Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The minute you advertise you are "on the market" whether it is listed in mls or not. It is considered a FSBO, For Sale by Owner. You still need to comply with many of the real estate laws, same as if it was listed with an agent, such as fair housing laws.
It is perfectly legal to advertise your home for sale on your own, then convert it to an agency listing as many do when they learn selling it on their own was much more work than anticipated.
If you list, even under one of those listing only or limited agencies, you are no longer a FSBO. Be certain to point out any Zillow Make Me Move or FSBO listing you have set up for your agent to convert to an MLS listing. Zillow notoriously does not pick up new mls listings and lags on any status changes that may happen such as open houses, price changes, pending offers. The agent needs to monitor the Zillow listing for these also.
I'm preparing my property to come onto the market in 4 months. It's not ready yet as I want to get a few things in place first.
I'd like to let buyers in the market now, know that my property will be available soon, so that if they like my property they can choose to wait (and not buy something else without knowing mine was coming onto the market).
It will also allow me to line up potential offers on my home, so that when I do list in 4 months it will sell fast and at the highest price.
Is it legal to do this? Im actually interested in which states this would be legal.
I know Zillow allows a 'Make Me Move' price, but I will actually advertise a future date like this:
Property Address: XXXXXXXXX
Price: $400K
Available: In 4 months (not for sale yet)
So I will be saying a future date that it will be coming onto the market.
I would love to hear whether you think this is a good idea. And any legal issues.
Thanks!
Leigh
Why would advertising to sell your own property be illegal?
I do not understand why you would even ask but it may be best to
not advertise until the time gets closer to your putting it on the market.
Never advertise a property will be for sale someday.
1: What this will do, is to get every agent in town contacting you to try to get a listing. You turn them down, and when the property comes on the market someday, you will not have them working to sell your property, to get even with you for not giving them the listing. Remember, yours will not be the only property they can sell.
2: After people see your ad for 4 months, and it has not sold, it is like saying it is a property no one else wants, so they will not waste their time to even look at it.
3: You will attract a lot of look lous as they call them in the business that will waste a lot of your time.
It sounds like a smart move to you to get people lined up to look at your property when it goes on sale, but actually has just the opposite effect.
It will make your property harder to sell, not easier.
While out walking our dogs this past spring, I saw several signs that this home is coming on the market soon, email address listed if you would like to be notified when it comes on the market. No phone number.
Underneath it says absolutely no agents.
Several months later the signs disappear and I see boxes and moving vans. I never saw a realtor sign.
I have not checked to see if they sold their house for less than they might have gotten, but I didn't see a realtor sign in any of their yards.
Once read a book on how to sell your home for the best price in the shortest time. As I recall, you advertise that you will open bids on a certain day and take the best offer. You hold several open houses. Advertise these as well. Have attorney vetted contracts on the table for people who want to make offers.
The authors claimed that this way you get the best price within a certain time frame.
You mentioned having a preference for delaying by 4 months, but then talk about the possibility of entertaining an offer from private buyers. Just be sure that you treat everyone the same because you could run into fair housing issues with someone claiming that they were told that your house wasn't available despite the fact that you are leaving open the possibility to making it available for some people. You are either making it available for sale, or you aren't. Which is it?
Why not just wait? Most serious buyers won't give your house a second thought if you tell them that they can't see it for 4 months. And any buyers who are still shopping for a house 4 months later aren't likely to have the highest motivation to begin with. That's why your strategy isn't generally used.
As someone that just bought a house, I wouldn't have waited four months on the off-chance that I'd get a crack at it. I would imagine that serious, motivated buyers wouldn't wait either.
Speaking as a buyer, it just wouldn't have been something I would have been interested in. If anything, it would have probably have just been ignored all together.
Once read a book on how to sell your home for the best price in the shortest time. As I recall, you advertise that you will open bids on a certain day and take the best offer. You hold several open houses. Advertise these as well. Have attorney vetted contracts on the table for people who want to make offers.
The authors claimed that this way you get the best price within a certain time frame.
If you live in an area that gets multiple offers within a week or so, this can work.
On the other hand in a normal market when you advertise you will accept the highest offer on a certain date, you have said you will accept the highest offer, and it may be one that is 50% the value of the home. If you don't sell it for that price, then you could be sued to enforce the advertised terms. Especially if it is the only offer. There are truth in advertising laws that require someone that says something like, we will open bids on a certain day and will accept the highest offer, to do what the advertisement says.
On the other hand in a normal market when you advertise you will accept the highest offer on a certain date, you have said you will accept the highest offer, and it may be one that is 50% the value of the home. If you don't sell it for that price, then you could be sued to enforce the advertised terms. Especially if it is the only offer. There are truth in advertising laws that require someone that says something like, we will open bids on a certain day and will accept the highest offer, to do what the advertisement says.
People can still change their minds. That's why the statute of frauds requires real estate contracts to be in writing in order to be enforceable.
Yes contracts have to be in writing to be enforceable. However advertising laws say, you must be honest and live up to what you advertise. When you advertise you will take the highest bid made by a certain day, remember that advertisement is in writing. To not accept the highest bid, is false advertising, and that is against the law.
Retail stores, have found this a problem. Many years ago, a major department store advertised portable televisions at
$100, for the first 12 sold. A mistake was made, and when the advertisement was checked and approved by the store the add said, they were for sale at $10. They were forced to sell them at $10 each.
A number of years ago, an auto dealer did the same thing on an advertised car, and had to sell it for about $20 on the dollar.
If you advertise the house to the highest bidder, and they do not take their bid, they may file a copy of the bid along with the advertisement at the county court house and that house cannot be sold to someone else within a year due to the filing being called a lis pendens or notice legal action to follow. This gives the bidder one year to file the suit, and then that can be kept in court for another year or two in most jurisdictions.
Don't advertise something you are not ready and willing to follow through on.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
