How effective is it to do a sell by owner?

Question

I had my house listed with two separate realtors. The first one did nothing but let the house sit with a yard sign for 8 months. She did not advertise it, do open houses or bring anyone. The second did open houses, advertised on TV and the paper and got traffic through but they were looky loos. I thought price may be the thing and I could only go lower by paying only one realtor(the buyer's if he has one) and saving on the commission from a listing realtor. My home is now listed with owners.com. How effective is it to sell ones own house?

Answer 1

Nationwide we're having a major market slowdown. In my area, there are 2 buyers for every 10 houses for sale. I advertise like crazy (in print and online) and I'm lucky to get one or two calls a week for each house. I hold open houses where no one comes all the time. It is a tough time to be a seller, no question.

BUT...

If you try to do it on your own you invariably attract:

People with poor credit who want you to carry back the loan
Investors looking to lowball you on the price
Scam artists

You won't have agents showing your house because they either don't know it's for sale or they think they won't get paid if it's FSBO.

My advice is hire a Realtor with a great reputation in your area and have them give you their marketing plan in writing prior to signing the listing agreement. That way if they don't do what they promise you can cancel the listing.

Answer 2

Only 3% of all homes are successfully sold by the owner.

This is what I would do: Find a top producer to sell your home. Go with the largest Real Estate firm your city.

Someone else posted where there was no Realtor involved, and someone put a contract on their home. The sellers packed their ENTIRE house, cleaned it, everything was already gone from the home and on a moving van.

The day before closing, they found out that the buyers didn't qualify for their loan...and the sellers already had a deposit on another home, which they lost.

Can you imagine that happening? Packing your entire house to not close? It happens...every day.

When you get a new Realtor...ask her to be HONEST (and be prepared to listen), of what she thinks the problem with the sale is.

I wish you luck.

Answer 3

You are limiting your exposure further by listing on owners.com (or any similar website) The great majority of home sales still take place thru real estate brokerage firms (over 85% nationally). While you are in agreement to pay a buyer brokerage fee, DO realize that not all agents, nor all buyers, work under buyer agency agreements. If a real estate agent is not working as a buyer agent for a specific client, you're not going to get a look from that agent.