FSBO? Has Anyone Sold their house this way?

[quinnsmom]

We need to sell our house and move to another state (DH's job). But we just purchased our house here last year and with the way the market is going we know we can't afford to use a realtor and pay a 6% Realtor fee. So we are thinking of doing it For Sale By Owner. We can manage a 2% fee if a Realtor brings us a buyer.

Has anyone sold their house this way? Do you have any recommendations or tips? I would like to use a FSBO web site that will allow me to list in the MLS as well. There are so many "for sale by owner" sites out there I have no idea which one to go with. It seems that the flat rate mls fee is between $499 and $699 depending on which site I go with.

I really think the MLS will get us the most exposure. We have already done Craigslist and have an ad in our local paper. I am working on our web site with pics and info on our house now. I guess the next step is to sign up with a FSBO company.

Any advice?

Thanks! :)

[quinnsmom]

We need to sell our house and move to another state (DH's job). But we just purchased our house here last year and with the way the market is going we know we can't afford to use a realtor and pay a 6% Realtor fee. So we are thinking of doing it For Sale By Owner. We can manage a 2% fee if a Realtor brings us a buyer.

Has anyone sold their house this way? Do you have any recommendations or tips? I would like to use a FSBO web site that will allow me to list in the MLS as well. There are so many "for sale by owner" sites out there I have no idea which one to go with. It seems that the flat rate mls fee is between $499 and $699 depending on which site I go with.

I really think the MLS will get us the most exposure. We have already done Craigslist and have an ad in our local paper. I am working on our web site with pics and info on our house now. I guess the next step is to sign up with a FSBO company.

Any advice?

Thanks! :)

[ellies mom]

I haven't but I do have a few thoughts. First, make sure your house is priced well. It is easy to price your house too high.

Second, I'd consider contacting a several agents and having your own "brokers open" on a weekday morning. Offer food. Get your house on their radar. Make it clear that you are willing to work with a buyers agent.

Third, when you do open houses, it might be a good idea to hire a friend or family member to do the open house. If you do stay, don't hover. We looked at on FSBO house and the people hovered so closely (they gave us a tour) that even though we were very interested in the house, we just didn't feel like they were people we wanted to deal with. It really put us off.

I agree that the MLS will be a big help. I know that when we bought this house, we did most of the searching through MLS ourselves and just gave a list of houses to our agent.

[ellies mom]

I haven't but I do have a few thoughts. First, make sure your house is priced well. It is easy to price your house too high.

Second, I'd consider contacting a several agents and having your own "brokers open" on a weekday morning. Offer food. Get your house on their radar. Make it clear that you are willing to work with a buyers agent.

Third, when you do open houses, it might be a good idea to hire a friend or family member to do the open house. If you do stay, don't hover. We looked at on FSBO house and the people hovered so closely (they gave us a tour) that even though we were very interested in the house, we just didn't feel like they were people we wanted to deal with. It really put us off.

I agree that the MLS will be a big help. I know that when we bought this house, we did most of the searching through MLS ourselves and just gave a list of houses to our agent.

[TracyBee]

ITA with the pricing point. You've got to price yours a bit lower than the other homes in your neighborhood for sale. My neighbor did this and sold her home in 3 weeks - while other homes in our neighbhorhood have been on the market for almost a year.
The advantage for the buyer in buying a home FSBO is the savings in the realtor's fee. It's not likely you'll be successful by pricing your home as high as one which is listed by a realtor.

Also be sure to put together a nice brochure and keep it in a tube by your sign. They sell these tubes at Home Depot and Lowe's.

[TracyBee]

ITA with the pricing point. You've got to price yours a bit lower than the other homes in your neighborhood for sale. My neighbor did this and sold her home in 3 weeks - while other homes in our neighbhorhood have been on the market for almost a year.
The advantage for the buyer in buying a home FSBO is the savings in the realtor's fee. It's not likely you'll be successful by pricing your home as high as one which is listed by a realtor.

Also be sure to put together a nice brochure and keep it in a tube by your sign. They sell these tubes at Home Depot and Lowe's.

[kellyotn]

We had a pretty recent thread re: FSBO. See if you can find it. :)

We just sold ours FSBO. We had two open house weekends (one Sunday only, one Sat/Sun) and one private appointment. When it was all said and done ended up with three official offers and two realtors calling for a client. Two offers were for asking price, one for $1500 over.

Its my understanding that if you list on the MLS, you ARE agreeing to a fee, whether or not the MLS brings you the sale. Please check the fine print closely, it could really, really add up if you have a buyer's realtor to pay too. It could end up that you'd be better off using a realtor.

