Northern Virginia is a sellers market. Should I get an agent or go FSBO? (sale, mortgage)

[bs3k]

car54 who is your real estate agent? I thought everyone did 6% around here or at least 5%

[dystopian]

From my perspective the market in DC does not seem to be limited on listings.

I am working with a buyers agent who has given me access to the MLS and I am still trying to work through the many pages of homes that meet our parameters.

[michgc]

Originally Posted by dystopian

From my perspective the market in DC does not seem to be limited on listings.

I am working with a buyers agent who has given me access to the MLS and I am still trying to work through the many pages of homes that meet our parameters.

A lot depends on how specific your parameters are and how generous your price range is. Someone who wants a 2 BR place anywhere in NoVA for under $1M will find a ton more homes than someone looking for a 4BR home in Arlington for under $800K.

We will be selling our home in Vienna in the next couple of months. It's a 4BR SFH and will be priced about $600K. If you look in Town of Vienna there are 40 homes for sale. But at that size and at that price point, there are only 2!

[dystopian]

I guess you are correct in that parameters make a difference.

[kww]

Originally Posted by bs3k

car54 who is your real estate agent? I thought everyone did 6% around here or at least 5%

there is no set amount, could vary all over the board

[kww]

Originally Posted by car54

I try to avoid FSBOs when buying investment properties, but I have bought a few.

However, I insist on a discount. Cut me in on the savings, eh?

I also do an intense inspection because I already know the guy is a tightwad, and I have to wonder what other corners have been cut.

not my personal feeling, but a feeling that numerous clients in the past have had..

[Margery]

Originally Posted by dystopian

From my perspective the market in DC does not seem to be limited on listings.

I am working with a buyers agent who has given me access to the MLS and I am still trying to work through the many pages of homes that meet our parameters.

I hope you mean that your agent has set you up for automatic emails from our MLS about properties that meet your requirements or that you are using homesdatabase.com to access the public website that shows the listings. Sharing our passwords to allow others to access the MLS directly is strictly forbidden.

[dystopian]

Yes, she gave us access via an account she created that populates with listings that meet our parameters.

[Lumberguy]

I have tried FSBO...never again. Buyers wore me out.

[sequon]

Originally Posted by vermonter16

Here's the bottom line....I don't want to do a FSBO on my house, but I super need as much $$. The home is less than 10 years old and since they sell so quickly in my neighborhood....I'm not sure why I should pay full price for two real estate agents to do a very easy deal. And, I am intending on paying the buyer's agent...I don't expect them to do it for free. Any agent out there that wants to cut a deal, feel free to contact me, lol .

I see your point. If that's the case, my non-expert view tells me "why not just go ahead." You don't seem to be time-pressed and just trying to save $$. Then can you go ahead and see how it goes? If you don't get a reasonable offer in a reasonable period of time, you can always change your mind and hire someone.

But on the other side, there are a plenty of reasons to be cautious. We recently bought a home in Vienna. We did extensive research and I still have fresh sense of market dynamics in this area. As many noted, it is true that the inventory is low and and a lot of homes are gone just within days of listing. We also had to make a quick decision once we found this home that we liked and met our criteria. HOWEVER, there is one fact that people might not realize very often: in this seller's market, still there are many homes on the market for an extended period of time. They are either over-priced, having some issues, or generally not appealing for a number of reasons. If you ask those sellers, they would not agree that the market is hot, as much as other people say. Things are not as rosy to them as to others. If it was over-priced, they could lower the listing price, but still that wouldn't be enough to round up potential sellers because the history of "having been on the market too long" is already there and people get cautious. It's a poor strategy, I would say, that might cost you more money in the long run.

My point is, there might be things that we might be missing and it is safe to work with an expert.