Question For For Sale By Owners

[tluv00]

Originally Posted by rosadelic

I want a salesman, not a listing agent.

A Realtor is not a salesperson....in the sense of the word. A Realtor does not sell, but list, manage and secure the sales process. A sales person gathers information on a client, discovers their needs, creates a resolution through a service or product and "convinces" a client/buyer that their product is the best. In the sense of a home, the buyer knows what they want and will only take that. My wife and I have purchased 3 homes in the past 5 years and not once were we "sold". Realtors also negotiate (not sales) as well. What you want is a numbers person....someone who can take local sales, compare amenities, read the market, be flexible and most importantly represent you to the other agents and buyers out there. They give you freedom to go about your daily life while they handle the home selling process. I work with sales people, I hire sales people and Realtors are not sales people (and I do not say this in a negative way).

[yourhometriad]

OMG thank you so much! So tired of being referred to as a "sales person"- I don't sell houses. My goal as a listing agent is to advise you on the things you should do to get your home ready to sell (Pre-inspection, home warranty, staging, repairs, etc.), compare apples to apples when it comes to pricing, and then market the home to as many QUALIFIED buyers as possible.

I don't sell houses. I make homes sell themselves.

Originally Posted by tluv00

A Realtor is not a salesperson....in the sense of the word. A Realtor does not sell, but list, manage and secure the sales process. A sales person gathers information on a client, discovers their needs, creates a resolution through a service or product and "convinces" a client/buyer that their product is the best. In the sense of a home, the buyer knows what they want and will only take that. My wife and I have purchased 3 homes in the past 5 years and not once were we "sold". Realtors also negotiate (not sales) as well. What you want is a numbers person....someone who can take local sales, compare amenities, read the market, be flexible and most importantly represent you to the other agents and buyers out there. They give you freedom to go about your daily life while they handle the home selling process. I work with sales people, I hire sales people and Realtors are not sales people (and I do not say this in a negative way).

[yourhometriad]

I feel your pain.

It is a different market out there, even different from 6 months or even 3 months ago. There are less buyers. Period. Less people looking. I can't attest to your agent's abilities or what, but I can understand your frustration. How long ago did you have the home FSBO? It's a different market now.

Have you offered closing costs? Have you had a virtual tour? Online representation? Additional photos? Open houses? Did you get a pre-inspection? Offer a Home Warranty? Stage the house? Update the paint? There are lots of things that could be done besides a flyer box and a sign in the yard.

and no shows happen all the time. I have a technique to avoid this by having them meet me at the office first. That way, at least I didn't waste my time and make my sellers leave the house for an hour (sorry about your pooch, btw. That sucks).

I can't speak for anyone except myself, but I had 8 and a half closings (I split one) in January, 3 in February, and I have had one so far (huge lot at the beach) and 4 more scheduled. So if any agents read this and they say the market sucks, all I can say is get to work.

Salesman? I am not. Work hard? Yep. Sell houses? Yep.

Originally Posted by rosadelic

In selling FSBO, I had about 2 showings a week. 90%+ of these were realtors with clients already viewing similarly priced homes in the neighborhood. Now that I have mine listed with a realtor, I've had 3 showings in 3 months, and 2 no shows. The other homes in the neighborhood have had more showings and all sold. So, now I have "accurate" pricing, a flyer box that's never been refilled, not one showing by my realtor himself, and not one instance where I've received feedback. I am reluctantly going back to FSBO tonight, when his contract expires. But the benefits of this realtor have been a little less than apparent to me. Now, IF, in the course of FSBO, a realtor left a flyer stating "hey, I'll get the showings, I'll bring the traffic, I'll refill your little box, and I'll keep in touch" then I would likely go for it, simply because dh is already gone, and I am eager to GO. Pricing? Whatever, we have it priced barely over what we paid, and that was a huge chunk off the list price back then. We're talking a 2yo home with zero flaws and kept spotless. I have pets, but I erase all signs of their existence when a showing is scheduled. I even bought a steam cleaner so the carpet looks brand new at all times. So this week I had yet another no-show, fake showing that involved me loading a terminally ill dog in the car and parking away from the house for an hour and a half just sitting there. The dog died. Not in a real realtor friendly mood. In the duration of the contract, the only time I heard anything was when he called to see if I wanted to renew. That was it, the one contact. So, YES, I want someone to LIE TO ME and say they will show my house more than I can myself! Bring in the lookieloos, at least I can have the illusion that you're doing something. I understand this guy was a crap realtor, not indicative of the trade as a whole, but I can figure out the value, I know to have neutrals and flowers and spotless, odor free home. I don't give a darn about security, even though I should. I think I represent a lot of homeowners who simply want or need to get the heck out of here. And I DO believe that some realtors have a magic wand. It's called charisma and work ethic, and it's what gets them into the million dollar club, and top salesperson of the year, etc. That doesn't come on the internet, or from a flyer, it comes from a talent for sales and the drive to make it happen, and it's a very, very valuable magic wand. I want a realtor who says, "Yes, I have a magic wand. I am the best and I will sell your house." I can put the thing on craigslist and realtor.com. I can get CMAs all day long. It IS the magic wand that I, and people like me, are looking for. I want a salesman, not a listing agent.

[alzora]

I know this thread is older, but I'm adding to it!

I've been trying to sell my house for 10 months. I like my house and I've enjoyed living in Burlington, but because of family and work, I need to move closer to the Raleigh area.

I have used a full-service realtor and throughout the 10 months, I have averaged about 3 showings a month. In April, I only had 2 showings (which seems really low for this time of year). We have dropped the price 2 times (and by more than $7k). We have often been the lowest-priced house in my neighborhood. The house is spotless and move-in ready. The house is online, plenty of pictures, I even post it regularly myself on craigslist. We've done the flyers ... we've done it all. So now the only option is to drop the price again, but I cannot afford to drop the price more and still pay the commission for a full-service listing agent. I can only afford to take so much of a loss on the house. At this point, breaking even may no longer even be a possibility. Even my realtor is suggesting I take the house off the market and try to sell it on my own.

So now I'm considering either the discount realtor or the FSBO route so that I can afford to drop the price of my house again.

Anybody else want to weigh in on their FSBO or discount realtor experiences?