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11K views 83 replies 10 participants last post by  BabsHoney 
#1 ·
Wasn't sure if this needed go here or off-topic, but here goes:

My mom is putting her house on the market.
She has told me that after the professional painting and carpet is finished, but before she "officially" lists it with a realtor I can sell it for her. As in, she wants to put a FSBO sign out front with my phone number so I field calls and showings. She told me if manage to sell it before she has to get a realtor the. I get a $5,000 commission. It's a ton of work but that money would be so great I'm willing to at least try. (I'm also realistic about my limitations an realize it probably won't happen.)

I've done quite a bit of reading about the FSBO process but I still have a couple of questions.

There is a ton of work she is finishing up before she gets a realtor. Do I tell people looking at the house about this or wait for them to ask? And, do I mention that the house isn't officially on the market yet but that it will be soon? Would this be motivation for a buyer? What would you think if you were a buyer?
 
#2 · (Edited)
If you are selling it FSBO then it is on the market. Its just not on the MLS Its called exclusive.

Since you will be there for showings, play it out with each individual. Don't say too much during the showing. Realtors are notorious for talking themselves out of a deal.

Don't say "oh we are painting that ugly green wall." You never know what peoples tastes are and you may insult.

However, at the end of the showing you will have a good sense of whether they were feeling the love or not. If you feel like you are losing them that is the time to reveal your plans to upgrade the defects.

Good luck

Also, there is nothing wrong with mentioning that you have plans to list. It could motivate a Buyer if they think that the savings of going FSBO will be reflected back to the Buyer, rather then into a commission
 
#5 ·
creeper said:
As I said it would be for some, but I think you should be prepared to compensate a Realtor who brings a buyer. I have clients who would refuse to even look at a FSBO if they thought they had no pro. protection
From what I have read my understanding is when you FSBO you need to let buyer's agents know they will get a 1-2% commission. Does that sound right to you?
 
#6 ·
When I approach a FSBO the first thing I ask is are they willing to work with a Buyer's Broker. Then the commission negotiating begins. Personally, I charge more than that, but it can also depends if the Realtor has that Buyer under contract or not and how well you know your client and they're level of loyalty. There is a risk that the Buyer could walk away and approach the home owner privately.

Rates are negotiable, but I suppose they also reflect the price of housing in a particular area. Why would I put my rear and my license on the line (there is always the possibilty of a lawsuit) for a measly 1 percent of a $100,000 deal.

If I were you when a Realtor asks how much you are willing to compensate, start low and don't be afraid to ask if the Buyer is under contract.

Whatever you do, make sure you insert into any offer that it is conditional upon the Seller's solicitor's approval.
 
#13 ·
Look if your mom is not in a hurry to sell then by all means let her try selling it herself. Why pay a Realty Company commision of roughly $26000 if say the house would sell in 2 weeks? Hire a Real Estate attorney and let him oversee the paperwork if you are uncertain.

Remember this. A realtor does not sell a house. The house will sell itself.
 
#8 ·
Best of luck to you and your mom.

It has been proven that using a Realtor will result in your home selling faster and for more $. Plus, when you factor in the time taken off work to accomodate showings, then back and forth to your lawyer during negotiations you will soon realize that you may be better off hiring a competent Realtor and that they actually do earn every penny they charge.

Sometimes, it does work out for FSBO's but be forewarned I've seen them end horribly as well.

Another tip....know your market,,,go visit your competion and see what you are up against
 
#10 ·
Then know your market..decide on your bottom line..and be prepared with some solid reasons why your home is worth what it is. If they offered if the first place then they really want your home.

Don't get emotional..nobody cares that you kids were born there or Aunty got married in the back yard. This is business and these attachments mean nothing to a Buyer. They have no monetary value

I always tell my clients not to get insulted during the first round. Todays buyers are savy and they will almost always lowball you with the first offer. Don't get your back up and blow the deal.

Always make the other side kill the deal. Even if it means signing back at $500 or less. Do whatever it takes to keep it alive and if they walk then you did your best.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Not saying you should not try on your own but remember that a house sitting and not moving is a dangerous thing. Presumptions build about what is wrong with it every minute the sign sits out front. If you have not been able to move it in a reasonable period of time turn it over.

I have lived in two major camps when it comes to furnishings. It seems on both coasts agents prefer homes with nice furnishings and there are companies that rent furniture just for short periods to stage houses. Agents in the Midwest think spaces look best empty. I dunno. I do know when selling a home it should be as uncluttered and spotless clean at all times as possible. Build a fire or burn some campfire memories incense in the fireplace---even if it is 140 degrees F outside. Have the HVAC set to a reasonable temp. I have seen people try to sell things here when it is 400 below zero. One super agent of mine had a frig full of cookie dough I think because you always smelled fresh cookies when viewing a home with her. Coffee fumes are nice too. Real flowers, never plastic or silk, and fresh fruit always catch my eye. I walked away from a rather spectacular purchase once with every part of the house spotless. The swimming pool looked and smelled like a swamp. Do scoop the poop and clean the litter boxes if you have furry loved ones.

