Issues with Selling Home

HappySmile2015 · April 2015

Contacted several realtors regarding home sales for my area, very few even email back. When you tell the realtor you aren't ready to sign a contract right now and put your home on the market immediately, they seem to not even bother to reply. Maybe it's just a really good market for realtors right now and they aren't hurting for home sales. Thinking about just doing for sale by owner when I get ready to sale since none will send even basic stats when you contact them.

Anyone else have issues with realtors or sell their home "for sale by owner"? Experiences/feedback?

Thanks.

lyndausvi · April 2015

Realtors make money on commission. I.E the selling and/or buying of a home. There is no incentive to help someone who isn't ready to sign a contract. Basically they will be giving you advice for free. Do you work for free? Even after you sign the contract to sell, it can take months for the place to sell and them get paid.

I do not have any advice on selling on your own. I do know there are 2 properties around here that have been for sale for over a year that are for sale by owner. Not really sure the issues, but other than saving on some commission when they finally do sell it doesn't seem like it's working out for them. Of course, for all I know they do not have a real need to sell as much if an offer comes in they will take it. Other areas I'm sure it works out just fine. I assume it just depends on your area and the market in general.

Maggie0829 · April 2015

What kind of information are you looking for exactly? Like Lynda said, realtors do not want to work for free. They may be able to give you very basic information but they aren't going to work in depth with you when there is no contract signed and no possibility of them making money.

Also, picking up the phone does wonders. Ignoring emails is easy but calls, not so much.

And my Dad tried to sell our old house. I don't know how long he tried but he basically got no offers. Realtors can list your house on the MLS and promote it like a regular homeowner can't. They know other realtors and have a list of potential buyers on stand by for things that may interest them. As a non-realtor you don't have any of that.

thisismynickname2 · April 2015

What are you looking for ? I think a lot of advice is free online. Home sales are public record so you can see what homes by you are going for. You can learn tips for staging. If you don't feel ready yet to get your home on the market, just keep looking for advice online... Or even library books on home selling.

HappySmile2015 · April 2015

I realize they don't work for free but if they won't even respond to basic questions before in a contract, I can only imagine how much customer service one gets once you are tied to a contract and stuck.

I guess my main questions are for those who have done for sale by owner.... what your experiences were?

huskypuppy14 · April 2015

HappySmile2015 said:
I realize they don't work for free but if they won't even respond to basic questions before in a contract, I can only imagine how much customer service one gets once you are tied to a contract and stuck.

I guess my main questions are for those who have done for sale by owner.... what your experiences were?

What state do you live in? I think you should use a Realtor if you're not familiar with the laws and such. In addition, a lot of buyers will want to use a Realtor, so are you willing to pay the fee? Usually, the seller pays the realtor fee for both the buyer and seller. If you don't want to pay the fee, they may not even look at your house.

If you live in a high demand area, maybe that's not a problem, but just something to think about.

Maybe you can get a referral from a friend or colleague. Put a post on facebook.

lyndausvi · April 2015

What kind of questions are you asking?

The market changes weekly. They can answer a question one way today and in a few weeks when you are ready it could be a little different.

Watch a little HGTV (they even have a website).
Selling home includes being priced right, staging, advertising. In some states you need a lawyer. Actually some other things might vary from state-to-state so you need to some investigation on that.

For example, my landlord offered to sell her home to us saying it's the best priced 3 bedroom in town. Yeah, no. You see what she thinks is a 3rd bedroom is not. There is no closet or heat. It can NOT be a 3rd bedroom. There are other things. Below grade rooms might not be considered in square footage. Stuff like that.

Part of selling on your own means you have to do the research on your own. Realtors are realtors for a reason. They are not going to give free advice just so you can sell on your own.

kvruns · April 2015

I looked into an Assist 2 Sell type of thing, so it isn't quite FSBO but not full realtor. You have to pay extra to get the MLS listing and show up on the main sites people use to search and when I looked at the cost it wasn't that much savings over an agent. My FI did something like this for his old house and it worked out for him, but something must have changed because when I looked into it it was a lot more. He had issues too with being there because he didn't have a lock box for the key like normal realtors and didn't have some of the communication tools you normally have through an realtor.

