THSCC Forums

Hello all,

I've decided to move. I'm trying to make the decision to go with a realtor for selling my current house, or trying my hand at the "For Sale By Owner" thing. The idea of forking over 7% of the selling price is painful to me.

Anyone care to share their experiences selling their house themselves?

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Karl S.
2014 Baby, 2014 House, 2013 Ford Focus ST, 2013 BMW 328i, 1994 Mercedes E320
(Insert passive aggressive signature line here)

Want to sell the Excursion also? I might be buyer?
Want a pickup for your move? I can trade my truck + cash for your Excursion.

Patrice

7% ?? Ha, call around you can find agencies that will do it for far less.

The key is to get it in the MLS. There are places that will charge you a flat fee for that, that is no agent but your house will be listed. It is well worth the money for that.

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91 Jetta GLI STS/DSP 111
85 Porsche 944 ASP 11
http://www.blackforestindustries.com

Well, 7% is what a friend told me the going rate is. I've yet to research it further. This is an upgrade to a nicer place based mostly on the equity I've got in this one. So I can't really take a bath paying an agent to sell this one because then I have no down payment.

And no Patrice, I'm not selling the Excursion, not yet anyway. It's my only working vehicle. But if you're in the market, PM me, I can tell you some things about them and what to look for (and avoid).

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Karl S.
2014 Baby, 2014 House, 2013 Ford Focus ST, 2013 BMW 328i, 1994 Mercedes E320
(Insert passive aggressive signature line here)

A co-worker did one of these "Help You Sell" things (commercial, but no realtor?) and was happy with it.

NC makes it a bit easier since you have to have a closing attorney to make sure everything is in order. Back in Michigan, it was common practice for the realtor to do the closing, and as you can imagine, it was also common for there to be unhappy buyers and sellers.

Scott

We purchased our current house forsale by owner. The attorney said that it was one of the easiest & quickest closings they ever did. Probably because both parties were there at one time.

We tried selling the Townhouse FSBO, with no luck. We finally used a realtor and it sold fairly quickly.

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In need of car.

karl, we sold our house last year using this listing service called selling direclty (http://www.sellingdirectly.com)...it is just like the For Sale by Owner deal, except they are local so they only deal with NC laws and stuff...plus, the guy that owns it, Michael Mansour is a car guy. he's run his 67 Camero RS with THSCC a couple of times.

the deal is about the same...you pay a flat fee for him to list your house on the MLS plus some other crap...then you only pay the ~2% for the seller's agent...we saved like $5k or something. house sold in 6 days...highly recommended!!

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05 MCS

I've sold homes without a Real Estate agent twice. Running an "Open House" on weekends was the key. Run a cheap N&O ad. Have signs. Spring is an especially good time as folks are out and about looking. Make sure you have great curb appeal or folks won't come to the door. If you have a fireplace, make sure its on. Bake cookies and leave them on the table (you want the smell and to give folks a reason to stay and look around). Remove the screens from your windows to make the house as bright as possible. Prepare a "home sheet" with pics, dimensions, estimated payments. Make copies of it. You want folks to have a "take away" to remember your house.
... Go visit a subdivision model home for more ideas ....
Often Real Estate agents will approach you for the listing, especially when they see a well marketed home - sometime you can cut a deal with them.
And have a contract ready for a buyer to sign .... do use a Real Estate attorney.
Frank

All this crap, plus the thought of having to schedule showings of the house during work hours, plus the thought of trying to do an open house, among other things, is what convinced me to use an agent. And I am a notoriously cheap DIY bastard (I stop DIYing if it cuts heavily into work hours).

When you look at the MLS fee and the % you WILL give a buyer's agent anyways, the difference is more like $3k than $5k.

If you've got a great house in a seller's market and you are pricing it well, then FSBO is the way to go. Selling with an agent is kind of like punting on trying to privately sell an unwanted car and taking it to CarMax. No, you're not going to get as much, but it eliminates al LOT of hassle.

Mike (The dissenting opinion on this one)

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Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

Mike definitely has a point...the typical buyer's agent percentage is between 2.4 and 3%. When I sold my house we gave them 2.5%...i've seen discount seller's agent for as low as 4.5%...so if 2% of your homes value is worth it to ya, then do it yourself...if not, go with an agent.

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05 MCS

See, in a lot of ways I'm with Whitney.

Anyone care to explain the way the fees and stuff work, like who gets paid what from who. Example - why *I* have to pay a dime to a "buyer's agent?" I'm not the buyer!

If it's really just a couple grand difference then I'm all for using a realtor (the "punt" as Mike describes it). But 6 or 7% of a lot of money is a lot of money...particularly when near about *all* of my down payment is the equity in the current house.

--Karl, who already hates real estate stuff...

I spent nearly 20 yrs in real estate here, am no longer in it, so you don't have to take what I say with so much "grains of salt".
"Full Service" Brokers generally charge between 5-6% which covers both the Buyers agent and the Sellers agent. The reason you pay the Buyers agent out of your proceeds is because generally, the buyers agent is not paid by the buyer he represents (his services are free to buyers, generally).
As for the fees, if you need "full service", that is, you want to get top-dollar for your home, in the shortest amount of time, with the least amount of inconvenience to you, you will probably want to strongly consider a Full Service Agent. Generally, a better agent (more successful, competent and a stronger marketer and advocate for you, GENERALLY) will get a little higher fee, and that can be well worth it. I would be very careful if going with a discount or flat fee agent, as there is usually a reason they decide to do business that way (think of "getting what you pay for"). If they are going to make $200-$300 for listing your house, how much time and effort are they going to expend? If your house is priced lvery competitavely and is in a very desireable location and in good condition, the marketing efforts required will be less. That being said, you have at least one positive recommedation from someone here who used a flat fee Broker, so check it out, but also check with a top-notch full service broker (Monte Smith with YSU is a THSCC member and advertiser). You will want to talk to 2 or 3 agents to get thier opinion of "Market Value", also. These "opinions" can vary greatly, but don't go for the one who promises you a price that seems unlikely, you'll end up wasting the most valuable part of the listing period (1st 30 days) with an overpriced home. Be glad to chat more if you want to call me.

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If we are alone in the universe, the universe aimed very low and settled for very little - George Carlin