Make sure you print up some nice post cards or brochures about the property. If you do not have a floorplan to offer you should measure everything and make one. I use Sweet Home 3D which has a fast learning curve. It is available for all platforms, is open source and free as are extra symbol libraries. Get nice signage and not just a hardware store FSBO thing. Places like VistaPrint or FastSigns will help you out for not a whole lot of money. There are also companies that will mail a minimum quantity one card to a prospect the day they see your home. Spectacular, glossy resort type card hits your potential buyer with key points they liked about your place as fast as first class mail gets it to them. Others will not think to do this. Each will cost you $1 or something addressed and with postage.

I sometimes groaned paying real estate commissions but my agents were great about showing properties at weird hours, pre-qualifying buyers, eliminating buyers trying to sucker punch and get away with things and in title company closing states I worked in agents were able to close for me too.

Look into some of the FSBO companies that package things if you want to try this. You are definitely going to need good legal counsel for closing so you might as well find somebody now too. I think the FSBO companies offer access to multiple listing services too? I have honestly never sold or bought a home that way although I have done private deals.

Good luck! Maybe you find that you like it and a career path opens. Some of my real estate agents love the competition and stress. I don't have the patience and frankly agents have always done right and made me money. I have been in client properties when some absolute airheads show people through and I just shake my head.

It has always been well worth their percentage---which is highly negotiable---if you must beat them up. Not sure where you are but $495,000 sounds like it could be a nice home?
 
#18 ·
Wow. Thanks everyone for the awesome advice.

The deal is, my mom has about 2-3 months of work she wants to do before she is ready to list. In the meantime she doesn't want people to not be able to look at it. So I get that 2-3 months to attempt to get the commission. Not to mention I'm doing a ton of the cleaning/staging!!

And yes, it is a nice house. She got the plans for another house in the area she wanted and had it built to her exact wants 10 years ago. 5 bedrooms, 3 1/3 baths inside, plus office and formal dining, 4700 square feet, 2 car attached garage, 2 car detached garage with another two piece bathroom, barn, in-ground pool, all on 20 acres on a controlled access highway with two driveways.

Haha, look at me, I'm trying to sell it on the DIY forum. :D
 
#19 ·
Need an Agent?? hahaha

Good points about it being on the market for too long. It does create a stigma. However, the good news is that it will not create a stigma with the Agents because they're not even seeing it yet.
The fall market is just around the corner. I say go for it now and get a jump start.

Keep track of all potential buyers who come through before you list. Then when the updates are complete, your Agent can send them the listing which should address in the content of the text all the wonderful changes that make this a spectacular property.

If you want to do this then the time is now.
Declutter, Declutter, Declutter
 
#21 ·
We posted at the same time :)

I was planning to keep track of everyone that I spoke with and those that came to see the house. Partly because I read a FSBO can bring around looky-loos that may try to steal from you. Yes, I will be pointing out the full security system. :)
 
#22 ·
As a female you must be aware of YOUR security. Not all men who come alone will be up to no good, but if you are selling a family home in a family neighbourhood, be very careful if a Mrs. is not present.

Try to have someone else attend showings with you, even if they just hang out in the back garden. Their presence will be a deterrent for anyone with less then honorable intentions.

You will also have a lot of tire kickers and nosey people who have no intention of moving. You can qualify timewasters by asking simple questions such as Do you have a house to sell ( be wary of anybody who does not in your price bracket) Is it listed and by whom
When were you planning on moving
Why do you like this area
 
#23 ·
So... I thought I would give an update...

I have been working my rear off and holy crap this house is big!!!
I have revoked my mom's wallpaper privileges, I am finally being appreciated for the skills I have, and we have decided to go ahead and put the sign out even though it is NO WHERE near ready. We figure someone looking and saying no isn't any worse than no one looking at all.

Ps, don't live in a new house for ten years and just not do anything at all. Grrrr!!!
 
#33 · (Edited)
In fact if you think you can make almost $20,000 per hour what the heck is stopping you from getting your liscense.
I dont want to work for nothing sometimes which is the case for realtors. You have to take the good with the bad.

If you do not like the rules of the game then get another job.

Note that the sign in front of a home for sale typically says, "FOR SALE",

I've never seen one that says, "BUY SO REALTOR GETS COMMISSION"
 
#38 ·
hammerlane said:
Just do not let a buyer's realtor prevent a potential buyer from purchasing your home just because you will not agree to 3% or 3.5%
3-3.5% is 14-17k.

If their offer was good my mom would take it. If the offer is low she'll pass it up.

But just asking out of curiosity, what do you mean by not letting the realtor prevent the sale? Do you mean by not accepting their terms?
I guess it's just hard for me to imagine putting the brakes on a home their client wanted for another percentage point. Well, I guess I can imagine it but it does seem kind of unprofessional.
 
#40 ·
3-3.5% is 14-17k.

But just asking out of curiosity, what do you mean by not letting the realtor prevent the sale? Do you mean by not accepting their terms?
.
Technically the realtor can't stop a potential buyer from making an offer but the realtor could say things to the buyer to "guide" them away from making an offer. Use your imagination to understand the meaining of "guide".
 
