I'm totally confused, 6% of what? To FSBO or not to FSBO that is the question?

Question

If a property is purchased for $250,000 and sells for $300,000 how much money goes to the real estate agents (buyer's and seller's) (ball park figure) if an agent is used ?

Is it 6% of the total selling price or 6% of whatever is left after the buyer's mortagage and all taxes, closing costs, etc, etc, etc. are paid?

Is saving the 3-6% worth all the work of going FSBO?

Answer 1

I disagree completely with most of the answers. You can sell your own home if you know what to do. Why pay a realtor 6% or 7% of the selling price. You can do it yourself. Think of it as a job. If you are selling your home for $300K you can pay yourself $18,000. How much is your time worth?
Are you thinking about selling your home? Have you been thinking of selling it by yourself instead of hiring a real estate agent? There are several advantages of selling your home yourself, but there are disadvantages as well. To make it easier for you to make a decision find the most important pros and cons below.
The most important PRO for selling your home yourself is MONEY.  Selling your home without the help of an agent means more Money in your pocket!
By selling it yourself you save the commissions and fees. - We are not talking about pennys, we are talking about THOUSANDS of dollars which you would have to pay an agent. 
Another advantage is that you are able to decide the times for open houses and showings. It is also completely up to you where and when you want to advertise.
Unlike a real estate agent who is selling many houses, you can focus on YOUR house, because you are only selling your own house. It is obvious that you will have more interest in the sale than an agent.. 
But as mentioned above there are also disadvantages selling your house yourself. Real estate agents are paid a lot of money for a reason. Selling a home takes a lot of energy and time. Dealing with potential buyers, open houses, closing sales and of course dealing with legal issues. Real estate agents are familiar with all the above and their experience can impact the sale. 
Be realistic when making a decision! Will you drop everything to make a showing? Do you think you are indeed a good negotatior and ask for an offer? Are you 100% sure you are able to close a deal? Selling a home is a big project! It is not everyone who can take on such a big project and can stay calm and professional when dealing with buyers. 
Selling your home is not impossible, but it is a challenge. If this challenge excites you and if you are willing to learn then it is not impossible managing selling your home without the help of an agent. With some know-how and a lot of energy you can sell your house without the help of a real estate agent and save thousands.
So how to start? Sit down and start evaluating your house. Finding the right price is the first and most important step when selling your home yourself.

Answer 2

6% of the total selling price. Usually buyer's and seller's split the commision. You can go FSBO as long as you have the exposure. MLS is the best but you need a realtor to do that.

Visit http://www.4thishouse.com ...They have a great program. "FSBO with an MLS listing!"

Their Listing Agent (or the seller's agent) will only provide you the MLS listing for a Flat FEE with no seller's commission. So you only have to provide for the Buyer's agent commission if he'she closes. That means Flat FEE + 3% only. It is like FSBO because you can still sell it with any direct buyer and pay NO COMMISSION AT ALL!

You just need to be in the MLS so Buyer's agent will know about your listing.

Answer 3

That would be 6% of the sales price, or $18,000. There are pros and cons of going FSBO. There are also discount real estate brokers who offer fee-for-services, or kind of an ala carte menu of things they will do for a fee. Just remember that it is very important to get your property into the local MLS and that it is marketed properly. Sometimes just sticking a sign in the yard, and an ad in the classifieds is just not enough. Interview several different brokers and research a couple of FSBO books before making a decision. It is worth the time, your talking about a lot of money. Good luck.

Answer 4

The 6% a real estate charges is 6% of the selling price of the house...so if you sell a house for $300k, the real estate agent gets $18,000, regardless of what you bought the house for. By the way, shop around, because you can probably get a real estate who only charges 4-5% (save a few thousand $'s). It's tough to do a FSBO, because the house just doesn't get the proper exposure - ie: MLS listings, etc.

Answer 5

This is a tough question. There is no doubt that the MLS is a tremendous vehicle for selling a home. Home prices have risen dramatically in recent years and realtors have not adjusted the percentage that they receive for the sale even though there is no more work involved. Often 6% of the sales price can make the difference between a profitable sale and an unprofitable one. This is particularly true in investment transactions where there are often two commissions paid in a short period of time (one on the purchase and one on the re-sale). There are companies out there now that will assist you in the sale, list your home on the MLS and provide you with forms for much less than 6%. Hopefully sometime soon there will be a site that provides access to for sale by owner homes as well as MLS homes.

Good luck.

Answer 6

If you were in a hot market, like LA about 3-5 years ago during the housing boom, you could have done fsbo, and probably been successful.
The best thing, and only good thing, about using a realtor is that you get on the mls. get your house on the mls if you are in a slow market.
The 6% is of the selling price...thats negotiable, try to do a flat fee, and jus have the place listed on the mls.
The 6% is off the top, the realtor gets paid first

Answer 7

Not an agent (attorney), I always recommend to clients they use a licensed real estate agent. Be aware that all agents are not equal. Look for an agent that moves a lot of properties. Unfortunately this is not the time to use a family friend or relative that just got into the businesses and needs the listing. A good agent will get the best price for you and will be there to facilitate the closing.

Answer 8

6% of the selling cost. We sold both of our past homes by ourselves because it saved us a lot of money. The first time we did it on our own with an agreement written up by a lawyer. That was kind of stressful.

Last time we used one of those services that helps with the closing and other minor issues for a small cost. That made it a bit easier on us.

If you have the time to do open houses on your own, and feel confident in showing your home by yourself, I think it's well worth it to do FSBO. That's what we'll do when we sell this home in 2 years. One suggestion...we hired a home inspector ourselves, so we could fix anything that might be found in need of attention before we put it on the market. That way our price was much less negotiable. We got exactly what we asked on our last home.
Good luck!!

Answer 9

The Realty fee is 6% of the sales price. Out of that fee the Realtor pays for all of the marketing costs, pays a percentage to any Realtor representing the buyers (usually 2%-3%), and pays a percentage to their Broker. Their actual net is much less than 6%. That is what they are paid for their time and expertise.

As to whether or not to act as your own agent, well that depends on on how conmfortable and experienced you are in writing real estate contracts. Your sale is only as strong as your contract. If you write it up poorly or incorrectly you will have to live with it. If there are items to be negotiated with potential buyers, can you do that unemotionally?

You may want to determine how much it will cost you to advertise the home for sale, how much time you want to spend showing it yourself, how you are going to determine whether or not potential buyers are qualified, and exactly what you need to cover in a contract of sale before you decide to do it yourself.

A good Realtor is worth the money. In my 20 years as a mortgage lender the most challenging and arimonious transactions I have seen usually happened because there was no Realtor involved.

Answer 10

6% of the total selling price of your house.

there are advantages and disadvantages to both.

FSBO pros: you can save $
FSBO cons: you have to market your property yourself (not on the MLS system unless you have an agent), show your property, do all the paperwork associated (which there is quite a bit) and negotiate on your behalf with the buyer and/or their agent. you may end up getting more for your house by paying a good agent who has strong negotiating skills!