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For Sale By Owner Experiences?

Discussion in 'Homeowners Corner' started by Merlin, Apr 22, 2004.

  1. Merlin

    Merlin New Member

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    My husband and I are anxiously awaiting our new Van Metre home in Broadlands. We will be selling our townhouse in Fairfax this summer, and are pretty sure we are going to try to sell it without a realtor. The market seems so hot right now, it doesn't seem like the realtors have to work very hard to get their sales!!

    Has anyone else gone down this road? Any advice, experiences to share??

    Appreciate your thoughts! :)
     
  2. Pats_fan

    Pats_fan Former Resident

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    Merlin,

    Welcome to Broadlands! We sold our townhouse in Fairfax county (Kingstowne) last summer FSBO. The whole process went pretty smoothly. We advertised for an open house in the Washington Post and on washingtonpost.com about 4-5 days before the open house; we had a follow up open house the next weekend and an offer one day later.

    The first question I would ask: are you willing to pay commission to a buyers agent? A full buyers agent commission will run you 3%. It still works out to be a lot of money, but it is a lot better than the 6% you would pay if you had your own agent. I think you will get a lot more "lookers" (and more serious buyers) if you are willing to pay a buyers agent. If you don't, you will exclude the entire class of buyers who are represented by an agent (an agent won't bring buyers to your house). If you are willing to pay this commission, I recommend including a statement like "Will pay 3% commission to buyers agent" in your ad. We did this; the buyer of our TH was represented by an agent.

    Another benefit of paying a buyers agent is that they will initiate all of the paperwork for you if their client "wins" the contract. They should not give you advice, since they represent only their client, but it does make things go a lot smoother.

    The other major recommendation I would make (that a sellers agent might give you): declutter your house as much as possible. Try to make your home look as much like a "model" as you can. We rented a small storage closet at a self-store down the street, and filled it with stuff in order to make our house present better. We had 2 children, so there was lots of stuff to "hide." Of course, you still have to be able to live in your house, but anything you don't need and remove will make your home present that much better.

    I hope this helps; if you have any other questions feel free to send me an e-mail.

    Good luck!
     
  3. MD_boy

    MD_boy New Member

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    The advice Pats Fan gave is right on the mark. The vast majority of home shoppers use a realtor to find them a house. The agent will not waste their time showing FSBO's if there is no commission in it for them (would you?). 3% is the going rate. Yes it can be a big chunk of change but when you consider the house you are selling has probably gone up 10%+ in last year that helps offset the "bite" of the commission. You also want to consider putting the home on MLS. You will have to pay a realty service to list it for you. You can find one in the phone book or on the web. They will charge a fee but it will generate much more traffic since MLS is how agents find houses for sale. When we sold our last house we used a "discount broker". They charged 4.5%. 3% to the selling agent and 1.5% for themselves. They provided all the services that a full commission broker. They represented us in the negotiations and handled all of the legal stuff. We also used them to represent us when we bought our current house and they gave us a 1% rebate which helped offset some of the overall commission we paid. If you want the name of our realtor shoot me an email.
    Good luck!
     
  4. Pats_fan

    Pats_fan Former Resident

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    I agree completely. The only reason we didn't list on MLS is that our house sold so darn quickly (we decided to give ourselves a couple of weeks before listing on MLS, in order to test the market).
     
  5. Merlin

    Merlin New Member

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    Thanks for the advice Pats_fan, OP_dude. We are definitely planning on paying the buyers agent and considering paying a flat fee to get on the MLS. We have a lawyer lined up to handle our side of things, so hopefully square in that department.

    Did you price your homes the same as realtor-listed houses? Or did you go a little lower? I've heard people look at FSBO's to get a deal since they know you're not paying that 3% to the listing agent.

    Also, I've heard that perhaps buyer agents don't like to show FSBO's to their clients b/c it goes against the principle of their industry or whatever --- heard anything like that?

    We are aiming to try and do everything to maximize traffic, while pocketing beaucoup bucks at the same time..
     
  6. Pats_fan

    Pats_fan Former Resident

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    I think the decision of whether to list right away with MLS depends on how much time you have. We gave ourselves about 2 months to sell, with a 3-tiered approach:
    1. FSBO with newspaper ads only;
    2. FSBO with MLS; and
    3. Seller's agent.

    We got lucky in the first couple of weeks while still on #1, and never had to move onto #'s 2 or 3.

    We actually priced our TH slightly above the price for the most recent comparable sale that we were aware of. We certainly didn't consider giving a "FSBO discount." The way we looked at it, it was OUR sacrifice not to use a seller's agent, not the buyer's. Accordingly, we figured that we should get the cost savings, not the buyer.

    We did not experience any sort of boycott by agents. We had quite a few agents bring prospective buyers to our home. In my personal opinion, with the market as hot as it is right now, an agent would be crazy to overlook a potential sale just because a property is listed FSBO. We are close friends with one agent who tells us that she has "lots of buyers, but no sellers" -- by the time her clients look at a property and decide to make an offer, in most cases the property already has several contracts on it. I think the housing shortage in this region precludes the type of "principled boycott" that you fear.

    Good luck!
     
  7. MD_boy

    MD_boy New Member

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    With the sellers market the way it is agents can't afford to be picky. As long as they are getting 3% they will show your house even if it is a FSBO.
    As far as bargain hunters, with houses getting multiple offers buyers would be crazy to try a low ball figure.
    I am sure you have been keeping tabs on what comparable homes in your neighborhood have been selling for. Price your home accordingly. If you price too high you run the risk of over pricing the appraisal - a real contract buster.
     

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