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for sale by owner vs. real estate agent

Discussion in 'Homeowners Corner' started by kassiabi, Apr 13, 2005.

  1. kassiabi

    kassiabi New Member

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    Questions, recommandations, comments from anyone who would be able to tell me anything about For Sale by Owner vs. Real Estate Agent when selling your house...

    Thanks !
     
  2. MD_boy

    MD_boy New Member

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    I have never done a FSBO but in the past year there have been 3 FSBO's in my neighborhood at different times. Each of them sat on the market for 6 weeks to 2 months. After finally giving up they went with a realtor and the house went under contract within a week. I know it can be done and you can save a lot of money but it all depends on how fast you need to sell. Have you considered a discount broker. There are some out there who will only charge 4%. As long as they put it on the MLS and give the selling agent 3% the house will sell just as fast as with a full priced broker. I used a discount broker the last time I sold and was very pleased. I will never use a full price broker again.
     
  3. Wick

    Wick New Member

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    Some folks a few houses down used www.fsbo.com ("For Sale By Owner") and they sold their house within a matter of days. Don't know all of the details, but it worked out pretty well for them.
     
  4. Dwarflord

    Dwarflord New Member

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    I had a realtor try and sell my home back in 1999 and they couldnt do it within a 3 month timeframe. I went to a broker, who did the exact same thing as the realtor (listed in mls, put up a sign, gave me a lockbox, created brochures....) and they charged me a flat rate of about $300. My house sold in 2 weeks. I paid the 3% to the buying realtor and only that flat rate to the broker. I think today, brokers charge more (0.5%-1.5%), but they do the same thing (short of an open house) that a realtor would at 3%. If we were to sell today and we went with a flat rate broker, we would save over $20k in commissions alone. Basically, as long as it gets listed in MLS, you should be set.

    DwArFlOrD
     
  5. wahoogeek

    wahoogeek New Member

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    in this market, either your house will sell fast or it won't based on all of the usual factors but FSBO vs agent is not one of them. Get it on MLS and the market will take care of the rest.
     
  6. Sunny

    Sunny Chief Advisor

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    Go to www.tobeyconverse.com Tobey is a real estate agent, a broker, and all around good guy. His phone number is 703-796-1361 - tell him that Kevin & Sunny Trippel referred you. He can give you an honest opinion regarding this subject - he is a straight shooter and a real bull dog with negotiations. He sold our last house in one day and he has sold several houses for us and our family and friends. He is very thorough with everything that he does and will give be able to give you the best advice available.
     
  7. christinaandrob

    christinaandrob New Member

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    You can definitely do a FSBO! I highly recommend it. On our last real estate transactions we save over $45K in real estate agent fees!!!

    That said...just make sure that whatever you do that you work with a company that can put you in the MLS. And you may want to consider paying an agent 3% or they may not show the property.
     
  8. boomertsfx

    boomertsfx Booyakasha!

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    So you can state how much you will pay the realtor for the people that are buying the house??
     
  9. MD_boy

    MD_boy New Member

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    Yes, you can offer whatever you want to the buyers agent but 3% is the going rate. Offer any less and they will steer potential buyers toward a home that will make them more money. Can't really blame them for that.
     
  10. Pats_fan

    Pats_fan Former Resident

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    Sure you can. If you are advertising your FSBO or paying to list your home in MLS, I think you should make sure that you clearly state that you will cooperate with buyer's agents, and how much you will pay (2%, 2 1/2%, 3%, etc.). We sold our last townhouse FSBO and were under contract in about 2 weeks (at a price that was higher than any of the townhomes in our community previously sold for). We advertised 3% to a buyers agent, and spent about $300 on advertising.

    The nice thing about cooperating with a buyer's agent is that the buyer's agent prepares the contract for you and can help you find a closing agent, appraiser, etc. You have to remember that the agent represents the interests of the buyer, and not yours, but the reality is that the buyer's agent wants the closing to go smoothly so that they will get their money.

    It is definitely a little more work when you do FSBO (but not THAT much work), but I think it is well worth it to save $20k+.
     
  11. Merlin

    Merlin New Member

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    We tried to sell a townhouse FSBO June of last year in the Fair Oaks area. It was in great condition and we received a lot of compliments from realtors on how well the house showed. We listed on the MLS and offered to pay buyer's agent. We only tried for a couple of weeks and then gave it to a realtor. A lot of factors could have played into why our house wasn't snatched up right away (it was one of the smaller models in the neighborhood, we needed flexible settlement, we were impatient, it may have been overpriced).

    But I learned some things:
    1) It was really overwhelming to be responsible for conducting open houses and being available to show the house. We both work. I worked from home a lot to be around to show the house during the work day. I think it probably seriously affected my job productivity.
    2) It can be a real emotional roller coaster when you *think* someone's really interested in your house based on the questions they ask and the enthusiasm you see when they're touring your place. I would get really excited, only to never hear the phone ring. With an agent, you can be somewhat isolated from that.
    3) MOST IMPORTANT - it's really true that some agents will NOT bring their clients to your FSBO house, no matter how tight the market is. We had open houses on the same day as others in the neighborhood, posted signs in all the same places. I went to those other open houses to see folks there that never came to my house -- even though the general house characteristics were the same (3 BR, 2.5 bath, basement, FP, etc).

