Selling without a realtor (Madison: for sale, real estate, insurance)

[seedlings70]

OK, I've read a bunch of websites and they all "advise" whether or not to do this or suggest getting an attorney. I want to know the nuts and bolts of HOW to do the actual sale. Who does the sale - the title company, the mortgage bank? Who is present for the closing? I know you can get "forms" that need filled out - what else is involved? We need to do a short sale which I assume involves our mortgage bank accepting or not accepting the offer. Anyone who can shed light please give me the details.

[jadybug]

Out West, they tend to use title companies. In the South, a lawyer. You'll have to check your state out on that.

If you decide to sell your home yourself, go get a standard real estate form contract at a local office supply co. They usually come in a packet. Also, those stores usually carry "how to" info. to use with a pc, etc.

All of this really depends on your state and the legal requirements, etc. Good luck!!

[Cincy-Rise]

More than 80% of sellers that try to sell their home on their own, end up using a Realtor.

If you PM me your email address I will be more than happy to send you a graph that shows step by step the process of selling your home!

[Crew Chief]

We bought our home from a couple who were selling it FSBO. They had done this before. We did our homework and knew that we were getting a fair price on a well-maintained house in a good neighborhood. We got fiancing fom our credit union and they had us pay for an appraisal. At the closing we only had the sellers and a representative of the credit union. We feel that things worked very well. As it turned out, we were the first couple to look at the house when the previous owners put it up for sale earlier that day! Although they had others look while we were doing our homework, I believe they felt that we would be the ultimate buyers. A gut feeling, perhaps. But I believe we were both fortunate and lucky. To be honest, when it comes time to sell this house, we will hire a real estate agent. IMHO, the aggravation of selling it ourselves would be far more than the commission we would pay someone who knows all the steps.

[franke01]

A lot of people who try to sell their homes themselves really have no idea what the market value of their property is so they tend to list at a price that is too high (and it doesn't sell) or too low (in which case the buyer just pocketed the commission that the seller thought he was saving).

[YoMikey617]

Originally Posted by franke01

A lot of people who try to sell their homes themselves really have no idea what the market value of their property is so they tend to list at a price that is too high (and it doesn't sell) or too low (in which case the buyer just pocketed the commission that the seller thought he was saving).

In perpetually hot markets like Madison Wisconsin you can get away with selling on your own, but even then you're losing out when your house isn't on the MLS and thus available for viewing worldwide.

In this market, I think anyone who tries to sell on their own is selling themselves short BIGTIME.

* Your home needs to be on the MLS. If it's not on the MLS and marketed by a pro, its not within view of 90%+ of the serious market. (The serious market is not looking on CraigsList )
* The out of town buyer is the best buyer right now, and they're most likely going to have a relo-broker. Any broker with half a brain is going to steer clients away from your FSBO listing. Whether the issue with your FSBO listing is real or imagined, no broker is going to chance losing a commission to a FSBO seller. There are more houses than there are buyers right now, so steering clients away from your house will be relatively easy.
* If your home is a short sale, you're already ahead of other homesellers but only if your home is listed on the MLS.
* You might think that you're saving money by not paying a broker, HOWEVER if your house sits on the market 2-3 times longer than necessary (or if you get less money than you could with a broker) you're actually losing money without a broker. Think taxes, insurance, utilities (heating your house while it's empty) and many months of extra payments...
* Most of the problems that arise during a sale are psychological (or just psychotic) issues that arise between buyer and seller... An old-pro broker that has been through it all will know how to make these problems seem minor and make the sale work. An old pro broker will have the connections with mortgage lenders and inspectors who are most likely to make the sale work.

[franke01]

I think NAR had a stat that said sales by Realtors averaged 17% more than sales by FSBOs.

Don't know how accurate that is but I do know that - unless you're very shrewd and very lucky - you're probably going to have a very bad experience, especially in this market, trying to sell a house on your own.