Timely topic.

I'm still on the fence about selling via RE agent or FSBO.

I have had 6 agents come through here and I have not found one I trust.
Three of them outright lied to me.
Re: trust - I wouldn't want to sign a contract w/them until I paid a RE attorney to read it through. If I do that, why not just sell it myself?

At 6% my place could yield ~ $102,000.00 commission.
"Just what do I get for paying out that kind of money.", I ask them.
They rattle off all manner of advantages, spook stories and tales of dread re: doing all the work on my own.

"If you do a FSBO and ask too much, you won't sell.
Then you'll have to drop your price and that will make your property suspect." ... etc.

"Our office makes sure a buyer is qualified. Do you want to go through all of that?"

"I work with a couple of "stagers" who can set up your place for best presentation. It would be best if you moved out completely, store all of your stuff, rent an apartment or room until we sell it."

"I know several contractors who can do all the fixing up for you."

When they finish with their justification of the 6% comm., I am still left with the thought - "OK, but how in hell does that cost $102,000.00?"

Then there are a couple who offer a "discount" for a sale above $1 million...5% - 5.5%.
BFD, I say.
Bottom line for me on RE agents is... resentment.
So my drive to do a FSBO is rooted in that resentment and my gut read on my mistrust of them.
.
My g/f sold two of her homes on her own.
One was not even advertised...a few buyers had indicated they wanted the place all along.

The other one, as I recall, was handled with a RE attorney.
She also said the title company did most of the work on both deals.
All papers were signed on her kitchen table.
.
My g/f: "Have you ever heard a young person say that when they grew up they wanted to be a real estate agent?"

len

I agree. That is why it is important to "interview" real estate agents just like you would interview for a doctor, attorney or any other professional whose actions will affect your net worth. The good ones have been around for years and have a track record. Ask for a list of "satisfied customers". That will be readily available from an agent who has nothing to hide.

Like with Chiroprators that publish their ad in the paper with a pic, there is the belief that this makes a potential customer more comfortable and receptive to what is being sold. Supposedly triggers a more personal connection of some sort.

We're in the process of moving - closing on a house, and FSBOing our current one. I live in a town where realtors routinely steal FSBO signs right off of front lawns (webcam will go up tonight).

We'll see how it goes. The reason we're FSBOing is that the realtor who "represented" us to get us in our new house worked for 4.5 hours. For that she's getting $2x,xxx in commission. And she can't speak or write a coherent sentence of English to save her life. It's absolutely insane.

If we can successfully eliminate these people from the equation, we can make more money and our buyers can spend less.

EDIT - maybe I should have posted this in the "cranky old white guy" thread? :D

Why do you give a ***** whether a buyer is qualified or not? Who cares? If they don't qualify what have you lost other than an hour showing them the house? I liken it to selling your used car - yes, you'll get a certain percentage of tire-kickers and losers, but in going through that you'll eventually find someone with whom you can strike a deal and walk away mutually happy.

I'm seeing alot more of these FSBO.com signs around Houston. I think it's got to have an effect on realters. I'm sure there are some that are worth the money they get. Unfortunately most are not.

As we see the market adjust downward, more people will try the FSBO approach because they don't have the equity to pay the big commission. But most of them have no sense of what it takes to sell. In a flat or down market, you gotta know where to price it and what to do.

The states are passing bills requiring minimum services if you list with a realtor. Don't think it's going to affect the discounters or set fee guys like me, since it mostly means you have to disclose what services you will do. We are seeing pressure by the local boards in some areas that keep us from advertising "for sale with owner". Our corporate has changed the signs in our state to remove the "with owner".

If you want to sell in a down market. Find a realtor who has been through a few up/down cycles. Most realtors know how to only sell in a boom market.

Yeah, the barrier to entry is way to low, especially in CA. Ohio requires 120 hrs & about $1200 to go through school + pass the test. We still have 6,000 agents on our local board!

Negotiate a set fee for the listing broker. Tell them if they sell it through their office, you double the listing fee. If a buyer comes to you directly from a sign or open house, then you only want to pay the listing fee.