As a buyer I was never too keen on FSBOs because I always felt like it was someone halfheartedly selling the house and probably wouldn't be willing to make a deal. Might not be true but that was my generalization so as a buyer I didn't want to really look at those. And if you don't have pix online, forget about it.

As far as agents not responding, what is your selling timeline? I started talking to some in March for a May 1 listing date. I was upfront and said I am talking to several realtors to find the best fit but can you tell me XYZ about how you do things. If you give them a reasonable date you're wanting to sell, they should respond but even then there is no guarantee. I had to follow up with a couple and one gave me a half assed response at best and so I said nope if this is how you try to get new business then this won't work.

julieanne912 · April 2015

Alright, disclaimer, I'm a real estate broker. I can't call myself a Realtor because I don't pay the crazy dues they want you to pay to be a member of the Association of Realtors.

My previous company was a "flat fee" brokerage... basically instead of 3% or whatever, we charged $2500 to list your home. At least when I worked there, I offered the same level of service as I would offer to any client, which was high. Not all flat/reduced fee brokerages are like this, many will just throw your home up on the MLS and you're on your own after that. We also HIGHLY suggested offering a good commission to the buyer's agent... around here the buyer's agents are used to getting 2.8%.

As for doing FSBO, even in good markets, it's hard if you're not listed in the MLS. So I would highly suggest at least hiring a company to get you listed on the MLS and syndicated out to websites like realtor.com, trulia, Zillow... basically all the sites homebuyers use to look for homes online. Otherwise nobody will even know your home is available unless they drive by and see a sign. If you're in a bad market (ie slow, long market times, etc), you will do yourself NO favors by going FSBO.

In terms of lack of response to your emails.... please pick up the phone and call them. Email is not a reliable form of communication, especially if you're a random person. Your emails could be going to spam, or they get 200 emails a day and you're lost in the shuffle. Phone calls are best, and will get you faster responses. I'm not sure how you're finding the agents you're calling, but I would suggest calling ones that have already listed and sold homes in your neighborhood, as they'll be the most familiar with the comparables.

littlemushroom · April 2015

The house we are buying was originally FSBO. They overpriced their house and as a result it sat on the market for months. When they finally got a Realtor, they had already disillusioned most buyers in the area about the house so it sat longer. We went to see it after multiple price reductions and they had to sell for less than they would have otherwise if they had just gone with a Realtor from the start.

We saw another FSBO that hadn't listed the house online anywhere, didn't have pictures of the kitchen or the finished basement, and lived an hour away. Their house has sat for a year.

Moral of the story is you need to be prepared to put in a LOT of time and effort to sell the house yourself. Where will you list it online? What photos/staging are required? What price do you go with? How will you work out showings? Will you allow the buyers to go through a Realtor knowing you have to pay their commission? How many buyers will you lose out on if you DON'T want them to use a Realtor? How will you make sure you comply with state law regarding disclosures and the contract? There are a lot of moving parts that mean your house may end up sitting on the market for a while, which makes it much less attractive to buyers.

julieanne912 · April 2015

littlemushroom said:
The house we are buying was originally FSBO. They overpriced their house and as a result it sat on the market for months. When they finally got a Realtor, they had already disillusioned most buyers in the area about the house so it sat longer. We went to see it after multiple price reductions and they had to sell for less than they would have otherwise if they had just gone with a Realtor from the start.

We saw another FSBO that hadn't listed the house online anywhere, didn't have pictures of the kitchen or the finished basement, and lived an hour away. Their house has sat for a year.

Moral of the story is you need to be prepared to put in a LOT of time and effort to sell the house yourself. Where will you list it online? What photos/staging are required? What price do you go with? How will you work out showings? Will you allow the buyers to go through a Realtor knowing you have to pay their commission? How many buyers will you lose out on if you DON'T want them to use a Realtor? How will you make sure you comply with state law regarding disclosures and the contract? There are a lot of moving parts that mean your house may end up sitting on the market for a while, which makes it much less attractive to buyers.

The bolded above is a great question.

lyndausvi · April 2015

julieanne912 said:

littlemushroom said:
The house we are buying was originally FSBO. They overpriced their house and as a result it sat on the market for months. When they finally got a Realtor, they had already disillusioned most buyers in the area about the house so it sat longer. We went to see it after multiple price reductions and they had to sell for less than they would have otherwise if they had just gone with a Realtor from the start.

