SALE BY OWNER [Archive] - Talk of The Villages Florida

784caroline

06-21-2008, 01:30 PM

Chas
Last year we tried to sell our home in N Va using Help-U-Sell...you supposidly get full sevice for a flat fee of $4950 (at settlement) and you are listed on MLS participating with other brokers at 3% if they sell your house. It was a disaster in the current market. From my experience, this concept will work well in a sellers market. I know of one example where the seller with this company found a buyer but the appraisal came in $30K under the sales price and the deal fell through with no effort from the agent to bring it to closure. I am not saying that all RE agents are great but you should check with your local community to find an agent you will be comfortable with...and I do not mean a friend...one with a proven track record but you will still be comfortable with their sales technique. WE had ALOTof agents acll us after a listing expired wanting to grab our listing through discount pricing. They ask why do you think your house is not selling and wnat you to respond price is to high...well I can fix that. These agents are scabs .I again suggest you go with someone who you are comfortabe with. I finally sold my house (last saturday) after a year and a half on the market and my current agent is now almost hand holding the appraisers by providing them comps, pointing out the differences in our home vs others etc. He will also accompany the inspector for home inspection and is following up with all aspects of closing. A BIG difference from a year ago!

For example, the guy buying my house had his closing fall through 3 times (YES 3 times) at closing with 2 different buyers and agents...so your sale is not done until you have the check in hand. Fortunately I did not get caught up in the delays he went through the past 2 months by taking a contigency while he had to have a vacant house and rent an apartment. It was a mess!! In my opinion and from personal experience, a good real estate agent (again not a friend) is imperative in todays market. HOwever we are still not closed and look forward to July 14th!!

Also something to remember is that there may be buyers out there but in todays market how many of them are "qualified" to get a loan to complete the buy. RE Agents should pre qualify their clients. Another thing is with all the hosues on the maret, you still have ALOT of agents who will show their own listing first or listings of other full time agents even though you are fully particiating at 3%. YOu are best to offer your home for sale by owner if you can generate your own traffic through local signs or using web sites such as reator.com or mititarybyowner.com but again we found few people that simply walk through your door on an open house can really qualify for a loan in todays market or the other problem is they have a house to sell. ITS just alot different than 2-3 years ago. Also Be realistic in pricing your house especially if you are in a declining market neighborhood.

redwitch

06-23-2008, 02:05 AM

A caveat about "pre-qualified" buyers. Do not consider someone pre-qualified just because they have a letter from a mortgage broker. All that means is that the mortgage officer looked at a credit rating (or took the buyer's word that what they said they had for credit was it), took their income, figured out their ratios and said, yup, they qualify. They rarely go through the complete process -- mainly because the documents are only valid for a certain period of time and then must be totally processed again. About the only valid pre-qualification is a letter from bank and even that is iffy.

The best a pre-qualification can do is at least let you know that the odds are a little more in favor of this purchaser having a shot at a mortgage. Read the caveats in the qualification letter -- they will usually say something like "depending on verification."