Selling your house: for sale buy owner

[J_V]

How do people feel about this process? I've heard good and bad things. I would be in no rush to sell at all and would have the mortgage paid off so it seems like it might be smart to try to sell buy owner, even if the process takes longer. I've done some milling around buyowner.com and it looks like it might be reasonable but who knows. Any advice on this would be appreciated.

[scotchnrocks]

Another alternative would be a low cost listing service.

The person I bought my condo from used one of those and he only paid them like $200-$300 bucks and my agent got like $3.5k (2% of price).

My agent said it was a pain for her to work with his listing agent though because they were only available on the weekends. No problem for me though, and probably not for him. It sounds like you can be patient, so it may be worth a try, might be less hassle than doing it yourself.

[Mr. Now]

This is the best way to sell a house in a flat or declining market.

There is highlikelyhood a realtor will be involved, bringing a buyer in to see your listing. They see you on MLS. As part of the listing definition, you can offer a range of commission comp to realtors. Always offer the standard customary co-broker rate for your region. If co-brokers typically get 1/2 of the commission, make sure that is what you specify. For example if the typical total commission is 6% make sure you specify you intend to pay 3% to any realtor that produces a buyer. You do this to make sure the realtors dont steer buyers away from your substandard commission plan.

Now you can drop the asking price by 3%, passing along the savings to your buyer. Now you get more real buyers looking at your house.

These listings cost $400 to $600 total. Make sure any listing you buy gets you in the local MLS and Realtor.com. This is what gets you all those realtors bringing all those buyers.

I sold some property in early 2005 and did quite well using the FSBO process set up this way.

[Strickly Bidness]

[ QUOTE ]
This is the best way to sell a house in a flat or declining market.

There is highlikelyhood a realtor will be involved, bringing a buyer in to see your listing. They see you on MLS. As part of the listing definition, you can offer a range of commission comp to realtors. Always offer the standard customary co-broker rate for your region. If co-brokers typically get 1/2 of the commission, make sure that is what you specify. For example if the typical total commission is 6% make sure you specify you intend to pay 3% to any realtor that produces a buyer. You do this to make sure the realtors dont steer buyers away from your substandard commission plan.

Now you can drop the asking price by 3%, passing along the savings to your buyer. Now you get more real buyers looking at your house.

These listings cost $400 to $600 total. Make sure any listing you buy gets you in the local MLS and Realtor.com. This is what gets you all those realtors bringing all those buyers.

I sold some property in early 2005 and did quite well using the FSBO process set up this way.

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huh? You can get your house in the MLS system w/o a listing realtor? Didn't know that. Is there a website with all documents for this kinda thing?

[pig4bill]

I would try to find a FSBO-type of place that gives you as much advice as possible. For example, did you know that in some localities that if you don't hand over a detailed disclosure statement, that you might be legally liable long into the future? Did your washer ever overflow and get the walls wet? Suppose you sell the house, and the buyer sells it again 7 years from now. And the second buyer, someone you never met, sues you for mold damage making his family ill and not disclosing the water damage.

[black_russian]

I sold my house by owner. Cost me about $300 for a lawyer and advertising. Negotiating can be a little weird cause people arn't used to doing it that way. Overall it was easy and a great experience. Saving the 6% was great but then again I sold 2 years ago when the market was strong and the house sold in a week. One of the areas realators really help is playing middle man during negotiations. For some reason a lot of people are very emotionally attached to their home and this can get in the way. They get easily offended which can cause some problems. Throw that stuff out the window.

[MatthewRyan]

JV - FSBO is almost never the right choice, unless you are a realtor. First of all, a listing agent will usually charge around 2%. So, right there, ask yourself - Can this agent get 2% or more for the property than I could selling it myself? - the answer is almost always yes, for a variety of reasons you can figure out im sure. Secondly, besides opportunity cost, you are losing a ton of your own free time. Do you work? Do you have lots of responsibilities? It takes a lot of time, effort & know how to sell a house - something most working people do not have. Lastly, you need an unbiased person to help you with the selling/negotiating process (as Blackrussian mentioned). Many, many people overvalue their own home or are poor negotiators and end up loosing any money they would have saved right there.

To sum it up, an agent can help you: get more money, sell your home faster, save you a ton of headaches and make the overall process smooth.

And remember, its not what you know, its what you dont know that will screw you - and FSBO are basicaly untrained, biased first time "agents" with no one holding their hand.

[alekhine8]

[ QUOTE ]
JV - FSBO is almost never the right choice, unless you are a realtor. First of all, a listing agent will usually charge around 2%. So, right there, ask yourself - Can this agent get 2% or more for the property than I could selling it myself? - the answer is almost always yes, for a variety of reasons you can figure out im sure. Secondly, besides opportunity cost, you are losing a ton of your own free time. Do you work? Do you have lots of responsibilities? It takes a lot of time, effort & know how to sell a house - something most working people do not have. Lastly, you need an unbiased person to help you with the selling/negotiating process (as Blackrussian mentioned). Many, many people overvalue their own home or are poor negotiators and end up loosing any money they would have saved right there.

To sum it up, an agent can help you: get more money, sell your home faster, save you a ton of headaches and make the overall process smooth.

And remember, its not what you know, its what you dont know that will screw you - and FSBO are basicaly untrained, biased first time "agents" with no one holding their hand.

[/ QUOTE ]
This message brought to you.. by the National Association of Realtors!

[MatthewRyan]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
JV - FSBO is almost never the right choice, unless you are a realtor. First of all, a listing agent will usually charge around 2%. So, right there, ask yourself - Can this agent get 2% or more for the property than I could selling it myself? - the answer is almost always yes, for a variety of reasons you can figure out im sure. Secondly, besides opportunity cost, you are losing a ton of your own free time. Do you work? Do you have lots of responsibilities? It takes a lot of time, effort & know how to sell a house - something most working people do not have. Lastly, you need an unbiased person to help you with the selling/negotiating process (as Blackrussian mentioned). Many, many people overvalue their own home or are poor negotiators and end up loosing any money they would have saved right there.

To sum it up, an agent can help you: get more money, sell your home faster, save you a ton of headaches and make the overall process smooth.

And remember, its not what you know, its what you dont know that will screw you - and FSBO are basicaly untrained, biased first time "agents" with no one holding their hand.

[/ QUOTE ]
This message brought to you.. by the National Association of Realtors!

[/ QUOTE ]

lol I realize it comes off that way, but I work in the mortgage industry and have some insight into the differences between using an agent and doing it yourself

[Thremp]

J_V,

Ask krishan how well it went over for him.

I'd just use a professional if you need to sell in a decent length of time.

But if you just wanna throw a high # out there and see if anyone bites without really being serious about selling, go for it.