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Location: Mokelumne Hill, CA & El Pescadero, BCS MX.
6,957 posts, read 22,311,234 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stevep
I think that's a huge problem with several real estate agents. If a seller won't take an agents recommendation on price and insists on a price the agent knows won't sell.... the agent should walk away and not take the listing. The agent is providing no service to the seller except for getting their hopes up that they can sell at this inflated price and the result will be the same as a fsbo pricing it too high. And I'll bet that most of these agents aren't telling the seller BEFORE signing the contract that in 30 days they'll be back suggesting lowering the price by $30k because there hasn't been any traffic.
We lose a lot of listings to other agents who are more than happy to tell the seller whatever they want to hear. Some of them have a very good "your price is too high" speech prepared for the 30th day of the listing.
I told a guy 6 months ago that his home would sell for $350K, he listed it for $435K, then $415K, then $375K. He closed two weeks ago for $350K I'm happy for him, but he spent 6 months on the market when he probably didn't have to. He also had a low appraisal that had to be worked on.
I have enough inventory that's priced right to not worry about chasing an overpriced home.
Are these realtors coming thru here, trying to get our business, full of 'it'? Or is this really a bitter market for trying to sell ourselves?
Here are some things we've heard:
~"realtors don't like dealing with homeowners who are trying to sell on their own"
~"your exposure, even if you list on MLS yourself, is going to be very limited"
~"it won't be easy for you as you won't know who's coming into your house that is not even capable of qualifying, if you use a realtor, you won't have that problem"
Please advise.
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Good questions.
If you hire a qualified real estate agent with a good reputation, he/she will serve you better than you can serve yourself. From complicated paperwork to marketing, to showing safety and negotiation strategies, your family deserves to have the best service you can get.
Hiiring a good agent is money well spent to handle the disposition of the biggest thing you own.
Similarly, you probably dont have hundreds of thousands of dollars hidden in the mattress and for good reason: there are professionals who can serve you better than you can.
Listing your property with a good agent will get you a higher price.
75% of all FSBOs end up hiring an agent anyway because it mostly doesnt work to do it yourself.
Most buyers who have lousy credit scan for FSBOs becase they know they can take advantage of them. You the seller should have someone representing your interests. Buyer should come accompanied by a Buyer's Agent who will check the buyers ability to buy and has something at stake in the transaction to make sure it works right.
Best to spend your energy polishing and staging your house within an inch of its life so it sells. But that is a whole additonal post. :-)
I sold my home in February of this year in 48 hours by just listing on Craigslist. I spent $0 for marketing and $0 went to an agent. 100% of the sales price was in my pocket. It can be done, and quite easily, as long as you are priced right, you don't need access to active comps or anything else. If you price it right, the right buyer will come along that knows the house is worth what you are asking.
I agree, craigs list and a simple site counter? works great, sold two homes this way, just keep up-dating your add?? delete old, make new??
In a rising market you have the luxury of appreciation to pay for middlemen, but in a down market having to budget that extra $10K+ could leave you upside down and unable to sell.
you HAD to have been quite underpriced.....for your area.
please share?
Why do you exclude the possibility that the property was priced right in an still overpriced and dead market? Realtors really get miffed at the suggestion that they are not necessary for a person with a house to sell it to a person with money. Why should anyone else be involved?
I agree, craigs list and a simple site counter? works great, sold two homes this way, just keep up-dating your add?? delete old, make new??
Exactly! But I didn't even have to bump the post. I had 4 emails from it, 1 of which turned out to be the people who put the offer in within 48 hours of me posting the ad!
Why do you exclude the possibility that the property was priced right in an still overpriced and dead market? Realtors really get miffed at the suggestion that they are not necessary for a person with a house to sell it to a person with money. Why should anyone else be involved?
I am a Realtor and do not get miffed upon learning that someone was successful closing without the benefit of an agent. Instead, I marvel and applaud that they were able to beat the tremendeous odds that they actually closed.
FSBOs are successful on a national basis in about 15% of cases and usually at the lower price points for a given area. I suspect at least half of those included a buyer's agency who picked up some of the slack.
If I were to hang up my license today and needed to subsequently sell, I would hire an agent to list my property, even though I am quite capable of representing my own interests. I want a better than 15% shot at getting sold and I have no desire to deal with people who target FSBO properties, at my price point.
People who target FSBO listings often have the same objective as the seller. Both expect to pocket the same 5-6% commission.
Why do you exclude the possibility that the property was priced right in an still overpriced and dead market? Realtors really get miffed at the suggestion that they are not necessary for a person with a house to sell it to a person with money. Why should anyone else be involved?
And hey, it's always going to be easier to sell in some areas than others, and at some price points than others. I live in one of those big non-homogeneous planned communities. If I was trying to sell a million dollar bayfront house, I'd use an agent because the buyer pool for that kind of property is relatively small. Same goes for the $500K large golf course frontage home. Same goes for a condo or townhouse in the area. (most people moving out here want only single family) But if you're talking a single family home in reasonably good shape that you'd ask less than $250K for, then there's actually a pretty large potential buyer pool for that kind of property in that kind of location, and if you aren't in an insane hurry to sell, it can be worth a chance to see if you can save yourself $10-$15K by listing it as a FSBO for a month or two first.
I've sold a few properties FSBO. One was easy, the other 2 were a pain in the butt.
The inquiries that I got were from IDIOTS. People that were "looking for a friend" (code word; nosy neighbors). I got calls from people not knowing the lake or the area. People saying, "that would have been PERFECT if it was just 1 hour closer to the Twin Cities". If it was one hour closer it would be $100K more and no longer "perfect".
I've gotten to the point were I outsource my lawn-care, cleaning, oil changes, and yes real estate transactions. I don't hire just anyone.
The 80-20 rule holds true: 80% of the business is written by 20% of the people. I will only choose an agent that is a "player". So if you are following my math, 80% of the agents are less than ideal. That's why so many people have had bad experiences.
A lot of people assume that anybody can be an agent (pointing to their x amount of years of college versus x amount of weeks of agent training). Well I've had 6 quarters of Calc, 3 quarters of physics, and the list goes on and never used a second of that training when I was an engineer. Agents use their training day in and day out.
Like math and science and athletics, there are God given skills when we are born like being savvy, follow-up skills without having to work at it, good looks, good communication skills, horse power, negotiating skills, networking, etc. That complete package is worth a lot to me in the form of selling my house.
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FSBO or not
