Flat Fee Brokers:Will local agents boycott on MLS with 2.5 broker cooperation? (Bell: sale, insurance)

[lovetotravel15]

Thank you very much for all of your input and comments! We decided to increase the broker cooperation to 3%. It hits the MLS today. We will see what type of traffic that generates. We may get a professional appraisal also.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by lovetotravel15

Thank you very much for all of your input and comments! We decided to increase the broker cooperation to 3%. It hits the MLS today. We will see what type of traffic that generates. We may get a professional appraisal also.

In a normal listing... the first 2 weeks is when you will receive the most traffic and serious buyers. Use that momentum to your advantage by pricing it right from the start. Many people make the mistake of saying okay my house is worth $500k, so I'm going to ask $600k and then I can reduce every 2-4 weeks... that is a bad strategy because it kills the momentum and then people start thinking okay this seller reduced the price twice, they are probably desperate to sell, let's wait or let's low ball them. Also, make sure everything on the property is ready to go when you list... don't list it before your professional photos are done, have an open house the first week you list it, etc. These are some things that can help... but honestly, your best bet would be to list with a realtor with good reviews at 5% to 5.5% (the more expensive your home, the more room you can negotiate from the 6%)... you are only talking about 2% to 2.5% more and I would be willing to bet $10k you'll come out ahead with a good realtor vs doing it yourself. Good luck regardless.

[sware2cod]

Originally Posted by lovetotravel15

We are able to substantiate our selling price by using the purchase price from 9 years ago, plus ugrades

This is NOT how you determine list price. You need comps of recently sold properties. What you paid has zero to do with list price.

I agree with the other poster that said you should get an appraisal.

I sold FSBO/Flat Fee before and got an appraisal from a licensed appraiser. When ordering the appraisal I indicated to the appraiser that the home is For Sale and the reason for the appraisal is to help the seller (me) determine Market Value for the home when setting the List Price.

[bmw335xi]

Exactly, the op needs to google “how to do a CMA” but without access to the MLS, it’s much slower and not as good but still can be done. What you paid plus upgrades means absolutely nothing... maybe the house appreciated 50%, maybe you underpaid, maybe you overpaid... you have to base it on comparable homes that recently sold ideally in your neighborhood, if not surrounding neighborhoods, compare price per square foot, look at active listings, look at pending listings, look at sold listings... you won’t be able to see pictures of most sold homes, so you won’t know how comparable they are to yours... this is why I’m willing to bet $10k that an extra 2-2.5% will reward the OP with a faster closing and higher price.

[jhtread]

Originally Posted by chopchop0

Seems silly imo... Honestly realtors seem like the next tech disruption. We went to the listing agent directly and bought a place well below the comps in the neighborhood and the selling agent of course got both commissions so they were incentivized to deal directly with us

no reason to let the sellers agent take all that commission himself. should of asked for a good portion of the buyers commission to be rebated back to you. 80-90%. If he says no then just find an agent who will write the offer for you and rebate you back the commission minus a fee to him. you have done all the work finding the property, assessing comps, and setting up the showings, most realtors will do this for you assuming their broker allows them. usually only the very large brokerages will prevent this.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by jhtread

no reason to let the sellers agent take all that commission himself. should of asked for a good portion of the buyers commission to be rebated back to you. 80-90%. If he says no then just find an agent who will write the offer for you and rebate you back the commission minus a fee to him. you have done all the work finding the property, assessing comps, and setting up the showings, most realtors will do this for you assuming their broker allows them. usually only the very large brokerages will prevent this.

Keep in mind these types of realtors are usually the worst ones, which is why they are willing to do it. Also, most brokerages don't allow this because it's not worth the liability for the tiny cut. IMO, you will do much better interviewing realtors with good reviews and asking them exactly what services will you do for my house, what is your marketing plan, how many open houses will you host, what is your availability on nights and weekends, do you offer staging advice, do you have any connections with lenders, etc. A realtor willing to list a home for a pennies won't care what price your home sells at or responding to questions nights and weekends. The OP doesn't know much about listing a property given he or she thought you price it by looking at what you paid plus upgrades you made... that is so far off and it's not the OP's fault for not knowing how to price it... pricing is also just one part of many things. An experienced person who has bought and sold many properties can get away with it, but the average person is better off using a professional with good reviews (there are tons of bad ones because it's quite easy to get a license, so it's important to interview them and check reviews).

[Bellamouse]

Originally Posted by sware2cod

This is NOT how you determine list price. You need comps of recently sold properties. What you paid has zero to do with list price.

I agree with the other poster that said you should get an appraisal.

I sold FSBO/Flat Fee before and got an appraisal from a licensed appraiser. When ordering the appraisal I indicated to the appraiser that the home is For Sale and the reason for the appraisal is to help the seller (me) determine Market Value for the home when setting the List Price.

Yes, the appraiser has to ask what the purpose of the appraisal is and write that purpose in the report. And the appraisal is by law, only good for that purpose. It cannot be used again for any other purpose (ie, the buyer cannot use it to give to their bank for purposes of getting the loan, etc).

[Bellamouse]

I think you need a good realtor on both the buy and the sell side. When it comes to negotiating, it's better to have two disinterested (unemotional) parties working on your behalf. Dealing with buyers and sellers directly ALWAYS involves EMOTION, and that's the worst. Also, I agree that you will get more than you think using a good agent. Particularly since you sound like you have no real idea about the value of your house other than purchase price + upgrades. That is totally useless information. It really is "all about the comps", and there is soooo much nuance to the comps. And there are USPAP rules. You can't cherry pick your comps either. You can't ignore a comp that is two houses down in favor of one that's 3/4 mile away because it's a higher priced one. USPAP rules state that appraisers (ultimately who will decide how much the bank will lend to your buyer) MUST use all comps within 1/2 mile, unless there aren't enough (they need minimum 3, 4 or 5 is better). Then they can go outside the 1/2 mile radius. They can't cross major intersections, or go outside of the subdivision unless again, there are no comps which forces them to go outside of those boundaries. It's very complex and you will be doing yourself a huge disservice. Even if you can find someone who might pay your asking price out of ignorance or they just "fall in love", they still won't be able to get their financing if they overpay.

[chopchop0]

Originally Posted by jhtread

no reason to let the sellers agent take all that commission himself. should of asked for a good portion of the buyers commission to be rebated back to you. 80-90%. If he says no then just find an agent who will write the offer for you and rebate you back the commission minus a fee to him. you have done all the work finding the property, assessing comps, and setting up the showings, most realtors will do this for you assuming their broker allows them. usually only the very large brokerages will prevent this.

We lowballed the seller pretty badly, it was in the high end of the market where stuff moves much more slowly, so basically we were fine with the listing agency getting both sides as long as we got the price we wanted.

[Good Red Road]

I sold my first home FSBO, had no problem with it. We simply used an attorney to help with closing.

I've met many people who liked their RE, but very few who thought the commission was on par with the worked performed.