We saw another FSBO that hadn't listed the house online anywhere, didn't have pictures of the kitchen or the finished basement, and lived an hour away. Their house has sat for a year.

Moral of the story is you need to be prepared to put in a LOT of time and effort to sell the house yourself. Where will you list it online? What photos/staging are required? What price do you go with? How will you work out showings? Will you allow the buyers to go through a Realtor knowing you have to pay their commission? How many buyers will you lose out on if you DON'T want them to use a Realtor? How will you make sure you comply with state law regarding disclosures and the contract? There are a lot of moving parts that mean your house may end up sitting on the market for a while, which makes it much less attractive to buyers.
The bolded above is a great question.

ditto. Some states have strict disclosure laws. Others just have to honestly answer a question you ask, but they do not have to volunteer information.

For example, say there was a murder in your home.

Some states say you have to disclose the information up front.

Other states say if the buyer asks if there was a murder at the house, they have to answer honestly. But they do not have to disclose the information up front.

Blergbot · April 2015

The biggest thing I would worry about would be the paperwork. You really need to know what you're doing. Even commercial real estate agents hire residential real estate agents.

novella1186 · April 2015

Real estate is not something I would get into on my own, without a professional. There's a lot of money involved, and a lot of legality involved.

When we were house hunting, there was not a chance we would look at FSBO house. Nope. I want the pros to handle it. I do not want to risk something going wrong, or the amateur seller messing something up, or whatever. (And even when we did work with a pro real estate agent, we almost got sued because he messed something up with our contract that he missed since he was brand new at the job. We spent tons of money in legal fees, and at one point our attorney advised us to sue the real estate firm. Are you prepared to handle that kind of mess on your own? Cuz shit happens).

And for what it's worth, the house next door to us has been FSBO for over a year. I've never seen a single person come by to even look at it.

flyingfoxes · April 2015

Add me to the list of those who wouldn't mess with FSBO. When I sold my house, there was lots of back and forth after the inspection uncovered some things that needed to be fixed, plus dealing with all of the contracts and paperwork? Real estate agents more than earn their commissions by doing all of the legwork for you and marketing your home.

OliveOilsMom · April 2015

We just purchased in November. We never would have considered a FSBO. In our area, it is usually houses that are overpriced because the owner thinks that their house is worth something it is not.

In my new neighborhood, there was a FSBO house. While it was set back from the main road, it did get a lot of traffic by it. That house had a FSBO sign out front for 3 months. One day a realty company had taken over the listing, within 3 weeks there was a "Under Contract" sign out front. Same thing with another house that I drive by on my way home from work. On and off for over a year, there was a FSBO house and it would be for sale. The homeowner finally had a realty company take over the listing and it was on the market for about 2 months before it had the "Under Contract" sign out front. And both of these properties were in desirable areas with good schools.

As PP have stated, try calling them. When I contacted my realtor, I told her we were getting ready to list our house. I told her we wanted her to come by and give us advice on staging and price. We set up an appointment, she came in with comps already pulled and told us what to do to stage the house. Now there was a difference in that I was using the realtor that helped me purchase that house, so she was already familiar with it and we previously worked together. But you could easily translate this to other realtors and tell them you would like to interview them for the chance to be the listing agent on your home. Check out yelp or other review sites for Realtors in your area. Or ask co-workers for recommendations. I would stay away from FSBO.

HappySmile2015 · April 2015

I am surprised by how many people wouldn't consider a FSBO home when buying a house. The only drawback I really see is that I would think it would be uncomfortable possibly for the potential buyer to speak freely about what they dislike in a home, when the person showing it to them, owns it. But even still, I would think that would be minimal drawback cause people can always wait to speak freely with whomever they saw the house with after they leave the house.

huskypuppy14 · April 2015

HappySmile2015 said:
I am surprised by how many people wouldn't consider a FSBO home when buying a house. The only drawback I really see is that I would think it would be uncomfortable possibly for the potential buyer to speak freely about what they dislike in a home, when the person showing it to them, owns it. But even still, I would think that would be minimal drawback cause people can always wait to speak freely with whomever they saw the house with after they leave the house.

Did you even read the thread? Priced too high, not able to see it at good times, not knowing the law, not knowing the listing existed because it doesn't come up in MLS.

