Money Matters
orangehills
member
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Acting as your own real estate agent?
Has anyone done a for sale by owner when selling their house, or acted as their own agent when buying a house, to save the realtor fees? If so, how did it go?? Was it worth all the extra work?
Re: Acting as your own real estate agent?
The realtor is there to be your advocate, so in most instances it is worth the % that they charge. They can even help you get a deal which may save you when all is said and done, even after paying fees on the sale of your home.
Technically true. With that said, until I bought my first home, I had no idea how much work and paperwork was involved. I was tempted to try to go it alone, but that was vetoed by H before it even became a fully developed plan. I'm quite sure that if we had, we would not have gotten the thousands worth of repairs and savings on closing costs that my realtor negotiated for us, and we probably would have lost work time dealing with everything and lost the good will of our seller to boot. I know people who have done it successfully but for us? Not worth it.
My parents have acted as their own real estate agent through the buying/selling of 4 different homes. I think it worked for them, because 1. They have a lawyer friend who wrote up all the papers for a really good price. 2. They live in a rural area where it is more common for people to act as their own real estate agent. In nearly every case they were fortunate in finding buyers and sellers who were also representing themselves, so there were no real estate agents ever involved. They say it has saved them a lot of money, but honestly, I think they could have gotten a little more money for the last home they sold. For all the other buys/sells, I agree that it saved them money.
For us, we used a buyer's realtor and he was worth every penny. We live in an urban area where houses in our price range are really hard to come by. Our house hunting journey was filled with several bidding wars/bad home inspections/stubborn sellers, and we ultimately had to put an offer on a house the day it went on the market (before it even had a for sale sign in the yard or made it to Trulia/Zillow). If we had not had a realtor, we would have never even known about our house before it was snatched up by someone else...plus he just helped us weather this crazy real estate market as first time buyers.
With all that said, I think it just depends on your area, expertise, and comfort level.
I know there are companies out there that cater to "for sale by owner" people by putting your house on the MLS for a fee. I'm assuming a fee that is substantially less than having a selling agent.
As for buying, there is no advantage to not have an agent if there is a selling agent involved. If the commission is 6.5%...the selling agent just keeps all of it if there is no buying agent. At least that is the way it is in my state.
With that said, I just bought a duplex that I initially found on Craig's List "for sale by owner". In this case, I just contacted the seller directly. Neither of us used an agent which was cheaper for him and, in turn, I got a great deal on the house.
I think the biggest problem FSBOs face is being priced too high by the owners. If you do some research in your area for comparable homes that have sold in the last 6 months, and price your home accordingly, then buyers will look at your home more favorably. An over-priced home will make buyers not come to look. Also, most, if not all buyers, WILL have their own REA. Therefore, you will still probably pay for some kind of commission to that buying agent if that's the norm in your area. Whatever you do, you NEED to get listed on the MLS. If you don't many buyers won't ever see your home for sale online.
This is an important consideration for FSBO. If it's a hot market or you're in a hot area, buyers will almost find you.
Make sure to post it on Craig's List also. It's free, you can post a bunch of pics, and a lot of homebuyers look there in addition to the MLS. I certainly did when I was looking for my primary house!
This is an important consideration for FSBO. If it's a hot market or you're in a hot area, buyers will almost find you.
Make sure to post it on Craig's List also. It's free, you can post a bunch of pics, and a lot of homebuyers look there in addition to the MLS. I certainly did when I was looking for my primary house!
STUCK IN BOXI agree with short+sassy.
H and I are looking in such a small area, we look on Realtor, Zillow, FSBO, Craigslist, regularly.