Ok, I've posted about how we have our house for sale. We put it on originally for $349,000 and about 2 weeks ago, lowered it to $325,000. Our contract with the realtor expires next week and we are going ahead and withdrawing the listing now (our realtor says it looks better on the MLS system as a withdrawal instead of an expired listing). At $325,000, the 6% commission fee would have been $19,500 that we would've had to pay out...and we were only willing to negotiate the price down to $320,000 bottom line. We didn't feel like our realtor was doing much to push our house so we are actually glad to get out of this contract...but rather than going with another realtor...we are now considering whether or not to keep the house on the market as a FSBO (for sale by owner). We could lower the price of the house to $305,000 and still make the same amount of money as we would have with the $325,000 realtor price. If we offered a 3% buyer's commission fee, it would mean that we could put it on at $315,000 for the same payout.
We've never sold a house ourselves before without a realtor. Does anyone have any advice as to whether or not we should try to sell it ourselves? Here are the options:
Option 1 - FSBO
List price of $319,000 (willing to negotiate down to $305,000 if need be)
No MLS exposure
Out of pocket expense for advertising, etc = xxx??
Pros: we control everything
Cons: we don't know anything
Option 2 - FSBO flat-rate listing service
List price of $325,000 (willing to negotiate down to $315,000 if need be)
MLS exposure
Out of pocket expense for listing service = $499 for 6 months
Pros: agent will help with the paperwork, MLS listing will provide realtor exposure
Cons: immediate cash out of $499, 3% buyer commission
We've had 2 houses sell in our neighborhood within the past 2 years. One sold for $318,000 and the other sold for $305,000. However, the $318,000 was much more of a comparable than the $305,000 due to size, style, etc. Therefore, we don't feel our pricing is asking for too much at all.
Has anyone had success (or failure) at selling your home yourself? What should our next step be? I've already created a website highlighting our house (in case we go this FSBO route) and we are willing to do much more to advertise our house. We just need to know we can actually do it ourselves! 
FSBO?
August 25th, 2009 at 01:01 pm
August 25th, 2009 at 01:53 pm 1251208381
LEt's face it, if your house didn't sell, it is priced too high. It is possible that the realtor was terrible. (I have come across some pretty terrible realtors, which means GREAT Deal for the buyers!!!!!)
In this market, I'd assume it's more the price. If you lived in my neighborhood, where houses have been selling in the $325k range, and you priced the house at $299k, it would sell in a jiffy with multiple offers (bid up over $300k). If you priced it $325k, it would sit a while. Too many deals to be had.
If I were you, I'd price the house $299k. & I would get the best realtor I could find.
I don't think most people would agree with me. I was just posting in the forums how we bought in 2 extreme sellers markets. Homes sold in minutes with 100 offers, literally. How did we ever get into a home? We sniffed out a home with the most horrid selling realtor. We came across a similar experience when we almost moved out of this home. House was priced very low and no one was even looking at the home. House was a DREAM.
If time was more on your side I would maybe consider trying the FSBO route. But if home prices are falling, I think you really just need to get it sold! A good realtor can get the job done - that's what you pay them for. My personal experience is you get far more for a home if you hire a good realtor.
August 25th, 2009 at 02:04 pm 1251209072
August 25th, 2009 at 05:07 pm 1251220054
I'm going to differ with monkeymama and say price it to sell. Don't under price. To me that says, problem home and I wouldn't even go to look at it as a buyer. Depending on the demand for your area, homes may not get a bidding war.
Also, how is the home...clean and uncluttered? If not, work on it. Are the realtor pictures really good? I've seen some bad pictures out there. Your home should be shown in the best possible light.
Just some things to think about. I haven't sold FSBO either. The only home we sold was priced to sell...a little less than I wanted, but sold in 5 days with two offers. We did get $500 over the asking price. I think my realtor knew exactly what she was doing.
At the very least, talk to everyone you know about realtors they have had sucess with. We ended up with our agent by a great referral from her past client...someone we knew.