I wanted to look at a FSBO, with my realtor of course, but it was snatched up before my husband and I could look at it. I live in a desirable area in a sellers market, though. If you're in a buyers market, it's probably not in your best interest.

jacques27 · April 2015

No experience, but as someone who purchased in the last five years, I can say we avoided FSBO like the plague. It just gives off the perception that you're trying to get away with something. Nearly every single one I've seen has seemed sketchy and gave me the impression they were hiding something, so we avoided them when we got serious about buying.

I liken it to that adage about lawyers - the man who represents himself has a fool for a client. Feel the same way about people bypassing real estate agents.

jenna8984 · April 2015

You need to ask around more from friends and family for referrals. An old colleague of mine posted on FB how his Realtor sold both his main home and his rental property one week on market. I said to myself "shit, she knows what she's doing" so I messaged him for her contact information.

She came over, and was more than willing to give us a market analysis and advice, even thought we said we wouldn't be listing for 6 months. She impressed us with her knowledge and attitude, and you know what? We called her when we were ready to list and she did in fact sell our house in 4 days. I truely believe that never would have happened without her help, and that it would still be sitting on the market.

Then we went to buy a home....inventory is very low right now and every house in my area gets 25 people at an open house and several offers. One dream house listed, and instantly it got 4 offers over asking price. Guess who won? Me. She knew the exact amount to offer, she knew the exact wording to make our deadline 3 hours instead of 24 like the other offers. She has been absolutely invaluable. Do your research and find someone like her that people rave about.

MyNameIsNot · April 2015

HappySmile2015 said:
I am surprised by how many people wouldn't consider a FSBO home when buying a house. The only drawback I really see is that I would think it would be uncomfortable possibly for the potential buyer to speak freely about what they dislike in a home, when the person showing it to them, owns it. But even still, I would think that would be minimal drawback cause people can always wait to speak freely with whomever they saw the house with after they leave the house.

Did you not read the comments?

People have issues buying from a FSBO because you can't trust a lay person to know to do the disclosures legally, to do all the contract work properly, FSBOs don't seem motivated to sell, and they don't price the property correctly.

When house hunting, I also didn't look at anything that was FSBO for some of the reasons PPs mentioned. Also, I wasn't interested in trying to buy a house from someone that was too cheap to hire a realtor. If you won't spend money selling your house, it probably also meant you wouldn't spend money to properly maintain the house along the way.

Blergbot · April 2015

I didn't necessarily avoid FSBO when looking for our home last fall, it's just that they weren't listed on MLS and therefore weren't on our radar. I think we did consider looking at one that just happened to be across the street from another home we were looking at, but it was in a shitty school district, so we didn't bother.

lyndausvi · April 2015

MyNameIsNot said:
I am surprised by how many people wouldn't consider a FSBO home when buying a house. The only drawback I really see is that I would think it would be uncomfortable possibly for the potential buyer to speak freely about what they dislike in a home, when the person showing it to them, owns it. But even still, I would think that would be minimal drawback cause people can always wait to speak freely with whomever they saw the house with after they leave the house.

Did you not read the comments?

People have issues buying from a FSBO because you can't trust a lay person to know to do the disclosures legally, to do all the contract work properly, FSBOs don't seem motivated to sell, and they don't price the property correctly.

When house hunting, I also didn't look at anything that was FSBO for some of the reasons PPs mentioned. Also, I wasn't interested in trying to buy a house from someone that was too cheap to hire a realtor. If you won't spend money selling your house, it probably also meant you wouldn't spend money to properly maintain the house along the way.

I think this way.

Plus FSBO can be too emotionally attached the property. They tend to think with their heart, not their head. A 3rd party "neutral" professional handling the negotiations and process in general is a win-win for all parties.

kvruns · April 2015

HappySmile2015 said:
I am surprised by how many people wouldn't consider a FSBO home when buying a house. The only drawback I really see is that I would think it would be uncomfortable possibly for the potential buyer to speak freely about what they dislike in a home, when the person showing it to them, owns it. But even still, I would think that would be minimal drawback cause people can always wait to speak freely with whomever they saw the house with after they leave the house.

