FOR SALE...With or without a realtor?

[2bindenver]

Originally Posted by kristin1

We have been doing a FSBO for the last 6 weeks and are now contemplating using an agent. We almost signed with an agent last week,....

We live in a very desirable community with some of the best schools in the state. We have had over 60 people walk through our home, about half of those with realtors. We are listed through a transaction broker and are offering 2% to a buyers agent.

My question is this: Since our home is listed on the mls and realtor.com,

Your home is already listed. PERIOD. You have had more than 60 people look and not buy. You are overpriced.

You have to find a way to let your agreement with your brokerage expire or get it terminated before you sign another representation agreement with another brokerage.

Advertising on MLS and Realtor.com doesn't get your home sold. Any more than putting diapers on sale with an ad in the paper will get you to walk into your grocery store to buy it.

[emilybh]

HDL,

I'd researched the MLS services in 2005 and used one then that I did not like at all because the licensed agent contact listed as the agent never forwarded any leads to me. However, my contact info was listed on the broker sheets so buyer's agents were able to call me for showings. I found a much better service that I'm using now that provides a much better sign and virtual tours are available and I actually have contact with the broker and he's actually referred people to me who asked about my property because his name was listed as the listing broker. He has a website that has pictures of my house and also links to the website I built for my house. The exposure has been FAR better than what I had last year when I paid a listing agent 2% to represent me (yet I did most of the work anyway).

Originally Posted by HDL

I'm curious how you chose the MLS listing service? Did you google it and looks for the lowest cost service with the most features? Or did you go with the first one that you found?

I wish you the best and pray that you are able to sell soon !!

My tips for selling FSBO :

1) Know who you're marketing your home to (i.e. mine is move up buyers in my subdivision and families that want to live in a court)! This is extremely crucial to your success in selling and not having your home linger on the market!

2) Know your competition (What homes would buyers who are considering buying your home also be looking at? And what are the selling prices and features that those homes have that yours does not, etc?)

3) Know what the current SOLDS are for your neighborhood and these must be ~within the last couple of months. And don't try to say what your home was appraised for last year, as that is really irrelevant !

4) Price your home at least $10-20K lower than your competition if at all possible if you wish to sell and not chase the market down !

5) Declutter/Give to Charity/Throw Junk Away/Neutralize - This is really NOT the market to say that "I'm selling AS IS" because you will not get TOP DOLLAR or even sell with that attitude IMHO .

I hope these tips help and if you have to ASK should I use an agent, then you probably should ! LOL!

[kristin1]

[quote=2bindenver;1624744]Your home is already listed. PERIOD. You have had more than 60 people look and not buy. You are overpriced.

Your right, I think we were initially overpriced. We dropped 20K about a week ago. Unfortunately, now we are 40-50K under comparables that were sold over the summer, and those homes weren't nearly as nice (in my opinion ). There are now only 2 other homes in our area that are near our price range, and they both back up to the hospital parking lot and the hospitall is planning a major 7 year expansion that the town is fighting. A further drop for us would really make going with a realtor nearly impossible.

We are listed with a transaction broker, yes, but we are able to cancel our contract at any time to go with a traditional agent. We made sure of this before the paperwork was signed, because we knew we might be forced to go with a realtor at some point.