Anyone used "Assist 2 Sell??"

[karolyp]

I know this should probably be posted in the house bargins board. But I just love all the great advice you all give here, so I thought I'd start with this board.

Anyhow, I'm looking for any info/experiences with "Assist 2 Sell." http://www.assist2sell.com/

Any info, good or bad, is greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Karoly

[jasabo]

I haven't used it, but I've talked to a few people who have. We're selling our house in a few months and I thought about using Assist 2 Sell or Help U Sell. I've stopped into a few open houses being sold by Assist 2 Sell owners and talked to them about it (which you might want to try). They've all been pretty consistent in saying that it's a great deal, but it's not like having a realtor to yourself.

I think it depends on how much "hand holding" you'd like and how much time you have to sell. If you'd rather not do the open houses yourself every weekend, I'd go with a realtor. But if your market is hot and you don't think you'll need to do them, you might give it a try. You don't have to pay them unless you sell, so you can always change to a realtor if it doesn't work out. One thing I'd definitely do is pay the higher fee for the MLS listing - it's well worth it.

Also, re: open houses - I've heard from many realtors that they rarely sell houses that way. It's used more as a tool for them to recruit new clients.

A friends' mom is a realtor and she's agreed to sell our house with a 4% commission, rather then the 5 1/2 or 6% that most are requiring, so we won't be using Assist 2 Sell. If it weren't for that, though, we probably would have tried it b/c our market's great and I don't want to pay a huge commission for the small amount of work the realtor would have to do.

You might also interview different realtors and/or ask friends for referalls to see if you can find someone who'd discount their commission. Some will, especially if they're a broker and not working under one who they have to pay - mostly to compete with the low Assist 2 Sell prices and the great market :)

Lisa - mom to 2 yr old twin boys

[brittone2]

We bought our house from someone who used it. I don't know if the seller had it up on her own or not first, but it was on the market for 6 months which seemed long to me. But, the market here in NC when we bought was much slower than our suburban Philadelphia market that we were accustomed to.

It worked out well and the seller didn't seem to have any problems with them. Not exactly the info you were looking for but I figured I'd answer since we bought through Assist to Sell.

[american_mama]

I don't know if this is relevant to you, but I wanted to offer the buyers perspective. We looked at several houses that were through assist2sell. As a buyer, the marketing of the assist2sell houses is very convenient and direct: most houses have easy to see signs, standard take-away flyers with house details and price, and assist2sell always has a page with photos of their listings in the local real estate section of the paper. So that made it easy for us to look as buyers.

However, once we got inside the houses for an open house and a walk through, the assist2sell SELLERS rarely did a good job presenting their houses. They would host their own open house, follow you around, seem like you'd invaded their space (who can blame them), and often didn't have the house in perfect condition. They weren't bad, but the realtor houses "showed" better. One time, a representative from assist2sell hosted an open house and was dreadful; he couldn't answer some very basic questions about the house.

So, if you do it, I would pay close attention to whatever advice assist2sell gives you about how to present your house. And maybe go to some open houses on your own to see what to do and not to do.

[jasabo]

Karen, I just had to laugh at your comment re: sellers don't present their houses well. That is SO true in some cases. I went to an open house last weekend (Assist 2 Sell house) and when I walked through the front door, the owner was sitting on his sofa watching TV with NO SHIRT ON!!! It was SO funny, in a gross way ;) His son was in the kitchen making a sandwich and they had laundry on one of the beds. It was bizarre!!! Oddly enough, it was a very nice house and would have showed well, if not for the 1/2 naked guy sitting on the couch and the teenager making a PB&J in the kitchen!! LOL! The market is so hot here that I think some people decide to just list their house to see if they can make some quick, easy money and if they don't, they don't - no biggie. Weird.

Most of the Assist2Sell open houses I've been to have showed well, but that one was just hilarious!

Lisa - mom to 2 yr old twin boys

[brittone2]

Hmmmm...our realtor showed us the house just like he would any other house. He got his 3% too. I guess they don't all work the same way? It was definitely with Assist to Sell too...