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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 your 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!
Thanks HDL, I hope I sell soon too and I did everything on your tip list (before I even read it).
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, but then received 3 calls for showings (and now waiting for feedback). We are just really reluctant to sign, because it is such a huge chunk of money - around $30,000 if we get near asking price.
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. We feel we are very competatively priced and the only true comparable in the neighborhood went off the market last week (leased, not sold).
My question is this: Since our home is listed on the mls and realtor.com, is a realtor really going to find us a buyer who hasn't seen our home already? Since there are so few homes listed on the market in our price range, I have to imagine that any buyer looking in our specific town has already seen our home. So what good would an agent do us at that point? I'd imagine buyers looking in our area are pretty savvy - so the thought that they are looking at Ridgewood but haven't seen our home seems ridiculous.
I think we are at a critical juncture right now with only 6 weeks to go until we expect to get no one looking at our home (due to the holiday season).
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, but then received 3 calls for showings (and now waiting for feedback). We are just really reluctant to sign, because it is such a huge chunk of money - around $30,000 if we get near asking price.
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. We feel we are very competatively priced and the only true comparable in the neighborhood went off the market last week (leased, not sold).
My question is this: Since our home is listed on the mls and realtor.com, is a realtor really going to find us a buyer who hasn't seen our home already? Since there are so few homes listed on the market in our price range, I have to imagine that any buyer looking in our specific town has already seen our home. So what good would an agent do us at that point? I'd imagine buyers looking in our area are pretty savvy - so the thought that they are looking at Ridgewood but haven't seen our home seems ridiculous.
I think we are at a critical juncture right now with only 6 weeks to go until we expect to get no one looking at our home (due to the holiday season).
Any thoughts or suggestions?
This is a point that a lot of unrepresented sellers under estimate having an agent for...Commissions are earned from contract to close... Having your home on the MLS is a major part of getting people in and looking at it..perhaps making an offer, but an agent earns their money negotiating, interpreting and facilitating the sale while it's in escrow...a large number of FSBO fall apart in escrow...not all. Good luck.
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, but then received 3 calls for showings (and now waiting for feedback). We are just really reluctant to sign, because it is such a huge chunk of money - around $30,000 if we get near asking price.
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. We feel we are very competatively priced and the only true comparable in the neighborhood went off the market last week (leased, not sold).
My question is this: Since our home is listed on the mls and realtor.com, is a realtor really going to find us a buyer who hasn't seen our home already? Since there are so few homes listed on the market in our price range, I have to imagine that any buyer looking in our specific town has already seen our home. So what good would an agent do us at that point? I'd imagine buyers looking in our area are pretty savvy - so the thought that they are looking at Ridgewood but haven't seen our home seems ridiculous.
I think we are at a critical juncture right now with only 6 weeks to go until we expect to get no one looking at our home (due to the holiday season).
Any thoughts or suggestions?
A thought - fewer people may make offers on homes during the holidays. But the decline in activity (in my city at least) is less than you'd think. And one showing on December 23rd is pretty exciting - because anybody looking that week is likely to be a buyer ...not a curiosity seeker like the people who go to open houses as recreation in July. Our local statistics bear this out. Heck - those people are serious!
Here's another thought - You may wish to reconsider the idea of NOT listing your home because you recently had people drop by. Ask your Realtor about a "specific exemption". Also ask how prospective buyers act and say they feel when they know a property they are interested in ...is going on the market on Monday...
Here's another thought - You may wish to reconsider the idea of NOT listing your home because you recently had people drop by. Ask your Realtor about a "specific exemption". Also ask how prospective buyers act and say they feel when they know a property they are interested in ...is going on the market on Monday...
David Beckett
Thanks for your response. Not sure what you mean by "specific exemption". Could you elaborate? We have consistently had 3-4 showings per week, just no offers. So you think prospective buyers would move quickly knowing that it could be listed shortly? Honestly, once we list we are not very flexible on the price (due to commission). Right now we'd probably take 20K less than asking price.
Stu Barnes - thanks for the suggestions! Right now it is hard for us to see beyond the "let's get an offer, ANY offer on the table right now". But I understand what you are saying about following the sale from start to finish. It does make us (esp my husband) feel better to know a realotr is handling the specifics. In NJ, we are required to have a lawyer anyway, and he has stated he will take care of all the paperwork.
One realtor told us that if we take 40K off our price we would get multiple offers within a week because it "would be a steal"" and according to her, that's what people are looking for with todays market. We are concerned that getting a realtor would make it impossible for us to drop our price low enough.
My husband wants to drop the price 20K (and not use an agent) until the holidays and then totally take it off the market until March. In March, he'd want to then list with an agent, but bump the price back up to our current asking price 600K. Does this sound feasible?
Thanks for your response. Not sure what you mean by "specific exemption". Could you elaborate? We have consistently had 3-4 showings per week, just no offers. So you think prospective buyers would move quickly knowing that it could be listed shortly? Honestly, once we list we are not very flexible on the price (due to commission). Right now we'd probably take 20K less than asking price.
Stu Barnes - thanks for the suggestions! Right now it is hard for us to see beyond the "let's get an offer, ANY offer on the table right now". But I understand what you are saying about following the sale from start to finish. It does make us (esp my husband) feel better to know a realotr is handling the specifics. In NJ, we are required to have a lawyer anyway, and he has stated he will take care of all the paperwork.
One realtor told us that if we take 40K off our price we would get multiple offers within a week because it "would be a steal"" and according to her, that's what people are looking for with todays market. We are concerned that getting a realtor would make it impossible for us to drop our price low enough.
My husband wants to drop the price 20K (and not use an agent) until the holidays and then totally take it off the market until March. In March, he'd want to then list with an agent, but bump the price back up to our current asking price 600K. Does this sound feasible?
specific exemption...
In NC it's called prospect exempt which means you could list your home with a Realtor, but on the listing agreement you can name names of people who have already seen the house and if they end up making an offer, they are exempt from you have to pay a commission to the listing agent. hope this helps.
This is a point that a lot of unrepresented sellers under estimate having an agent for...Commissions are earned from contract to close... Having your home on the MLS is a major part of getting people in and looking at it..perhaps making an offer, but an agent earns their money negotiating, interpreting and facilitating the sale while it's in escrow...a large number of FSBO fall apart in escrow...not all. Good luck.
That is why is does happen...the buyer's agent represents the buyer not the seller and the seller usually has no idea what is going on...
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