor route, be sure to interview at least three different ones who tell you how they'd price the home, market it, and so on. Do you know how to qualify a buyer?

If you sell yourself, make absolutely certain you have a lawyer involved to make sure the contract is the way it should be.

These are just a few random thoughts. But if you're not willing and able to do a lot of the work yourself (why the Realtor earns commission) don't even consider doing it yourself.

[Wonk]

5. re: value assessment

We've got a pretty good idea what it's worth. We know what my grampa paid when he bought it a decade ago. We've also been approached by a couple of realtors so far asking if we wanted to list it with them, and they each quoted what they thought it would sell for. It's a particularly hot sellers market, and due to the location (it'll be the only waterfront property in the area on the market, too) my folks think the house will practically sell itself, which is why they don't what to pay what would amount to a 5 figure commission for a realtor to handle it. I'm not so sure, though.

As to bringing in a lawyer for the contracts, absolutely.

re: "qualify the buyer", tips on that would be appreciated, too, if anyone has any.

[Beaker]

12. even if you go FSBO...

you should still consult three realtors to get market apprasials, etc...they'll be happy to give you advice, as long as you don't tell them up front that you aren't going to list it with them.

BTW- most buyers won't/shouldn't expect to pay less if there's no realtor involved- the house is worth X amount of $$, whether an agent is handling a the sale or not.
if the buyer is using an agent to handle their end, and the agent expects to split the non-existant comission, it's the responsibility of the buyer to satisfy their agent.

[Don_G]

2. I Don't Know Anything About FSBO

But a reputable realtor knows people, can advertise, meet with a prospective buyer, knows the ins-and-outs of estate law and negotiate a deal where you can't sometimes.

I went through the same thing with my Mom's house last year and under the same circumstances.

Just my opinion.

[connecticut yankee]

3. I'm a Real Estate Appraiser

and run into this frequently.

You can save money by trying FSBO. However, there are benefits to having a Realtor list it.

One is that they will pre-qualify buyers, which you would probably not be able to do.

Another, is that it's very inconvenient to always have someone available to show the house. The Realtor takes the burden off your shoulders.

A third reason is that by having it on the Multiple Listing Service you get greater exposure.

I have seen many FSBOs that eventually get listed with a Realtor. After a few months, people just get tired of trying.

If you want to try doing it yourself, I would advise you to have three Realtors look at the house and give you their estimates of what they think the sales price would be. There is no obligation or cost for doing this -- just don't sign anything.

Bear in mind that very often they will "high ball" the price, hoping to get the listing.

If you're in a hot market, the house may go in a short time. But if you still have it after two months, I'd call one of the Realtors back, and sign with him/her.

This is probably the best time to sell. AFter October, I'd wait until next Spring.

[Wonk]

9. Thanks. I'm leaning realtor, but my folks want to go FSBO.

That link Spinzonner posted suggests an option we hadn't considered, which I think I'll suggest to my folks, which is to negotiate a "limited use of realtor" contract with a realtor at a much reduced commission, but then do much of the work (ie. showings) yourself. That'd get it on the MLS too. Maybe we can play some of the realtors off each other to get it down to a 1% or 2% commission.

[Spinzonner]

4. Check Out

http://www.nolo.com/lawcenter/ency/article.cfm/ObjectID/AB223076-0E85-4F28-80B97FA8428675D5/catID/DE246952-56DE-4DE2-BB6C29FA50C961A2

and the Nolo site in general for books/FAQ's, etc on real estate and other law.

[Wonk]

8. Nice link, thanks. nt

[flamingyouth]

6. There are several things to consider here

First off, a lot depends on the housing market where the house is located. If it's a really hot market, you probably could get away with selling it yourself. Also, it depends on the property, the condition of it, neighborhood, etc. If this house is something, basically, that you feel people would snap up in an instant, by all means, try to sell it yourself.

Having gone through three condo and home purchases, however, I would recommend having a Realtor. I know the commission seems excessive, but they can help you with the advertising, advice on getting it ready to list, all these things that can be overwhelming.

Before we bought this house, we looked at a FSBO around the corner, mostly as a comparison. I noticed that it was just listed by a Realtor a few weeks ago, and this is a very popular neighborhood with a strong market. So it's not easy to sell it yourself, but if you work at it, it's highly possible.

Whichever direction you take, best of luck to you!:hi:

[Dr.Phool]

7. Go FSBO

I had my house listed 2 years ago with what was suppossed to be a great Realtor. He didn't do squat. He held an open house, but had no directional arrows to point people to the hard to find cul-de-sac. I think the house was shown 3 times in 2 months. I fired him and put it on the market myself.

In Cleveland, we had a FSBO magazine. For under $400 they put the house in the magazine until sold, plus had yard signs, flyers, and a box for flyers. On their web-site I could upload 6 photos of the house, inside and out, and change them when I wanted. I had more traffic the first day than I got in 2 months with a realtor, and got the price I wanted.

All the realtor did was whine that the asking price was too high, and kept trying to get me to reduce it.

You can buy a standard contract at an office supply store, plus any other forms you'll need, such as disclosures. Your title company will handle all the paperwork and coordinate with the buyers bank.

A couple of tips. Pre-screen potential buyers. Ask if they're PRE_APPROVED for the loan. If not, tell them to call back after they are. When are they planning on buying? If not now, don't waste your time. Have they done a drive-by? Make sure they are looking for that neighborhood. It could be 20 minutes further from their place of employment, and they don't want to drive the extra distance.

Forsalebyowner.com, who I advertised with had free seminars and a book on FSBO to make it as easy as possible.

[MI Cherie]

10. A good Realtor is hard to find!

We bought our first house through a friend of my mom's. She showed us junk. I found the house we bought through an open house, she basically showed up for the closing and her check.

My parents had lake front property. When my mom passed away, my dad couldn't wait to sell. He talked to a Realtor (without me) who buys property and was offered less than half of what is was worth. We tried FSBO. The first people who looked at it offered way less than what it was worth.

I should have been stronger with my dad and insisted we wait a few weeks — it was only May. But he was so anxious and I was so wimpy. I've felt that they practically stole it. They had a Realtor, so we still had to pay commission!

When we bought the home we are now in, we tried FSBO with our old house. For five long months! (Although we were able to move on a less hectic basis!) The Realtor who sold us this house continued to call. We gave in and signed.

An inspection we didn't know we needed revealed a carbon monoxide problem — dangerous and possibly expensive fix. Realtor got quotes and the fix was minimal. I lost a little sleep after realizing had we stayed through the winter ... we might have been a statistic. Had we sold on our own — who knows?

Anyway, MLS listing sold within a month for more than we would have been willing to settle for! Whichever way you go, try to get listed in the MLS.

My dad passed away last year and we are only now finally clearing out 50+ years of collections. Of course, we are planning on working with the same Realtor!

Good luck!

[nclib]

11. We sold our house by owner last year.

We advertised in the newspaper once a week and had an open house every weekend.

We got an offer three weeks after it went on the market. The couple who bought it used a Realtor and we agreed to pay her a 2.4% commission.

We priced our house based on what other similar neighborhood homes went for. That information was obtained from the county real estate website.

A lot is going to depend on the market. There's no harm in trying it yourself for a month. In the meantime a lot of Realtors will call and you might meet someone you could work with.