    That being said --- and no offense to any realtors out there -- I really don't feel like in this market the realtors have to do much to sell these places, so it killed me to pay an agent.
     
  12. Pats_fan

    Pats_fan Former Resident

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    All very good comments, Merlin. I agree 100%. When doing FSBO, it is hard not to get excited about what potential buyers say to you about your house, but you have to try to force yourself to remain objective throughout the entire process.

    I think you can avoid the problem of your point #1 if you rent a lock box -- I know you can rent one that has a combination (you give the combination to agents of potential buyers). I'm not sure if you can get the "standard" electronic lockbox that realtors use without having a seller's agent, though. Does anyone know about this?
     
  13. sens25

    sens25 Member

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    Merlin's point #3 is key. Even if you offer to pay commisions, most agents would probably still try to avoid FSBO situations for a couple reasons I can think of. One, they want to prevent FSBO success as it would encourage more FSBO attempts and greatly reduce the commission pool for the real estate industry. Two, since they are the only agent involved, they'll see the FSBO as more work on their part in the way of contract prep, etc. Personally, in this market, I would try FSBO w/ 3% to the buyers agent or at most a brokerage firm charging in the 4-4.5 range. The 6 percent charged by "full service" firms is too high.
     
  14. Merlin

    Merlin New Member

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    I was also in contact with a lawyer that was going to handle all of the contractual paperwork when we got an offer. Since we never got to that point, I'm not sure what he was going to charge me. I tried to communicate to buyers' agents that I had help and that they would not be carrying the load of the transaction.
     
  15. boomertsfx

    boomertsfx Booyakasha!

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    Greedy damn realtors.... With the obscenely high prices of houses around here, they only need to sell like one house at 3% every other month and still be rich... grrr. They are still getting 3%, so why should they steer away from FSBO?

    When I sell I'm going to try the FSBO way... maybe I can sell it on craigslist! =)

    I found my broadlands townhouse by driving around on lunch (work at MCI) and happened upon it. I bought through eRealty (before they were sold) and got 1% back.

    It sure would be nice to be a successful realtor around here... Does anyone know how much the realtors have to pay their agency for being associated with them? Flat monthly fee or a % of your profit?
     
  16. MD_boy

    MD_boy New Member

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    I am not sure an agent has to pay to be associated but they do split the commission with the broker. For example an agent with Long and Foster lists a house for $800,000 and charges a 6 percent commission or $48,000. The house is sold by another agent (buyers agent) the commission is split with that agent the broker which leaves 3% commission or $24,000. The agent only gets half of that (Long and Foster get the other half) that leaves the agent with $12,000. That's seems like a nice chunk of change for very little work until you consider that the agent not an employee of LF he is basically a self employed contractor. The agent pays for his own marketing, health insurance, taxes, etc. Plus there is a tremendous amount of competition. The number of agents has increased exponentially in the last 5 years. People see it as an easy way to make a lot of money but the fact is the majority of people entering the real estate profession quit within a few years. They don't realize it takes a lot of cold calls, free calenders, and newspaper ads to build your business. And even if you are good enough to make a living at it you are working evenings, weekends, and holidays.
    That said, I do agree that full commission realtors are being greedy. House prices have doubled in the past few years which means commissions have doubled as well but it's not like they are doing any more work than they were a few years ago nor have their expense increased as much. In fact not to long ago Long and Foster raised their commission to 7% thinking others would follow but thankfully that didn't happen and they had to retreat. I think the discount brokers are great especially in this market. We used Erealty also to sell our old house and buy the new one. When we factored in the rebate along with the reduced commission we basically sold our house for 2.5%. That's hard to beat.
    And one last side note. Does anyone else find the whole "CC Sells" thing annoying?
     
  17. sasha_j

    sasha_j New Member

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    Chuckle.......[8D]

    Well, I definitely think she's a type "A" personality......
     
  18. DAmicoDelivers

    DAmicoDelivers New Member

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    Hello, neighbors. I wanted to let you all know that I am an agent with a discount Realtor, Realty Direct. I agree with you all that some of the fees were a bit high, which is why I decided to go with Realty Direct.

    We offer Full Service Listings for 3.99% (3% to the Buyer Agent and .99% to Realty Direct). That is a great deal considering if you do a FSBO, you may decide to give 3% to the Buyer's Agent to attract clients. For the additional .99%, I can provide you the full service you need to sell your home with no hassle to you. Buy your home with us and we will rebate you 1% of the sales price.

    I would love to provide you additional information and cost savings. Please feel free to contact me at 571-215-8711 or damicodelivers@aol.com

    Have a great weekend, Carolyn D'Amico
     
  19. sens25

    sens25 Member

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    I wondered how long it would be until we had input from some realtors. I expected an agent from one of the full commission firms to paste a section from their realtor handbook trashing FSBO and less than full commission firms.
     
  20. neilz

    neilz New Member

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    FWIW ... any solicitations should be put in the forum set aside for advertising !!



    Neil Z.
    Resident since 1999
     

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