Question about For Sale by Owner

[Dionysus]

Anyone have advice or recommendations on residential FSBO. The house I live in is the only one I've ever bought, so my experience with Realtors is very limited. The one that helped me with this house was mostly worthless, although I guess that a good Realtor can provide a lot of of value, right?

Just trying to better understand what that value is, and the risks of going FSBO. We're not in a hurry.

 

[ChazUTX]

I'm selling my house currently and thought about going FSBO as well. This is the only house I've owned and lived in so my experience is limited...but from my understanding the biggest differences in going FSBO and not are:

1. You won't have to pay commision to a realtor.
2. You'll have to draw up all the paperwork and negotiate the sale.
3. You won't have access to specific sites like har.com (Houston area realtor site, largest in houston for selling houses. A licensed realtor can only list on the site I believe).
4. Have to deal with the hassle of showing your home yourself.
5. Won't have the contacts/connections of going through a realtor agency to bring in potential buyers.

My neighbor across the street has his home FSBO and he's been going on 12 months now without a bite. He's in no hurry though....and in this bad market....so take that for what it's worth.

 

[busterbrown16]

You won't have to draw up the sale papers as this is the job of the Buyer's agent. You will have to prepare the Seller's Disclosure and the Lead Based Paint Addendum, but that is about it. You will have to review the contract from the Buyers and be able to respond in the appropriate manner (not just regarding price, but have knowledge related to some of the other clauses). It is not difficult to figure out, even though a realtor will tell you otherwise. You just want to be careful that you cover all your bases. A quick search on Google will give you hints and tips for contracts and clauses, etc.

You won't have to show the house unless you have open houses on Sundays. If you get your home listed through MLS, you will get calls when Buyers will be coming by with their agents and you will just need to vacate the premises while they show the house. There may be an issue with using MLS if you are selling without a realtor. I do not have a lot of experience with this, so you will need to check on it. MLS is, obviously, the best advertisement you can get as it is the tool that most realtors use.

You will have to put up with Buyer's agents telling you all they could do for you if you list your home with them.

I am not a big fan of realtors. I think they are a major waste of funds. I apologize to any Hornfan realtors, but this is just my opinion. I have yet to find a realtor that works particularly hard. They always just seem to do the bare minimum and put in as little effort as possible. Homes really sell themselves, for the most part. As long as you can get on MLS and have a few open houses, you should be able to get your home sold. It is harder in this market, but it can be done. I am sure there are hard-working realtors out there, but have yet to meet one and I have bought and sold 4 different houses, sometimes using realtors and sometimes not.

 

[bradford702]

There are companies out there that will charge you small fee to list your house on MLS. If your house sells you pay them the fee ($500). Just google "no commission mls". A quick search revealed VIP Realty in Plano TX. The internet has made looking for houses easy.

 

[Dionysus]

Thanks for the responses. I'm just generally not impressed with Realtors either and prefer to do without one.

 

[ChazUTX]

You guys are really making me re-think using a realtor currently. However I'd say I do have one of those hard working realtors that apparently are few and far between.

 

[TigerPride]

A hard working, skillful realtor is worth their weight in gold. I know a couple of them. They are, however, basically unnecessary. I have bought and sold several homes and have occasionally used a realtor, but circumstances vary per deal.
Twice, the mortgage banker took care of all my paper work sans a realtor.

 

[mcbrett]

My wife and I paid close to $100 for FSBO. We were highly unimpressed, and had all of your similar thoughts as to why it seems like a great idea.

We received 30-40 calls about our house, all except for two from Realtors who wanted to sell our house.

We sold it 3 months later with a Realtor.

Questions?

 

[busterbrown16]

Yeah, mcbrett raises the one concern I brought up, which is that the hardest thing you have working against you is that you are fighting against a fraternity of realtors that are all in this club and will try and freeze your house out because you are trying to sell it without a realtor. Most of the traffic you will get will be from realtors that want to sign you up to sell your house (as that is a way that realtors get a lot of their leads).

It is definitely more difficult to sell your house on your own, but it can be done. And you save 3%, which is a pretty good chunk of change.

 

[JohnnyM]

It can also really depend on your neighborhood. We had a SW Austin home in a very quick-selling neighborhood and I sold it in less than a month with nothing but a sign and flyers out front (this was late 2007). I was on a busy corner though so I am sure that helped. The buyer lived in the same neighborhood and was looking to upsize, and we did it with no realtors.

I am sure for every success story like mine, there are folks who have tried and had a miserable experience.

If your house is going to get some drive-by traffic and you don't mind dealing with some calls and showings, I would at least stick a sign and flyers in the yard for a couple of months to see what happens.

 

[l00p]

In the last 3 years I have had no less than four people, individuals not with a company, knocking on my door asking if I am willing to sell. I get the flyers and mailings from the Ugly House and We Buy Houses companies but these were people wanting to live here and just thought they'd give it a shot. It's flattering yet annoying.

This thread has me thinking that if and when I sell I may do it FSBO and not go the realty company route. It's not as complicated as I thought it was thanks to this thread.