#48 ·
Look Babshoney...this back and forth between myself and creeper is going nowhere. Creeper believes realtors are the greatest thing since sliced bread and necessary to transfer real estate and I don't.

But everyone has to eat.

Just note that if you FSBO, any commision is negotiable with a buyer's realtor if the buyer has an agent.

Thats really all I was trying to get across.

Good luck with your sale.
 
#49 ·
Well I will say in a lot of the posts that happened very quickly I thought "aren't these folks actually agreeing and not realizing it?!"

But to lay the issue to rest: we are only doing FSBO for about three months. If it works, awesome; if it doesn't then at least we tried. My mom is extremely flexible on a lot of points and understands the most important thing is that we get the dang house sold. I am also loving the opportunity to learn and do something I have always been interested in.

I posted in an effort to get advice and I have had awesome tips up to this point so feel free to keep them coming as I will do my best to update with our progress!
 
#50 ·
I personally don't think realtors are as necessary as they make themselves out to be. I have lived in 2 states now where the realtors don't really do much outside of find houses for you. And the only reason they do that is because they don't give access to the general public.

In Arkansas I sold 2 houses as FSBO and purchased 1 house through a realtor. In all 3 events it was easy. The title companies really do all the work when it comes to the actual sale and purchase. They work with the bank to get the payment all lined out.

Now I am in North Carolina, whole different mess to deal with. Its law that a lawyer must be involved so after the purchase agreement the attorney's deal with all the paperwork.

I understand the job of a realtor but for any above average intelligent person they can sell their own house. You even have access to place an add on the MLS through a 3rd party for a pretty small fee. But when doing that I get a feeling that some realtors do still steer their clients away from you.

My first house sale was tough, I had it listed with a realtor for 4 months with very few bites. I then dropped the listing and put a sign up, it sat there for about 2 months and then sold.

My second house sold the same day I put my sign out. No lie. I flew back into town for a week to get ready to rent it, changed my mind and put a sign up. Same day I got a call, they viewed, and made an offer. It was fate.


Babs, price it lower than market value. And be sure to point out your plans to sell it through a realtor after X date and the price will be Y. You are selling it less than that price because you don't have the fees to contend with. Folks will appreciate the honesty as well as have it in their head they are getting a better deal. $/sqft tells the story. Have comparables.
 
#51 ·
I personally don't think realtors are as necessary as they make themselves out to be. I have lived in 2 states now where the realtors don't really do much outside of find houses for you. And the only reason they do that is because they don't give access to the general pubic

Now I am in North Carolina, whole different mess to deal with. Its law that a lawyer must be involved so after the purchase agreement the attorney's deal with all the paperwork.

I understand the job of a realtor but for any above average intelligent person they can sell their own house. You even have access to place an add on the MLS through a 3rd party for a pretty small fee. But when doing that I get a feeling that some realtors do still steer their clients away from you.



.
In Canada the role of lawyer in a RE transaction is not to be involved with the paperwork..That part of the legalities are up to the Realtors to hash out. The role of the solicitor is to verify that the buyer is getting a tittle free and clear of liens and to handle the exchange of funds, the discharge of mortgages and to settle any adjustments. The lawyer also verifys that all conditions have been fufilled. It is the Realtor who sets out which conditions are asked for and negotiated before any offer goes firm.

If a private buyer forgets to address certain things in an offer and that offer is accepted it is too late. Your lawyer can't change it. Thats not their role

As already mentioned, the issue of the general public having access to MLS is still before the Competition Bureau. Try and see it from our point of view.

The MLS is a private website that was created by, and is still paid for by Realtors in the huge annual licensing and board fee's that we are obligated to pay. Is it fair that Joe Public can access our livilhood for a small fee.

Also there is a gross misconception of how hard it is for a Realtor to carve out a living. Sure, sometimes you get lucky and the Buyer happens to be there early in your process, but most of the time that is not the case.

Don't be too quick to judge
 
#52 ·
Oh I am not judging you. Its a sales job. As with any sales job it is your job to do 2 things, sell what ever the commodity is and to make it look easy. I am not saying by any means that selling houses for a living is easy. Being good at sales is a horribly hard skill to master. That is why there are those in the housing business that fail. But those that are good at it thrive and make a fortune. I am great at sales but don't really like the shady side of things. And yes, there is a shady side to selling houses. There is 0 liability on the realtors if they sell a bad house. All that 99% of sales people care about is that the fish likes the bait they are eating. I am not saying that is how you operate, just that the market in general operates that way. True for cars, houses, flooring, etc...

One thing you pointed out is 100% true, there are different rules on who does what everywhere you go. So generalizing what someone would need to do isn't really fair. But i will stick to my guns and say that if you have a good head on your shoulders you can sell your own house. And having a good head on your shoulder means you aren't trying to ask for full market value on a FSBO. That's just unrealistic.


On a side note, a friend of ours that was a realtor would sit their customer on the computer and show them how to browse houses if they wanted to. They could surf through all of the MLS not just what the realtor wanted them to go see. If a realtor is hiding houses for any reason it really makes you wonder why. Low commission sales, fsbo, etc...
 
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