The other thing to consider, that one PP mentioned and I forgot about, is that unless you are offering a separate commission for the buyer's agent they probably aren't going to want to show a FSBO because they're not going to get any $$ if the buyer chooses it. I think an ethical agent would of course show whatever house the buyers want to see but in my opinion I doubt it will be the first one the agent suggests to a buyer

Bubblegum5586 · April 2015

I have a Realtor in my networking group and he is always asking us to send him a picture of FSBO properties as leads. He always tells us examples of how quickly he sold their house.. typically for more then what they were asking. He has a team of employees that helps him market the homes that all specialize in different aspects.

luckya23 · April 2015

HappySmile2015 said:
I am surprised by how many people wouldn't consider a FSBO home when buying a house. The only drawback I really see is that I would think it would be uncomfortable possibly for the potential buyer to speak freely about what they dislike in a home, when the person showing it to them, owns it. But even still, I would think that would be minimal drawback cause people can always wait to speak freely with whomever they saw the house with after they leave the house.

You don't typically go through the house you are considering buying with the seller's agent, either. You go with your buyer's agent, who gets the key/code from the selling agent.

huskypuppy14 · April 2015

luckya23 said:

HappySmile2015 said:
I am surprised by how many people wouldn't consider a FSBO home when buying a house. The only drawback I really see is that I would think it would be uncomfortable possibly for the potential buyer to speak freely about what they dislike in a home, when the person showing it to them, owns it. But even still, I would think that would be minimal drawback cause people can always wait to speak freely with whomever they saw the house with after they leave the house.

You don't typically go through the house you are considering buying with the seller's agent, either. You go with your buyer's agent, who gets the key/code from the selling agent.

Usually not. I have an interesting story, though

Last year when we were looking for houses, the sellers agent for one of the houses showed up when we were looking at the house. We looked through it with our agent and then when we came back downstairs, he asked what we thought. We honestly told him, it was too small for us and we weren't thrilled about the backyard (it looked out over a storage facility..).

However, he had another listing coming up in a few days and he told us the address. He said it was bigger and better than the current house. We set up a showing for that Saturday, and that's the house we bought! Serendipitous.

ETA: @jenna8984 are you under contract on a house?

julieanne912 · April 2015

luckya23 said:

HappySmile2015 said:
I am surprised by how many people wouldn't consider a FSBO home when buying a house. The only drawback I really see is that I would think it would be uncomfortable possibly for the potential buyer to speak freely about what they dislike in a home, when the person showing it to them, owns it. But even still, I would think that would be minimal drawback cause people can always wait to speak freely with whomever they saw the house with after they leave the house.

You don't typically go through the house you are considering buying with the seller's agent, either. You go with your buyer's agent, who gets the key/code from the selling agent.

This depends on area BTW. In Chicago, the listing agent or someone from their team was present at showings (in the city, not in the 'burbs).

Maggie0829 · April 2015

There are reasons why there are professional realtors. They know the laws. They know the market. They know buyers. They know how to promote and market the house to sell. They know what does and does not sell.

Just like someone shouldn't try to diagnose themselves using only Google/WebMD, then a person with only very basic knowledge of home buying/selling from Google or HGTV shouldn't be trying to sell a house themselves.

atlastmrsg · April 2015

Have you considered Redfin? It's kind of a compromise. My MOH is using it right now, we'll see how it goes.

I sold my first house I bought after college by owner after I lived in it for 10 years. I felt pretty comfortable with it since I'm an attorney, so I had templates for everything.

To disarm potential buyers when they came by for showings, my ice breaker was "so, it's pretty nice to know that I can give you a better price since I'm not paying a realtor's commission, right?" Everyone always seemed receptive to the ice breaker. Granted, I don't know what they were thinking inside. But it did give me more room to negotiate on the price. I was able to come down, but still not as much as I'd have lost to realtor's commission, so I came out ahead of the game.

From the day I first advertised it to closing was between 30 and 40 days. That was the hard part--how fast it happened. Going from contract to completely moved out in 9 days.

flantastic · April 2015

The only person I know who successfully sold his own home is BIL, who is a Realtor. It took about two weeks. He didn't disclose that it was his home until after the walkthrough, so people didn't feel awkward commenting. However, he also had a clue about what he was doing, because he's an actual Realtor, and everything in the process was professional/legal/realistic/etc. He was willing to offer a buyer's agent commission and everything else normally offered. That stuff is a priority for people.

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