We went with craigslist and a local non-MLS FSBO site. (What's your location?)

We had tons and tons of traffic at the open houses and lots of interest. We were only slightly lower in offering price than a realtor listed house in our area.

We did the open houses ourselves. We'd give them a brief tour, highlighting recent upgrades and answering questions. Then, we'd leave them on their own.

My opinion is FSBO's really depend on the area. The area we are leaving has a huge, huge FSBO presence. The area where we bought does not. We ended up buying a house listed with a flat fee broker, and ugh. I don't like THAT system at all.

The most annoying thing about going FSBO was fielding the dozens of calls FROM realtors trying to scare me into listing with them. Wow, some are ruthless. I met a three wonderful, wonderful realtors - but many pushy jerks.

ETA - Our "FSBO store" is hooked up with lawyers and with the title company. If you don't have that luxury (it was awesome), then I'd highly recommend contacting a lawyer now and getting a price for all the paperwork and finding a title company ahead of time that is good for FSBO transactions. We've sold a different house where there was no "FSBO store" and the lawyer stuff cost under $400. Having these ducks in a row will help calm your nerves when stuff starts happening. I was very flustered when the offers started coming in and it was nice to have pre-printed offer-letter forms just sitting there!

[kellyotn]

We had a pretty recent thread re: FSBO. See if you can find it. :)

We just sold ours FSBO. We had two open house weekends (one Sunday only, one Sat/Sun) and one private appointment. When it was all said and done ended up with three official offers and two realtors calling for a client. Two offers were for asking price, one for $1500 over.

Its my understanding that if you list on the MLS, you ARE agreeing to a fee, whether or not the MLS brings you the sale. Please check the fine print closely, it could really, really add up if you have a buyer's realtor to pay too. It could end up that you'd be better off using a realtor.

We went with craigslist and a local non-MLS FSBO site. (What's your location?)

We had tons and tons of traffic at the open houses and lots of interest. We were only slightly lower in offering price than a realtor listed house in our area.

We did the open houses ourselves. We'd give them a brief tour, highlighting recent upgrades and answering questions. Then, we'd leave them on their own.

My opinion is FSBO's really depend on the area. The area we are leaving has a huge, huge FSBO presence. The area where we bought does not. We ended up buying a house listed with a flat fee broker, and ugh. I don't like THAT system at all.

The most annoying thing about going FSBO was fielding the dozens of calls FROM realtors trying to scare me into listing with them. Wow, some are ruthless. I met a three wonderful, wonderful realtors - but many pushy jerks.

ETA - Our "FSBO store" is hooked up with lawyers and with the title company. If you don't have that luxury (it was awesome), then I'd highly recommend contacting a lawyer now and getting a price for all the paperwork and finding a title company ahead of time that is good for FSBO transactions. We've sold a different house where there was no "FSBO store" and the lawyer stuff cost under $400. Having these ducks in a row will help calm your nerves when stuff starts happening. I was very flustered when the offers started coming in and it was nice to have pre-printed offer-letter forms just sitting there!

[quinnsmom]

Thanks for your input Ladies. I am in Conord NH. I don't see many FSBO signs around here - and the ones that I do see - seem to sit forever.

I think I am going to call the realtor that listed this house last year when we bought it and talk to her. Hopefully she will be kind enough to be honest with us. I have already contacted a few realtors - but got no responses. I guess they figured we werern't a money maker...

[quinnsmom]

Thanks for your input Ladies. I am in Conord NH. I don't see many FSBO signs around here - and the ones that I do see - seem to sit forever.

I think I am going to call the realtor that listed this house last year when we bought it and talk to her. Hopefully she will be kind enough to be honest with us. I have already contacted a few realtors - but got no responses. I guess they figured we werern't a money maker...

[kellyotn]

Sorry, just ETA'd while you were replying. :)

Realtors can change their fees. Its worth asking! When we bought this house, the buyer's were going through a terrible divorce and I know both realtors lowered their fee for her.

Good luck. Its a stressful thing, either way. FSBO made me ill in the beginning, but it worked out really well for us. We met tons of great couples and it was actually (kinda) fun.

[kellyotn]

Sorry, just ETA'd while you were replying. :)

Realtors can change their fees. Its worth asking! When we bought this house, the buyer's were going through a terrible divorce and I know both realtors lowered their fee for her.

Good luck. Its a stressful thing, either way. FSBO made me ill in the beginning, but it worked out really well for us. We met tons of great couples and it was actually (kinda) fun.

