[Lillie767]

It all depends on how much you value your time and effort. I don't change the oil in my car or clean my house. I hire people for that. Why wouldn't I hire someone to sell my house? Worth every penny of the commission he got.

[EarthboundBob]

I'm a bit surprised to hear so many people recommending an agent. My wife and I sold two houses in this market ourselves (granted, they were in Vermont, not Connecticut), and it was far easier than I could have imagined. The key for us was securing a competent, communicative local real estate attorney at the start of the process. He outlined clearly what we needed to do, and we kept him updated each step of the way. Most of the effort on our part was clerical: taking photos, scheduling, scanning documents, emailing, making phone calls, etc. If you've got an enterprising bone in your body, and if such things don't seem intimidating to you, my guess is you'll be fine without an agent.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by EarthboundBob

I'm a bit surprised to hear so many people recommending an agent. My wife and I sold two houses in this market ourselves (granted, they were in Vermont, not Connecticut), and it was far easier than I could have imagined. The key for us was securing a competent, communicative local real estate attorney at the start of the process. He outlined clearly what we needed to do, and we kept him updated each step of the way. Most of the effort on our part was clerical: taking photos, scheduling, scanning documents, emailing, making phone calls, etc. If you've got an enterprising bone in your body, and if such things don't seem intimidating to you, my guess is you'll be fine without an agent.

Well, this is a relocation forum occupied by thousands of realtors. May not be the best for an unbiased answer.

[synchem]

I bought from a FSBO this past year, and he was very difficult to deal with. At one point he was very defensive and my realtor could only talk to him through his lawyer, which the seller didn't want to do because now he had to pay an hourly lawyer rate every time he talked to him for any real estate matters since there was no real estate agent to talk to.

Our selling agent, did the marketing, high end photos, staging recs, etc. out of their own pocket. So while you are paying them their commission fee, they are actually spending some of that on putting your house on the market and running an open house if there is one etc.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Well, this is a relocation forum occupied by thousands of realtors. May not be the best for an unbiased answer.

Yeah but I don’t think any of those that responded were agents. I’m not one and my recommendation was to go through an agent. They have better resources and access to buyers that a For Sale by Owner would not. Plus it can take a lot of a sellers personal time to find a buyer. It’s not worth it IMPO but that is the owners decision. It certainly can be different than mine. Jay

[Lillie767]

I sold through an agent and I am not an agent.

[JasonCT]

I believe if you ever want to try FSBO, this is the time to try as this is hot seller's market.

I am listing my home as FSBO in few weeks. Will update how it goes.

The one thing I found very useful so far is to go with a flat fee realty instead of FSBO.com. The flat fee realty would charge $300-$500 to list your home in Smart MLS, which would then automatically be pushed to zillow, realtor etc., They would also provide basic disclosure forms etc., We already bought twice and sold once, all using a realtor. This would be first time selling by myself, Wish me luck!!

[Stepfordct]

Originally Posted by JasonCT

I believe if you ever want to try FSBO, this is the time to try as this is hot seller's market.

I am listing my home as FSBO in few weeks. Will update how it goes.

The one thing I found very useful so far is to go with a flat fee realty instead of FSBO.com. The flat fee realty would charge $300-$500 to list your home in Smart MLS, which would then automatically be pushed to zillow, realtor etc., They would also provide basic disclosure forms etc., We already bought twice and sold once, all using a realtor. This would be first time selling by myself, Wish me luck!!

Please report back on how it goes. Agree these are the market conditions to list it yourself.

[lvrpl]

Originally Posted by Lillie767

It all depends on how much you value your time and effort. I don't change the oil in my car or clean my house. I hire people for that. Why wouldn't I hire someone to sell my house? Worth every penny of the commission he got.

Do you get charged 6% of the value of your car to have your oil changed, or 6% of the value of your home to have it cleaned?

To me, that's the issue - realtors bring some value. It's just nowhere near those commission rates anymore, in the vast majority of cases. We bought a house here in CT a few years ago. Our realtor let us into the houses we found online and, yes, handled the paperwork and transaction process. That's definitely worth something - probably about the $1k-$2k I could have paid a real estate attorney, not the $20k the realtor got (and that's just my realtor - the selling realtor got another $20k so I can't comment on how valuable that realtor was to the seller).

It's an outmoded system that's entrenched. Hopefully that changes.

[SteveM85]

Originally Posted by lvrpl

Do you get charged 6% of the value of your car to have your oil changed, or 6% of the value of your home to have it cleaned?

To me, that's the issue - realtors bring some value. It's just nowhere near those commission rates anymore, in the vast majority of cases. We bought a house here in CT a few years ago. Our realtor let us into the houses we found online and, yes, handled the paperwork and transaction process. That's definitely worth something - probably about the $1k-$2k I could have paid a real estate attorney, not the $20k the realtor got (and that's just my realtor - the selling realtor got another $20k so I can't comment on how valuable that realtor was to the seller).

It's an outmoded system that's entrenched. Hopefully that changes.

These are great points but buying a home is not like buying sneakers or pillows on Amazon. You still need to see it in person. Direct showings for seller to buyer can be awkward. That's where RE agents come in and that's why the system is still entrenched. Getting paid 20K to tell someone to stage a chair then forward over texts or emails for questions is a bit much while an attorney-title searcher only get a couple Ks is ridiculous, I would have to agree.
We're in a window now where trying FSBO in a hot neighborhood with very low inventory is crucial. It would be irresponsible to forego saving 10K's. Every avenue needs to be explored at the onset. Redfin, Zillow, FSBO, FB Marketplace, word of mouth.