You will need to offer the going rate on the co-op (2.5-3%) if it sells through another agent. This is necessary to put your home on equal footing with everything else in the market.

or hire a broker that has this fee structure in the first place:

www.helpusell.com

Luckily we have an excellent agent who sold our last 3 homes. No problem dropping total commish to 4% (2.5 to buying) which is very close to the Help-U-Sell agencies. We in turn bought new homes so our agent was out of money there but still provided insight and a nice bottle of Silver Oak cab on closing! The guy understands it's a long term relationship. :)

Bottom line is that FSBO homes are black balled by Realtors and *most* buyers work with one. You need to get on the MLS and offer some compensation to the selling agent who, most likely, has been running clients around gratis with no guarantee of making any money. While the last 5 or so years have been a proverbial feast for realtors (homes selling immediately) where even unqualified/lousy ones make big bucks those times are changing. In a slow market the FSBO is hurt even more.

Nope.

Actually, an uncle of mine and a friend have recently jumped into the RE agent game. Though they have not come out and asked, I have felt a bit of them wondering why I don't use them instead. The reason is simple. She has experience, they do not. My uncle asked my advice once on how to price a home. Sorry, but I expect more expertise than that if I'm going to pay a commission.

My realtor does not seek any new people to work with. It's more of a hobby for her, and if someone calls her out of the blue, she will refer them to somebody else.

If I didn't have the great relationship with her, I'm sure I would be agreeing with everybody else here. When she quits, I may then jump over to FSBO. For now, I've got a good thing going.

I used a discount MLS listing company and paid 3.5%. In the end the house went on MLS on wednesday and we had an offer on Friday. Even at 3.5% I felt it was way too much based on the effort put forward.

Before ours went on the market we considered FSBO but spoke to a lady who was trying to sell in our neighbourhood and had largely been ignored by potential buyers. Her house was also grously over priced and she went on and on about all the fabulous gardening and landscaping she had done. I didnt care, in fact I was looking forward to buying a Huskavarna to clear out all the crap(if I bought the house). We decided to list on MLS because we put in an unconditional offer on another house and needed to sell quickly.

I think there are people who are objective, can do thier research, can sell and could do FSBO. The majority of people have no clue, and couldnt sell lemonade at the curb let alone a house.

The 6% commission is basically on the way out. Realtors will survive, but they will be fighting over 2% in the not so distant future instead of 6% IMO.
One thing's for sure, if I was to sell my house there aint no way I would cough up over 40 grand to realtors.

It's usually a big issue if you're counting on funds from the sale of your home to pay someone else - You took a "highest bid" offer, and then -

You've been led along for three weeks from the buyer's agent saying "it's gonna go!" only to find out that the guy writing your buyers loan didn't know what he was talking about since he's been a loan guy for 4 days now.

It happens. A lot of loan guys write prequal letters that aren't worth anything. In a lot of ways, the loan guy is even more liable than the realtor - we control the money- and also carry a huge burden.

Frankly, most LO's aren't any better - at least a realtor can only do limited damage once the Purchase and Sale is signed. A bad LO can waste your entire month..

rjp

Last two homes I have purchased have been without a realtor. They are generally a waste of skin. I wasted a few months dealing with a realtor when looking for last house, she showed me a bunch of crap that she was the listing agent so she could double up on the commissions, and lost out completely. She called me on my cell phone while I was signing the papers on my current home, "Can I call you back, I am sort of busy right now."

HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA

When I sold my last piece of property, I contracted with a real estate agent for a 3 month contract and negotiated a 4.5% fee. It was income property, and I wasn't in a great hurry or need to sell it since I was liquidating everything. We decided on a selling price, and he listed it in the MLS. Each week, he would email me saying he had an inquiry or had "gone over the numbers with somebody." At the end of the contract, it hadn't sold & he asked if we could do another contract, which I agreed to. At the end of that contract it still hadn't sold. I said "so long" to him & had some things to do that took the property off the table for the time being.
Months later, when I decided to market it again, I decided to put it in the local paper myself. Placed the add on a Friday for 3 days at 5% higher than with the prior agent. I had 32 calls over the weekend. I told those who called I was looking to sell it to somebody who was maybe a realtor but wanted to buy it for him/herself. I had a realtor lady call back and offered me 98% of my asking price. I told her I would sell if she would do the transaction for the 1% she would give her company. From Friday to Wednesday the deal was done. When the other deadbeat called back, I was happy to tell him about the deal. He screwed himself out of $60K by setting on his ass.

You also need to remember, all of the current service pricing was in an era when you could buy a home for under $40K.

Back then, the 6% listing made sense.

rjp

Majority, if not all the brand name offices out there simply will not allow a meaningful reduction in listing fees. Broker simply won't allow it.

rjp