For Sale By Owner - how do I do this?

Question

I would like to sell my house on my own. I have no clue on what I am doing, but I would like to save the 3-6% a realtor charges. Can you give me any advice on where to get started? Checklists? Good websites you have used? Any help would be very much appreciated. TIA

Also, what about free places you know of where I can list it? So far I have listed it on Zillow and Forsalebyowner.com

Answer 1

Okay, first of all, you aren't going to "save" the commission, you will EARN it.

The very first thing you need to do is to prepare for the moment when someone says "I'll take it." You have to locate a contract, and understand what it says, and what needs to go in all the blanks. Odds are good that they won't have a realtor either, and that's who usually provides the contract. You can find one online, or at an office supply store, or make up your own, but learning what they mean is another matter. That's what people have lawyers and realtors for. You want to make sure it covers all the possibilities, one of which is that the Buyer can't get the money from a Lender because they're a deadbeat or the price is too high. Anyway. Assuming you know what to do once you find a buyer...

You next want to make the house presentable. Look at your house from the street, and make a list. Cut the yard, trim the bushes, clean the gutters, wash the windows, get that junk car hauled off, etc. When you've done that, take a picture.

Prepare a one page flyer with the picture, and put the price, square feet, bedrooms, anything else factual about the house that makes it desireable, and print up enough to give to everyone in the neighborhood. It's possible one of them wants a house close by for a family member, or just heard a friend say how much he'd like to live nearby.

Put a sign in the yard.

Clean up the inside. Buyers aren't going to be impressed by newspapers, boxes, and laundry. Fix what needs fixing.

Now comes the hard part. Think about where your Buyer might look for your house, other than by asking a Realtor. Put the flyer up in local grocery stores, or if you think it's appropriate, run an ad in the Wall Street Journal.

If that doesn't work after a month or so, admit that it wasn't as easy as it sounded and call a professional Realtor.

Answer 2

Hire an agent, it increases your exposure exponetially, and going by the numbers FSBO's generally make 16 percent LESS then a sale through an agent (see below). So save x% (whatever you negotiate with your agent) or make 16% more.....

As a FSBO: If you get any buyers their thought process is well, the seller is not paying comission so let me subtract that fron the top and then the buyer also discounts what they were thinking about discounting anyhow from their offer. Furthermore if the buyer is represented they may ask you to compensate their agent as traditionally it is the seller who pays commission (technically to the listing broker who then pays the buyer broker from that commission)

You also have to ask yourself, how will you handle scheduling showings, do you work full time, what if someone wants to see the house when you have to work. How will you verify they are prequalified? What Marketing will you do, and what mix, what is your advertising budget? and so on and so on. Also, if you do decide to go FSBO, you should contact a real estate attorney so you know all the required disclosures that must be made for your state and you have a plan for preparing the contract if you procure a buyer.

Every year NAR (National Assn. of Realtors) commissions a home buyers and home sellers survey. The 2005 NAR data showed that homes sold by practitioners fetched 16 percent more than those sold by FSBOs. The 2006 data shows an even greater difference for those who start out with an agent

Also about 83% of sellers who start out FSBO end up listing eventually.

Here are the numbers from the 2006 survey
___________ median income____ median selling price
Agent-assisted___________ $87,100________ $250,000

First FSBO,
then agent-assisted________ $70,700_________ $192,000

FSBO/don’t
know buyers_____________ $77,800__________ $187,200


Also if you decide to sell FSBO You should also be prepared for your phone to ring off the hook with agents calling you offering to list your home.... and don't be so quick to brush them off.

Answer 3

www.forsalebyowner.com will give you great insight as to where to begin. Be very careful selling on your own. Make sure you use a legit contract and have it notarized by a notary, or attorney. Also, if you live in a condo make sure that your docs are given to the buyer in a timely fashion, also write a seperate disclosure to the buyer acknowledging that they have received the package and have 3 days to accept or withdrawl from the property without penalty. Also, any inspections same type of deal give the buyer 7 days to have a home inspection, 14 days from contract ratification to have the appraisal completed, most importantly a Approval letter, not a pre-qualification letter from a mortgage company. There is a huge difference. Use a Attorney for settlement, the extra money for their services will be worth it to have proper representation. Also, if the buyer is using a Realtor you will most likely still have to pay the 3%. Good Luck!

Answer 4

After reading your blog I wasn't even going to answer this question. But, I figured since you vented - I should do the same. First of all - who the heck do you think you are? You don't have any right to make those comments without knowing exactly what you're talking about. I suggest you fork out $500 to take a real estate class so you'll have a better understanding of how the system works. The MLS is a system used by REALTORS to share their listings. They let other REALTORS know about their listing and how much they will pay another REALTOR to sell the home. We pay monthly MLS dues to have access to this system. If you would like access to the MLS - go to school and get your real estate license because you need one to list your property on there. Second, nobody is forcing you to use a REALTOR. If you feel that strongly about selling on your own. Put a sign on your yard and advertise online and in the paper and don't call me to sell your home when your strategy fails and you have wasted all the money on advertising because I don't work with people after they insult my profession and call us "scum". Third, nothing you can do can compare to the professional advice and knowledge that a REALTOR has to give. You don't deserve it anyway. I suggest that you sit down with one (God bless his or her soul) and find out exactly what they do that you can't so you have a better understanding of exactly what they do. You insulted REALTORS by saying some have the nerve to call themselves Christians. Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black.

Answer 5

I have seen too many nightmares over the past 30 years in the real estate business to tell you that you can do it especially in view of your statement that said "I have no clue on what I am doing"

So I will give you a link to what Housing and Urban Development says you should consider:

HUD Tips on selling your home (with a realtor, without one)
http://www.hud.gov/selling/index.cfm

All the other sites that our company has researched to date are trying to sell you something.

I wish you success (get a licensee)

Answer 6

If you are going to go this route there are ways to market your property to help it sell. One way is to make sure you offer a fee to buyers' agents as this will attract people that have agents and give you a large scope of potential suitors.

I would however say that getting an agent might save you time and money as they will do all the leg work and help you move the property faster, unless you price your property correctly. The to price correctly is to have an appraisal done to give the proper value of your home.

Answer 7

I've never sold a home but I'm looking to purchase and have discovered a site that is for both buyers and sellers wanting to do FSBO. Check out http://www.forsalebyowner.com/