Selling a house without a realtor?

[5.0calypso93lx]

I've been thinking about this recently as i'm getting pretty close to putting my house on the market.

I had a realtor when I bought my house and I recently briefly spoke with him about selling my house and what he thinks I'd be able to get out of it. After seeing his assessment and what he takes I was really surprised by the number. Surprised enough that I'm fairly motivated to do some research to see what it would take to sell it myself.

My question is, besides the advertising factor of getting my house on realty websites and other advertising options, and him actually showing the house, what benefits does a realtor provide? Has anyone ever sold a house privately before? What are the major watchouts?

I had my house inspected a little over a year ago and was debating on getting another inspection myself just to provide documentation to a potential buyer. The house still needs a few things, but all of the major issues have been addressed and if I could sell myself I could sell the house WAY cheaper than the "fair market value" and still walk away with a down payment on my next place.

Thoughts?

[jktruckin06]

My buddy and his wife have their house listed for sale how you are talking about. They pay this agent to pretty much just list it on MLS. You send the specs and pictures and such, they list it and then all the realty sites pull new listings for their own sites. So your house will end up on huff, sibcy Cline etc.

At the bottom of the listing it will show your "agents" name and info and then she will contact you when people are interested.

I think in the day and age we are in a realtor is unnecessary. I can look up a house I like, call the listing agent and set up a viewing with a homeowner from my couch. My buddy bought a book of generic documents at staples for putting in an offer and such. For the actual sale I would go through a real estate attorney to have the contract drawn up.

I'll report back when he lets me know who he is going through.

[5.0calypso93lx]

My buddy and his wife have their house listed for sale how you are talking about. They pay this agent to pretty much just list it on MLS. You send the specs and pictures and such, they list it and then all the realty sites pull new listings for their own sites. So your house will end up on huff, sibcy Cline etc.

At the bottom of the listing it will show your "agents" name and info and then she will contact you when people are interested.

I think in the day and age we are in a realtor is unnecessary. I can look up a house I like, call the listing agent and set up a viewing with a homeowner from my couch. My buddy bought a book of generic documents at staples for putting in an offer and such. For the actual sale I would go through a real estate attorney to have the contract drawn up.

I'll report back when he lets me know who he is going through.

Any idea what the cost is to list on MLS?

I just read about getting a real estate attorney and I think that might be a good idea. Let me know how that turns out for your buddy.

I think the picture taking, etc is all something I could easily handle myself. I've put a lot of work into it since I bought it as a foreclosure so I'm definitely willing to do the work to sell myself and get the most out of it.

I don't want this all to sound like I'm trying to bone over my realtor, but wow he sure is making a ton of money lol. I'm not saying it's easy work, but that dude would be getting PAID if his assessment went through with how he wanted it to.

I think in this tougher economy it would benefit the potential a buyer a ton as well as myself as I could sell much cheaper and end up with more in my pocket. It's not like I'm looking to make a killing. Anything I get out of it is just going to go as a deposit on the next place.


Here's the Zillow link, which I know isn't accurate, but just to give more info about the situation:

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/117-Paddle-Wheel-Dr-New-Richmond-OH-45157/71407816_zpid/

[jktruckin06]

It was only a few hundred bucks or so. He has had people come see it but no luck on the sale end.

You are right though. 6% or higher is a large cut, just depends on what you feel your time is worth. Cutting out a middle man is all you are essentially doing.

[cstreu1026]

Generally speaking you are paying for their experience, their expertise, and their marketing. Are you willing to take the time to actually market the house? How about the time to show the house? Are you willing to pay commission to a buyer's agent if they bring them to you? Either way, having a real eastate attorney go over the paperwork isn't a bad idea to protect your interest.

[5.0calypso93lx]

Generally speaking you are paying for their experience, their expertise, and their marketing. Are you willing to take the time to actually market the house? How about the time to show the house? Are you willing to pay commission to a buyer's agent if they bring them to you? Either way, having a real eastate attorney go over the paperwork isn't a bad idea to protect your interest.

I think I've always been pretty decent at putting an ad together LOL. I'm always looking to slang a car or car part and enjoy that entire process.

