For sale by owner... (Springfield: flat fee, real estate, condo)

[indiko]

I was tossing around the idea of putting my Springfield home up for sale sometime in the near future. Did anyone go by owner? Any advice you can give? I've sold several houses before so selling a house is not new to me BUT selling one without an agent is completely new to me.

[Carlingtonian]

We sold our condo as a FSBO in 2004. It went OK, but that was the boom. If you go this route, make sure to put "realtors welcome" in your ads, so that the buyers' agents will know they'll get their commission if they bring you a buyer.

You can find places online to list your property on the MLS for a flat fee.

The argument against doing this is that realtors will steer their clients away from these properties--and the more impressionable clients will follow that direction.

[BT Lover]

It is a sellers market these days, so I don't see why anyone wouldn't list with a realtor. I know during our searches, we never looked at FSBO homes. The searches for them are extremely limited and it is nice only having to deal with realtors. I would suggest that you aren't terribly limited with when you show your property. That is what was most frustrating to us. If the only time a property was shown was during an open house, it quickly left the list of considerations. We were traveling in from Atlanta on the weekends, and couldn't wait until the afternoon to see properties, nor did we enjoy open houses because you had a realtor or sometimes owner who wouldn't leave you alone.

[kww]

know your comps
be prepared to arrange showings at any hour/day of the week
be prepared to correlate sold comps against your home, taking any subsidy into play, not to include type of financing, lender involved, and escrow period anticipated..
be prepared to confirm offer paperwork (although, in this area, it's typically boilerplate paperwork IF the buyers agent is competent)
be prepared to negotiate inspection related concerns, if any, along with inspector access etc.
be prepared to coordinate with appraiser to access property etc
be prepared to arrange HOA/condo document preparation, if applicable, and delivery to buyer.
be prepared to arrange settlement for your side of the transaction.


many sellers can do this, and I've worked (as a buyers agent) in multiple transactions and had minimal issues.. but keep in mind.. any buyers agent is going to automatically assume that, on a FSBO property, that said buyers agent "might" have to possibly breach their legal standing by helping a seller with the process (if uneducated in the various processes involved). should the buyer take issue with that breach, as they legally could, it could get messy)


just food for thought, from both sides of the table.

disclaimer* I'm no lawyer, and have no legal stance on anything related to this thread. take it as you want. only licensed in the state of VA for real estate.

good luck

[cully]

So you know a long involved contract with amendments and addendums can be a good thing and you know where to get them. You know what to do when there is a change in the contract. You know what a buyer's agent is supposed to bring to you with the contract. (And if the both sides are unrepresented...I don't know....)

If the buyer is not represented, which of you will keep things straight and make sure all the dates and requirements are met?

Know how to access sold prices and current.

Know how to set time limits and set consequences and check on these every step of the way.

Know which side pays for what in Va.

Know the law, your rights and how things are supposed to be done and how long they are supposed to take so you're not taken advantage of.

[Carlingtonian]

If you want to save money but don't want to go fully FSBO, there's at least one nationwide discount RE company; the one I'm thinking of rhymes with "deadspin."

[CleoShahateet]

I agree with KWW and am in the same position as a Realtor in Virginia. I believe that unless you have a lot of time to do all the showings yourself and handle the whole transaction the money saved may not be worth the additional work you will put in or time it sits on the market. A home in my neighborhood had a FSBO sign up for about 1 month and finally they listed with an agent. FSBO is done all the time, it just depends on how fast you want to sell, how well you know the market and comps and how much work you want to put in.

[Jlyles]

As an agent of the buyer, you don't "breach your legal standing" by performing ministerial acts on behalf of the seller (including education of the process). However, you do need to be adept at "herding of cats". And, of course, noting that said sellers don't always adhere to deadlines and other clauses, even though contractually noted.

Originally Posted by kww

know your comps
be prepared to arrange showings at any hour/day of the week
be prepared to correlate sold comps against your home, taking any subsidy into play, not to include type of financing, lender involved, and escrow period anticipated..
be prepared to confirm offer paperwork (although, in this area, it's typically boilerplate paperwork IF the buyers agent is competent)
be prepared to negotiate inspection related concerns, if any, along with inspector access etc.
be prepared to coordinate with appraiser to access property etc
be prepared to arrange HOA/condo document preparation, if applicable, and delivery to buyer.
be prepared to arrange settlement for your side of the transaction.


many sellers can do this, and I've worked (as a buyers agent) in multiple transactions and had minimal issues.. but keep in mind.. any buyers agent is going to automatically assume that, on a FSBO property, that said buyers agent "might" have to possibly breach their legal standing by helping a seller with the process (if uneducated in the various processes involved). should the buyer take issue with that breach, as they legally could, it could get messy)


just food for thought, from both sides of the table.

disclaimer* I'm no lawyer, and have no legal stance on anything related to this thread. take it as you want. only licensed in the state of VA for real estate.

good luck

[kww]

Originally Posted by Jlyles

As an agent of the buyer, you don't "breach your legal standing" by performing ministerial acts on behalf of the seller (including education of the process). However, you do need to be adept at "herding of cats". And, of course, noting that said sellers don't always adhere to deadlines and other clauses, even though contractually noted.

agreed, hence the "might". every situation is unique, and no representative of a client wants to be put in that position

[Mi shots]

I just accepted an offer on my home yesterday. We were FSBO. I had it on zillow for 12 days. First two buyers that walked in made offers. One couple's offer was accepted after some negotiations.

A little history
we had three agents in with different opinions on list price. Only one agreed with our price. Other two, amongst many agents who knocked on our door said it will e hard to sell as we listed with top dollar list price in our area. (Although some would disagree, we had many upgrades and our home presents very well)

We spent 1.5 months, everyday cleaning, clearing out, donating. We replaced and upgraded anything to present well.

We decided to do a soft launch because our "Sale" date was the new year. We were way ahead of schedule and just thought we'd throw it on Zillow. I didn't really want to deal with "open House' or having a lockbox and having to leave my home during the holiday season.

I will tell you, everyone in the profession told me what I was going to do (FSBO) was so much work. They said I'll get so much more if I list with them. I will admit I am very internet/html savvy and I am a photographer. I also know how to make video presentation since I do that for my business. All this stuff isn't impossible to learn.

Bottom line, offer was accepted in 12 days with a savings of $18,000/4%, even with our whole neighborhood looking like a war zone because they are replacing driveway aprons, sidewalks and repaving roads.

Just clean like crazy, paint, declutter and take very good photos. Be realistic about price you'll accept. It doesn't hurt to try. You can always sign with an agent at a latter date.

Good luck and keep us posted

I also want to add, I have done this before. It's not as hard as stated.
I soent $15 on double sided photo quality brochure of home
$145 for local paper add (which was for nothing)
Zillow is free and many other sites picked up my listing such as Redfin, Yahoo homes, Hotpads, Owners.com, etc...

Now everything goes to the lawyers. Once contract is signed, they will bring in their inspector. Once that is clear, bank will bring in their appraiser.

It's really not that involved. You pay the lawyer to take care of the deadlines, contract, legal issues, etc...

One thing I personally like about FSBO is that you can deal directly with owner/seller. Things can get lost in translation and sometimes become contentious. All FSBO transactions went smooth for me except when I purchased this home. But that was because the owner was a jerk and stripped the house of everything. We sued and won. This situation could have happened with can happen with a real estate agent too.