Buying A Home
CCM82909
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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.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
For Sale By Owner
It's a long shot considering that this board is "Buying A Home", but I was curious if anyone had ever sold a house by owner (FSBO). We are looking into doing this instead of going through a realtor as it can save a bookoo of money, but were hoping to find others who have done the same. Any tips or details about the process? Thanks! Oh, and if there is a better board to post this on, just let me know.
Re: For Sale By Owner
I did, but it was sorta by accident.
We were building a new home and people knew it. Some asked if the house we were currently living in was for sale. ( it would be)
We showed it to 2 people and both made offer. We took the higher offer and turned it all over to our attorney to take care of.
easy.
Most FSBOs I have seen are way over-priced and do not set the best list prices based on the true market conditions for their area, but instead base their list pricing decisions on what they think it's worth or what they want to sell it for.
FSBOs in this situation sit and sit. Buyers are smart and know an over-priced home when they see one.
If you go the FSBO route, be realistic. Set your asking price based on the market and don't make it emotional. The higher out of line your asking price is, the longer your home will not sell.
We met with a realtor about 2 months ago who gave us ideas as to what would be the best price to list it for, and we're basing it off of that (lower than what she said since we wouldn't have to pay her commission). We also have a service through our bank that determines the value for our house and what they would recommend to sell it at, so I'm not too worried about setting the price too high.
ETA: We've also got a ton of time to "feel out" the market and negotiate if need be, since we technically do not have to move until June of 2013.
All the numbers suggest that you will sell your home for a higher price and in less time if you use a Realtor. Having said that it's definitely possible to sell without an agents. For a FSBO listing I would highly recommend using a limited service real estate firm that will put your home in the MLS, provide a lockbox, professional sign, work with your local showing services company for scheduling, etc. Make sure you offer a competitive buyer's agent commission - it's ok to pay a little extra since they will inevitably have to do more work than they would if you had an agent. You will find that many local Realtors will not want to show your home - they don't like FSBO and limited service listings. Paying a higher buyer's agent commission will help to overcome this stigma.
Having said all of that the numbers are still against you. It sounds like you really want to give this a shot so I would say go for it. Set a time limit on the listing - like if you haven't sold it by Valentine's Day 2013 hire an agent. If you gave an agent the listing today I bet you would be frustrated with them by February and ready to make a change - fire yourself.
I'm a Realtor so I'm very familiar with your dilema. If you want help finding a local agent if the house doesn't sell I would be glad to provide some recommendations. Listings are tough in today's market and it's critical that you work with a top agent with a stellar list:sell ratio. Good luck!
I have never sold a home but my husband and I have looked at many homes over the past year. Some were through realestate and some were FSBO. If you're going to do it on your own, definitely know your stuff. It is a buyers market so be prepared to possibly take a loss. You may not get out of your home what you purchased for it and what you put into it. My husband and I took the time to educate ourselves about the realestate market. Before we even looked at a home we researched it. We knew exactly how old the house was, sq footage, number of rooms, property taxes, current and last years values and what the person actually paid for the home. It is all public record (in state of Ohio anyways).
Make sure you know everything about your home, because serious buyers are going to ask. Know how old the roof, hot water heater, windows,and furnace are. Know what kind of material floors and countertops are made up.
I know looking at homes, we have felt less intimidated when our realtor was with us or there was a realtor there to speak with. People can be very defensive about their homes. We looked at home (FSBO) that we both really liked, and doing our research we asked her why it was priced 60K more than what it was valued at. Well she got a divorce and bought out her half of the home and was in debt and she wanted to get her money back she lost to her cheating husband (that is NOT going to sell your home).
Best of luck, as others have said, give it a try doing FSBO for a few months and if it doesn't happen definitely get a realtor involved!
Oh goodness! That's quite a story to hear about pricing of a house. Thankfully, our house is only 4 years old and we are the only owners, so we know pretty much all there is to about this house. The housing market in our area has also been fairly stable, and it looks like either way we go (realtor or FSBO) we will get what we put into it.
Thanks everyone for the advice and tips! Of course we are just in the beginning stages, but hopefully things will work out either way.
We haven't listed our house yet or anything since we have until the end of June to sell/rent our house. But I will post something once we get the process started and how it goes.