Would the buyers' agents commision come out of my profit or would that have to be something paid up front? I remember when I closed on my house, my realtor got paid when I physically went and signed the papers to close on the house and pickup the checks.

I'd probably start small scale with signs, craiglist, forums etc before I even went with the MLS.

[cstreu1026]

The commision would be paid out of the selling price, so if the house sells for $100,000 and the commision is 3% (common for a buyer's agent) then the commission would be $3,000 and would be paid upon closing.

The other question is do you know what your house is worth?

[5.0calypso93lx]

The commision would be paid out of the selling price, so if the house sells for $100,000 and the commision is 3% (common for a buyer's agent) then the commission would be $3,000 and would be paid upon closing.

The other question is do you know what your house is worth?

Fair market value I think is $125k. That's what I pay taxes on and I think it would definitely appraise for that or higher now. I've since added all Whirlpool stainless appliances that are just over a year old, all new carpet and a Hague Watermax water softener. It definitely needs some smaller things and could use new flooring in the kitchen, but I think it's gotta be around there somewhere. Place was built in 2006 so it's barely 6 years old. Oversized, 26' deep 2 car garage and a pretty cool wooded lot that actually goes back off of the street kind of into the woods. It's in a neighborhood, but with the lot design, it gives a little privacy at the same time.

If I were able to sell without a realtor and have to pay the buyer's agents fee, I think I could go close to 10% under that. Just depends on what the buyer wants to do with closing costs also.

I went back and checked a few other places in my neighborhood and found a few recent examples.

201 River Valley is on a smaller lot, smaller house and sold for $130k in January of this year. It was actually $1k over listing price. I'm sure it's in better shape than mine currently is though. Found several others that have sold in 2012 that are single stories in my neighborhood for $115-120k.

[cstreu1026]

Don't go on the auditor's tax assesment. Their "appraisal" has no real correlation to actual market value. Its about as accurate as a zillow zestimate.

[5.0calypso93lx]

Don't go on the auditor's tax assesment. Their "appraisal" has no real correlation to actual market value. Its about as accurate as a zillow zestimate.

Agreed. Not sure if this will work, but if you go to starone.com and search on houses in new richmond with 3 bed and 2 bath, the entire first page but one house are all listings in my neighborhood. Mine would be by far the cheapest listing price let alone selling price of anything similar.

http://starone.com/searchresults.asw

Here's one under contract:

http://starone.com/displaylist.asw?listnum=1282542&mls=cincy

[cstreu1026]

That will get you close but what you really need are compariable houses that have sold.

[5.0calypso93lx]

That will get you close but what you really need are compariable houses that have sold.

There's really nothing exactly like mine that's sold since 2011 (which I bought in 2011 LOL). A lot of ranches, etc. 201 River Valley is really the only thing close with square footage, 2 stories, 3 bed, 2.5 bath. I'm pretty confident that an asking price of $119,900 with a selling price closer to $115k with all the updates I've made should be pretty attractive, especially with the USDA loan and a first time buyers with someone that may have borderline credit. I think you can be as low as 620 and qualify.

[jktruckin06]

http://www.brokerdirectmlsohio.com/

sharon jebavy is who they dealt with

good luck man

[timdsellers]

We tried to list ours several years back to get out of paying that huge fee. It was a ton of work but worth it in the long run if you do what it takes to advertise and everything.

[mustang8998]

Already, Terr..........er, I mean James?

[Gene]

Already, Terr..........er, I mean James?

He's going to buy the same house back again next year.

[IWRBB]

We sold a house in Dayton last winter FSBO, no problem. Took about 4 months and we showed the house to about 6 people. In the end we did a 1 year lease with purchase at the end. The lady was going through a divorce so she couldn't take ownership until it was finalized.

She had her lawyer write up the purchase contract and we read through it line by line. We marked up any issues we had and they got it corrected. We did the closing at the kitchen table with us, her and her lawyer. There was no loan involved- she's paying cash (yikes!) however if there is a loan, the bank providing the mortgage would handle the closing and contracts.

