FSBO questions?

Question

Selling my home myself. $400,000 appraised at $444,000, but the crash seems to be underway. Any links, tips advice on selling it myself? I fricken hate realtors. Sorry if you are one, but your greed is just too much. I know how hard I work to make $24,000 and I'm not giving it to you, to shove a few papers and show a house. Frocken nuts! I know how to get my home in the MLS, but need legal closing resources once I have a buyer.

Thanks!

Answer 1

It depends on your state, but many states have title insurance offices that can handle closings. Some states have real estate attorneys that handle closings.

You can also negotiate your commission with an agent or you can hire one a'la carte to just do a portion of the sales or help you with a contract. You can contract with them for that limited service for a flat fee.

The biggest tip I'd give you is to make sure anyone wanting to buy your house is qualified to do so. Get them to prove their financial credibility early in the process so you aren't half way to closing before it comes out they don't have 3 cents to their name. Also, when is the last time your property was appraised? If that $444,000 figure is more than 3 months old, it is probably more than what your home will sell for today.

Even if you don't want to sign with a realtor, it won't hurt to call a few and interview a few and ask them to pull some comps for you and give you a realistic ballpark of what your property is worth. They do that all the time and you might find one that doesn't make your flesh crawl. They aren't all creeps, you know.

Answer 2

I agree with the commission being way too much.

In the 70's annual median income was about equal to the median home price so at 6%, 2% going to the selling agent. One would have to sell 50 houses a year to make the median income, or one a week, fine that seems fair for the work load.
~in the 80's a house was about 2 times the median income (25 houses)
~in the 90's a house was about 3 times the median income (16 houses)
Now houses are 4 times the median income or 1 house a month, lame way over paid.
The commission should be 1.5% with the selling agent getting 0.5% or in other words sell 50 median price houses a year to make a median income.

Now off my stump, I sold my house.
You can buy the paper work at a stationary or form store like Staples.
Depending on your state you'll need at least a disclosure form and a sale form (purchase agreement) and/or offer to purchase and acceptance form (with or with out inspection).

There are also Lead Paint forms, Smoke detector forms, Radon forms and maybe others depending on your state.

You'll also need to find a title company. They can help a little with necessary forms but it's not their job.

You will find it will only be a few forms, 2 to 5 mostly 1 page each. The huge book of papers you have to sign when sell/buying with an agent is all to cover their stupid mistakes.

Pricing your house 3% below the current market value usually (90% of the time) results in a sale within 2 weeks at market value. I don't know who did the study but it strangely works. I only advertised in the paper, priced about 5% below and ended up getting way over market value in a 25 person bidding war. Now times are a little different, even more important to be 3% under.

Neutral colors, no clutter, first impression (walking up to the door is half of what sells a house.) Clean and no funny smells!

Answer 3

And you want to ask the public at large (not in a nice way I might add) how to sell the largest asset you have. Realtors represent buyers and sellers. This is what they do for a living. If you were being sued would you represent your self or hire a lawyer? If you don't go to the source that can help you (A Realtor) you are going to end up paying more in the long run. They know how to get your home sold and also keep you from being sued over trivial matters.

Answer 4

good luck in this market trying to sell the house, be prepared to site for awhile

On closing papers spend the monies to have a lawyer draw up a sales contract, best way to protect your interest in the sale

On going FSBO I agree some what in your opinion but time will tell, after a year sitting on the market and no sale we will see, for in the end it's not the seller agent working it but the connections they have to potential buyers is their real asset

On the mls how much are you offering to buyers agent? hopefully 3% anything less and most likely you will not get any bites from mls, and even if you have 3% to buyers agent many re agents feel this type of listing is a threat to their income as such will refuse even though illegal to show your place

In the end it really is not the work a seller agent does, but the access they have to a huge buyer pool

Answer 5

This website has a lot of good info on how to do FSBO from beginning to end.

http://www.audrie.com/easy_fsbo_home_selling.htm

Answer 6

Try www.buyowner.com. That should be exactly what you are looking for.