For Sale By Owner?
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Anonymous
| It's a long story, but we are considering selling our home ourselves (i.e. the selling price in our neighborhood does not give us enough $$$ to relocate if we have to pay a seller's agent commission since we bought at height of market). Anyone willing to offer some guidance / advice / recommended resources if you have done this on your own? |
Anonymous
| We did it because the market was falling and we wanted to offer an attractive price. |
Steve
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Here's how to get on the MLS for free/cheap: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/475296.page#7298461
Here are my FSBO tips (sorry, just a quick and dirty copy and paste job that stripped out a bunch of stuff) Offer buyer agent commission: If you don’t offer a buyer agent commission, your house may be unethically boycotted by real estate agents. Unless your home is in a very hot area, you’re going to want to offer commission to the buyer agent. The norm in the DC area is 3% but 2.5% is becoming more and more common. Anything less than that and you risk a greater potential that buying agents will ignore your home. Get a lockbox: This is where you will store an extra copy of your key so that real estate agents can access your home and show It to their clients when you are not home. You can purchase a lockbox for about $25. Use the Centralized Showing Service (CSS): Control access to home showings through this service. When an agent wants to see your home, they will call the CSS for showing instructions. CSS will call/txt/email you for showing confirmation before allowing the agent to retrieve your lockbox access code and enter your home. They also keep track of which agents request a showing and allow the agents to leave feedback through the system as well. Use a Google Voice number: If you’re trying to sell a home on your own, agents may try to harass you for your listing. Use Google Voice or a temporary, disposable number as an easy means to block them. Further, if you decide to take your home off the MLS at a later date, you will receive calls for weeks soliciting your home listing. Google Voice makes it easy to turn off/block/screen these calls. Try to avoid using a “For Sale By Owner” sign: This is a red flag for real estate agents. Many are not aware that “For Sale By Owner” sellers may still offer commissions to buyer agents and they’ll avoid your house altogether. They’re not supposed to but they can steer clients away from your home by suggesting other homes to tour. Have paperwork ready. From HOA disclosures to lead-based paint disclosures, having these forms ready will speed up the process. If you don’t know what’s required in your area, consult a real estate attorney/settlement company. Or contact us and we’ll tell you where to find one. Get your poker face ready: When asked, don’t reveal your personal circumstances including why you’re moving, when you want to move, and how little you’ll take for your home. If you don’t have an offer in writing, then nothing matters. And anything you say can be used to weaken your position that will result in a lower offer. Agents may ask if you have any offers. If you are expecting any, simply saying, “We are expecting X offers” may motivate their buyers to make a stronger offer than they would have otherwise. You never have to reveal any details about pre-existing offers. Be prepared: Real estate agents and buyers consider the “For Sale By Owner” seller an easy target for lowballing. Remember #2: “Know your worth.” If you’ve taken the right steps outlined above and your house shines above the competition, remember that there’s another side to the equation. You may want to sell, but buyers also want to buy. A $10,000 lowball offer is a lot to you, but it may only be a difference of about $50 a month to the buyer. Don’t take it personally: You want to sell your home at a high price, and buyers want to buy a home at a low price. At the end of the day, buyers just want to find the right home, and if your house is it, then the money will follow. You don't have to respond right away: 24 hrs is a good response window for a final decision or counter-offer. Even 48 hours may be acceptable. You can use this time to field other offers and improve your bargaining position among the other offers. |
Anonymous
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1) Offer 3% to a buyer agent. If you don't, you'll have a harder time reaching potential buyers.
2) Pay to get listed in MLS. 3) Declutter and stage. 4) Price your house realistically. (Well, that should be #1). Typical buyers view FSBOs skeptically. So, you'll be dealing with a smaller pool. This doesn't mean there aren't people looking for deals. But it does mean you'll have to work harder to market the house and reach buyers. |
Anonymous
| What about a discounted seller's agent like Redfin? |
Anonymous
| Because I hate the thought of giving 3% to the buyer's agent, try this instead. Offer a $5,000 buyer's credit. Give that money as cash to the buyer and tell them they can use it for anything they want: as part of a down payment, for closing costs, EVEN to pay a realtor to help them fill out paperwork. Be sure to tell them there is no other money set aside for the buyer's agent. And be sure to put that message in public places like the flyer you hand out at the open house and on Zillow in the home description area. This does 2 things: it potentially increases the number of buyers for your home AND it gets them negotiating with their agent to lower their fee because they want their $5,000 to go as far as possible. I assume that $5,000 is less than 3% of your home. Good luck. |