Honestly, screw realtors- we dealt with a couple from the buyers end and they had NO CLUE on comps. They were actually pathetic- very little effort put into the comps. They were comparing lots that were half the size, backed up to nasty commercial lots or apartment complexes, only had a 1 car garage, etc. We told them over and over, that is NOT comparable in any way and we are sticking to our price. One realtor called back a week after we sold the house- her buyer would agree to our original price. I guess her comps really weren't comparable in the buyer's mind. We told her, you are too late- we already got full asking price (and didn't pay you 3% for your inaccurate opinion on price).

FSBO is the way to go for sure. The only exception is if you are really highly paid and it's just not worth about 40 hours of your time dealing with showing the house and finalizing the deal. Say it’s a 150K house- FSBO will save you 4,500 (your 3%) and possibly 9,000 if the buyer has no agent. 9000/40 hrs = $225/hr. I can see where someone billing out at $300 an hour would rather work and let the realtor deal with it. For us normal folk though- you are kind of stupid putting your house with an agent right away. Unless you just have to get out of it now, at least give it a few months FSBO.

Also don't go for the "seller always pays the closing costs" type lines. Everything is negotiable and nothing just happens.

[Black92LX]

My suggestion is don't do it.
We attempted to sell our house. No thank you never again. A GOOD realtor is worth their weight in gold!!!!!! There are tons of people that try to sell houses and make themselves out to be realtors. IWRBB has described those types. But you get a realtor that knows what they are doing and it's well worth the money.
Biggest hassle is dealing with the idiots that have no clue about buying houses.
We had ours up a couple of months by owner. Won't ever waste my time in the future.

[Black92LX]

My suggestion is don't do it and I am all about saving a buck anyway possible.
We attempted to sell our house. No thank you never again. A GOOD realtor is worth their weight in gold!!!!!!
Biggest hassle is dealing with the idiots that have no clue about buying houses.
We had ours up a couple of months by owner. Won't ever waste my time in the future.

[5.0calypso93lx]

I actually do have a really good realtor. I reached out to him about his fee and he actually came back and said he'd work for 5%, 3% to the buyers agent and 2% for him. In the end, I'd really only be saving that 2% and after going through the numbers of listing it on MLS and all the time needed to do everything else it just isn't worth it. I may throw it on craigslist once I get the stupid pump in the basement fixed and see if I can't sell it to someone without a realtor.

I've also given it a little thought on renting out. Not quite sure what I'm going to end up doing at this time.

[04 Venom]

My suggestion is don't do it and I am all about saving a buck anyway possible.
We attempted to sell our house. No thank you never again. A GOOD realtor is worth their weight in gold!!!!!!
Biggest hassle is dealing with the idiots that have no clue about buying houses.
We had ours up a couple of months by owner. Won't ever waste my time in the future.

I agree; particularly if you are under time constraints to sell.

[1987LXVert]

Real tough to do. Almost have to deal with an agent. 10x easier!!

[akagreg3]

idk crap about selling a house, but it like anything else your selling^^ yea gotta close the deal :P i am going to be putting my house up forsell here soon also my buddys wife is a realtor Guaranteed To Sell Your Home In 59 Days Or We’ll Sell It For Free!!!
now thats what im talking about
Keller Williams Pinnacle Group
Jeff Marmer & Associates
Anna Zamagias – REALTOR™
Guaranteed To Sell Your Home In 59 Days Or We’ll Sell It For Free!!!
Anna @marmerrealty.com
www.annazamagias.kwrealty.com

6355 E Kemper Rd Ste 200
Cincinnati, OH 45241

[5.0calypso93lx]

Just going to have my guy sell it. I used him when I bought the place and he's very good. He also agreed to go lower on his cut. I'm in no rush to sell the place, was more or less looking to see if it was even worth it to sell by owner. After looking at the numbers now, it's just not worth the little extra time I have.

[akagreg3]

yea i was not pushing her or anything lol not even sure she wants her info out there. but yea iv been putting alot of thought in this subject selling my house and when im ready to buy/selling something anything i dont like to wait long so when it comes to getting gone and money in my pocket,
i'd rather pay in the beginning then the end