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While I do see the value in realtors in many ways, I would mention that we were able to sell our house ourselves via the web. We listed on the MLS through Housepad.com, created our own brochures via Owners.com, and hanlded the calls, etc ourselves. We sold the house for the identical price as a house in the development next to us for 470K. Hence using a realtor on the sell side gained no extra value and we saved on the sell side as I was willing to pay the buyer realtor their 3%.
Traffic was pretty good in terms of showings (there were also a number of other homes for sale in the area and I think that helped our traffic), but the couple who ended up buying had a realtor who would not show them our house based on how I was selling it. Ultimately the guy drove by our house, saw the for sale sign, asked to come in and we sold it to him 2 hours later. We went on line together and looked at comps, etc. If you are willing to create brochures, list it, etc - you can save some great money and do it yourself. It may not be everyone, but after spending 20 years in sales myself, and seeing many of the realtors that come through, I would say if you have the time, give it a shot. It worked for me in a brutal market and saved me 14K. Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck...
PS: Couple of quick tips, realtors call nonstop trying to get your listing, do an open house one time for them to come and see and move on. They will tell you they have a client, etc and then need to see it, then they try to sell you on how they should list it. After about 2 weeks you get a feel for the games they play and learn how to manage them pretty quickly. THere is definitely a bit of a learning curve, but in the end, at least for us it was well worth it....
Just curious when did u sell? Realtors are having a hard time selling in this market and I wouldnt advice doing it on your own now if it was last year or the year before You would be correct....there are alot of owners now that have gone to realtors because they couldnt sell it...
Just curious when did u sell? Realtors are having a hard time selling in this market and I wouldnt advice doing it on your own now if it was last year or the year before You would be correct....there are alot of owners now that have gone to realtors because they couldnt sell it...
I wondered too...the time to be FSBO is during a sellers market - not a buyers market!!
When I was trying to sell my house in MD, I offered a buyers agent bonus of $2000 and got more showings than ever. But then again, I was paying 6% at that time as well. But paying 5% and bonus to buyers agent is also another incentive to get the showings in
I sold the house about 45 days ago and we close this Friday, which I am doing remotely as we moved last week. I was stubborn, if I could not sell it on my own I would not have paid 14K to a realtor, and I had many offer me the 2% deal, we had a good house in a desirable area, but everything was slow. If your in a good area, you can use the traffic from other houses and you can even use the savings to discount your house a little if you want. All in all, each person has to decide what is best for them, but I would probably not use a realtor to sell again unless my company was paying for it. This new thing called the internet seems to work pretty well in terms of advertising, and local traffic in a popular neighborhood with brochures out front helps. I have sold 2 other houses in the last 8 years and in a tough market, I was pretty pleased that were able to do this.
Bottom line, you SHOULD NOT be paying realtors a higher % right now, if you have a desirable house they will want to sell your place, and they will discount accordingly IMHO. That is what I saw, good luck to everybody trying to sell right now!
Last quick thought, realtors are struggling too and they are all competing for the houses that they think will sell. We had a neighbor who had realtors come in to view the property, then bid on it to see who would sell it. In pretty much every profession out there when times are tough sales people discount for their services, realtors are no different. If anything, offer 2% to the sell side realtor and offer 3.5% to the buy side realtor. Those are the ones who control the money, not the sell side. Again, all IMHO but I have sold quite a few houses the last couple years. Good luck to all...
I sold the house about 45 days ago and we close this Friday, which I am doing remotely as we moved last week. I was stubborn, if I could not sell it on my own I would not have paid 14K to a realtor, and I had many offer me the 2% deal, we had a good house in a desirable area, but everything was slow. If your in a good area, you can use the traffic from other houses and you can even use the savings to discount your house a little if you want. All in all, each person has to decide what is best for them, but I would probably not use a realtor to sell again unless my company was paying for it. This new thing called the internet seems to work pretty well in terms of advertising, and local traffic in a popular neighborhood with brochures out front helps. I have sold 2 other houses in the last 8 years and in a tough market, I was pretty pleased that were able to do this.
Bottom line, you SHOULD NOT be paying realtors a higher % right now, if you have a desirable house they will want to sell your place, and they will discount accordingly IMHO. That is what I saw, good luck to everybody trying to sell right now!
Congrats on your good fortune! Don't know the stats for sure, but I bet people who are able to do what you did are in like less than 1% of the population trying to sell.
Also, I'm sure your experience in sales, and in selling homes previously, was of great benefit. If I remember reading it correctly this is the first time the op has ever tried to sell a home. Do you honestly think he could do what you did? Maybe he could, but only if he had all the advantages you did (which he may, just saying it seems unlikely he would). Anyway, happy to hear it all worked out for you
Loves I have to agree....I was a realtor but I wouldnt sell it on my own, and since there arent alot of buyers even in a good area the average home today here is about 90 days and more, and I live in a great area with a fantastic location and the homes here have taken 6 months to sell and quiet a few of them are priced well...and the realtors cant sell them so your lucky you were able too...Im glad it worked it out for you and your family because you are the minority in selling it yourself in a buyers market....I have people we know in NJ dying to sell priced right fantastic location, and its on the market 8 months already....
Agree with you both, there is not an easy solution in a tough market right now. Regardless of your price, there just are not many buyers in general and they have much to choose from, but even then, they dont want to pull the trigger. We did not buy another house, heck we are actually renting in our new location just to see where the market settles. Kind of like a stock, I dont mind paying on the way up, but I have jumping on a falling knife. Given we have moved every 3 years, I was not looking to potentially lose a quick 10% plus myself!
Everybody has to do what they are comfortable with, I was just pointing out there are options if you are willing to do the work, and it is possible. Good luck to all.... :-)
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