For Sale By Owner question

anybody have any experience with this? Whether they sold by owner, or bought from a owner?

We are considering it to save the $30k in commissions, but is it really feasible? Any tips?

Thanks!

Re: For Sale By Owner question

first- disclaimer- I am a Realtor

but the facts are FSBO sell for 12% less on average

and most people when making an offer subtract the 6% first

Re: For Sale By Owner question

Sure it can be done- but frankly it could end up being a lot of work- realtors will screen the people that come into your home and make sure that they can actually afford it- you wont be able to do this- so when someone makes an offer it may be hard to tell if the bank will actually approve them (even though you can ask for a pre-approval, its not a guarantee of a mortgage)

You will have to hold open houses on the weekend- let people walk through the house, hear some of them make obnoxious comments about how they will change your house- I know for me it would be difficult to bite my tongue

biggest reason is that going with a realtor will get you exposed to every agent in their company and on MLS- a broader number of buyers will likely mean a faster sale

that being said, you can always try it out- set a time frame for yourself and then if you pass that time, you could then talk to a realtor

good luck!

Re: For Sale By Owner question

My friend just did FSBO. She initially just stuck a sign on the front lawn. She had some bites but nothing great. Then she contacted MLS. For I think $400, they will put it on MLS for you. She had so many more inquiries. She was able to advertise open houses too. She sold her house in less than a month and saved a lot of money in commissions doing that.

Bear in mind though that it is time consuming and you have to deal with everything yourself when you can normally have a realtor deal with the headaches. But for $30K, it is worth a shot.

Re: For Sale By Owner question

we purchased a FSBO, they build in the commission already in the price I found on every offer we made. We had a pre-approval from Wells Fargo which we showed on every offer and most FSBO sellers didn't know what they were and didn't care and the same thing for Realtor selling (they thought it was a bonus but didn't ask for it) you are going to get some jerks walking through - we were at a house where they booked a few people to show up at the same time to seem like a TON Of people were interested in the house. The other couple were making horrible remarks and since your showing the house you have to hear them not the Realtor. The one main thing that I loved is no middleman: i said i wanted to pay x amount the seller said no i willing to sell for x amount and we agreed or disagreed.

So if your selling, require pre-approval for serious bids if you want, make sure you know your comps in the area and be careful about what you list vs what your willing to take. Get documents to sign formal offers so this way all conditions are written down (we had to do this) it saved us a lot of headaches since we know the sellers were selling at X amount, and only taking responsibility for insect damage and it was sold as is. And be prepared to do a lot of work, you have to sit there when they want a inspection, you have to sit there when they want to see the house again, you have to do all the paperwork, fixings with no guidance except from your lawyer.

Re: For Sale By Owner question

Thank you everyone for your responses!!! I'm happy to hear that some work out, but with a price (alot time and effort) the negative comments wouldn't bother me. I'm pretty harsh myself (even on myself LOL)

Re: For Sale By Owner question

No- not less then asking price- most houses sell for less then asking these days

FSBO sell on average 12% less then houses sold by a realtor