[VClute]

First, we live in a military town, so we used militarybyowner.com to advertise our home. It cost us 80 bucks, and they sent us a yard sign and one of those little "arrow" signs to direct people into the neighborhood from the main road. I think those are handy - Get people who are already exploring your area to look at YOUR house.

We had flyers made with color photographs and put those in a clear plastic box on the sign in our yard. The flat box is better than the tube. (People can read the flyer without TAKING one, and it seemed to keep things looking nicer than those Infotubes.)

We also had flyers available IN the house when people came to look. We had MORE photos on photobucket, as well as a drawing of the floor plan.

When people came to look at the house, we had them sign in with their contact information (and their agent's info, if applicable) so that we could let everyone know when we received an offer. Also, if our offer had fallen through, I would have been able to contact everyone to let them know the house was back up for grabs. Getting the BUYER's (not just the agent's) contact information was really handy. Also, make little notes after they've left so you can remember who they are (and, in case anything goes missing after they've seen the house.)

Obviously, declutter your home. When you're showing it, turn on ALL the lights and open all the blinds. Don't take the lookers on a tour - let them walk around the house UNACCOMPANIED and discover the features for themselves. (This is why I had flyers inside the house, too - provided a little narrative for their own little walking tour.) When we showed the house, my husband and I would go out in the front yard and do a little yardwork. Then we could answer questions when they were done looking. (And DH was surprisingly handy to have around when showing - he could answer all those "man" questions about the heating system, attic flooring, etc.)

When you talk to the realtors, get them to bring a list of comparables (houses in your area that have sold in the last 12 months) so you can get an idea of price-per-squarefoot that's appropriate. We were told a couple of times that we had actually UNDERpriced our house, but we wanted a BUYER, not just lookers. (We actually only showed the house 3 times - the second couple made an offer right away, but the third couple offered the full asking price + $100.)

Finally, talk to a real estate attorney and familiarize yourself with the offer contract paperwork. Have a couple of blank ones on hand to discuss if you get a serious contender. Our buyers decided NOT to work with an agent so we hammered out all the paperwork details over lunch in our dining room! (It was MUCH less adversarial than our experience with the house we're buying - and agents ARE involved in that transaction...) GOOD LUCK!

Amy in NC
mom to Dixon, born 2/14/05
...and Abigail Rose, born 4/7/07

[VClute]

First, we live in a military town, so we used militarybyowner.com to advertise our home. It cost us 80 bucks, and they sent us a yard sign and one of those little "arrow" signs to direct people into the neighborhood from the main road. I think those are handy - Get people who are already exploring your area to look at YOUR house.

We had flyers made with color photographs and put those in a clear plastic box on the sign in our yard. The flat box is better than the tube. (People can read the flyer without TAKING one, and it seemed to keep things looking nicer than those Infotubes.)

We also had flyers available IN the house when people came to look. We had MORE photos on photobucket, as well as a drawing of the floor plan.

When people came to look at the house, we had them sign in with their contact information (and their agent's info, if applicable) so that we could let everyone know when we received an offer. Also, if our offer had fallen through, I would have been able to contact everyone to let them know the house was back up for grabs. Getting the BUYER's (not just the agent's) contact information was really handy. Also, make little notes after they've left so you can remember who they are (and, in case anything goes missing after they've seen the house.)

Obviously, declutter your home. When you're showing it, turn on ALL the lights and open all the blinds. Don't take the lookers on a tour - let them walk around the house UNACCOMPANIED and discover the features for themselves. (This is why I had flyers inside the house, too - provided a little narrative for their own little walking tour.) When we showed the house, my husband and I would go out in the front yard and do a little yardwork. Then we could answer questions when they were done looking. (And DH was surprisingly handy to have around when showing - he could answer all those "man" questions about the heating system, attic flooring, etc.)

When you talk to the realtors, get them to bring a list of comparables (houses in your area that have sold in the last 12 months) so you can get an idea of price-per-squarefoot that's appropriate. We were told a couple of times that we had actually UNDERpriced our house, but we wanted a BUYER, not just lookers. (We actually only showed the house 3 times - the second couple made an offer right away, but the third couple offered the full asking price + $100.)

Finally, talk to a real estate attorney and familiarize yourself with the offer contract paperwork. Have a couple of blank ones on hand to discuss if you get a serious contender. Our buyers decided NOT to work with an agent so we hammered out all the paperwork details over lunch in our dining room! (It was MUCH less adversarial than our experience with the house we're buying - and agents ARE involved in that transaction...) GOOD LUCK!

Amy in NC
mom to Dixon, born 2/14/05
...and Abigail Rose, born 4/7/07