Realtors or trying it on your own?
 

Out of curiosity, was wondering if any of you have sold a house here in TV on your own. Please share your thoughts, whether you would do it again or go with a realtor.

we used a the villages to sell our home since we are not here for long periods of time. First offer came in 17 hours. one and done. but if I was here full time I would have done it on my own

I recently sold my home in Haciendas at Mission Hills by myself. It sold quickly by word of mouth. I placed a sign on my garage window and had a few "lookers" who were just curious. One of my mah jongg buddies told me a friend of hers was interested and could she give her my number. Of course I said yes and less than a week later we were in contract and the next week my home was sold. I had great buyers who allowed us to rent back for two months which gave us time to find a house and close and move slowly. I don't know if I had an angel on my shoulder but, for my husband and me it worked. Give it a try!

If you sell a house by yourself, the money saved might bite you later on--legal issues as far as disclosures, covenants, etc.

Its always better to sell on your own, just my opinion :)

If you do sell it yourself, the title company has a do it yourself package with all of the paperwork. You and the buyer fill it out and the title company puts in on the necessary legal paper. The title company handles the closing.

I have sold as well as bought several houses on my own and am quite comfortable with it. There are no doubt some self help books out there to answer questions you may have. Some may be specifically directed to selling homes in Florida. Conditions vary a little from state to state. If you know what your property is truly worth which is not difficult in a development such as The Villages why not give it a try and save 6% of the sale price?

I have become a little suspect of the Village realtors because they do work for the developer and the developer's first priority is to sell new homes where they make their most profit. I have heard recently far too many people say that they have one showing in a month.

We sold our home and used McLin Burnsed who is the closing law firm for The Villages. It cost $750 and they handled everything....beautifully.

Sold it on my own for more $$$ than TV realtor wanted to list for.

The real estate agents working for the developer are NOT Realtors ™. National Association of Realtors - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

which is why they do not have a duty to represent your interests. They are working for the developer.

There is a difference between a Realtor and a real estate salesman or, for that matter, a developer's agent.

However, they all have one thing in common and that is to sell property and one way to move property faster is to price it low. The top sales person in a large Realtor's office in another city used that as a selling tool. She earned a slightly smaller commission per sale but she outsold every other real estate sales person in the area.
I am a former licensed Florida real estate broker. Would I sell my own house or list it with a broker? Frankly I don't know. I could only give an answer if and when the situation occurs. There are many too considerations.

That is good to know. My husband is a realtor but he's not licensed in Florida. But it would be nice to use his expertise and save at least half the fees.

I sold my home in Indiana myself. Had no problem. Yes I would have a lawyer take care of the transaction. Locally I would use McLin Burnsed who is the closing law firm for The Villages. They will handle the closing for you.

A friend of mine asked me about selling his home himself. I told him to at least put a for sale by owner sign out for a few weeks so if there is an easy neighborhood sale out there you can get it yourself. He decided to list it with a Realtor and had the Realtor over to list the home and had all the paper work done except the final signature. They went outside to take a photo of the Villa. While they were taking the photo his neighbor walked up and asked him what he was doing as he saw the Realtor's sign of his car. My friend said he was selling his home the neighbor said he would buy it for his in-laws. Sale done and my bet is that Realtor won't go outside and take a photo till the paperwork is done from now on.

The first thing a Realtor does when they list your home is send a mailing to about 50-100 of your neighbors telling them your home is for sale. Do the same it must work or the Realtor's would not do it. Especially in The Villages many people have a friend that has told them if a home near them goes up for sale to let them know.

In my opinion, there are some who can successfully sell their home on their own and some who CAN NOT!!!!! Know who you are before making an attempt. If you have no idea what you are doing, tend to ramble on and on, do NOT understand the concept of only saying what NEEDS to be said about your home and could put yourself in harms way of a lawsuit, then maybe you are not qualified to sell your home yourself. Not trying to put the fear of God into you but just remember ... anything you say, can be held against you. My advise is to state facts about your home, nothing more.

If you sell by yourself, you need a lawyer anyway for the closing, and all the transfers from seller to buyer, their is no need for anyone else
Sell on your own I did It cost me 4 hundred dollars to list and 950 dollars closing for the lawyer.
The only thing I had to do was take pics of the house

We bought and sold our home without realtor. Used TriCounty Land Title on 441 - ask for Amanda. She was a pleasure to work with on both sales.

BTW we sold our home to the first person that made an appointment - at the price we wanted. We paid the bond off and made improvements and did not have an issue with the buyer when we explained why our home was priced above other homes.

Realtors can add value at times when you are not available, or shy about showing your home, or not comfortable with market evaluation.

I trust the agents working for the developer. Our agent showed us resales equally with new listings when we were thinking about moving within The Villages.. Jim McLaughlin is worth 43 of anything....including realtors with their capital R who are needed outside of this very HOT selling place..

But with the help of McLin Burnsed we sold our house in Hadley without anyone...

If you're home is clean, doesn't smell of cigarettes, well staged and priced correctly it will sell in a very short time.

Gracie, Although your agent may have showed you resales equally with new listings, I still say that the realtors in TV do not have a fiduciary duty to you...they work for the developer.

:cus:[QUOTE=Blessed2BNTV;1000475]We bought and sold our home without realtor. Used TriCounty Land Title on 441 - ask for Amanda. She was a pleasure to work with on both sales.


We also used Amanda at Tri County and couldn't have been more pleased. You do not need an attorney - a title company can handle everything.

shcisamax, Although you are entitled to your opinion, The Village agents need to abide and are governed by Florida Statue 475. If they do not, they can be brought up on charges by FREC, Florida Real Estate Commission and also the DBPR, Department of Business and Professional Relations. They have to abide by the same rules and regulations as ALL agents in Florida. The difference with The Village agents and Realtors, is they do not belong to any Board of Realtors.

...

I really appreciate all the good advice. I actually sold one of our previous homes back in VA in one day, our oldest son is buying our last house. I have talked with a realtor but have not signed anything. I think our home will be pretty marketable. We live on a championship golf course, in a cul-de-sac with a large back yard, and have a swimming pool (which may only appeal to some). We have made some great improvements, and it fell into Gracie's criteria!!! I may just give it a try!!!

I was a real estate broker for 20 years. We used The Villages to sell our CYV in 2010.
We had lots of activity and sold it for more than I would have asked.
Our Villages agent knew we wanted a larger resale home with a golf course view.
At no time was it ever suggested we buy a new home.

I have to really think this out!! Knowing there are over 200 agents with the villages is a plus, and there is an influx of people coming every day to look.

Take some good pictures and put it on this forum. I think many homes are found on the internet.

Times have changed in selling properties in TV. Greatly changed!!! There is so much inventory of new homes and with Fruitland Park being developed, they do not want to have that much inventory on hand. They also have more pre-owned homes listed than they ever had.

Personal experience of late and with quite a few of my friends is that the Villages "agents" are not putting a priority on pre-owned homes and if they meet a viable buyer, they will immediately bring them to new homes. I have had personal experience with this and so have my friends.

Their communication skills are very poor and sparse.

I have now listed with Realty Execs and have already had a few open houses, showings and constant input on what's happening. This has only been in one week. I have great expectations that it will sell because of them.

I contemplated selling it by owner but its so much work and with my old age, I feel I'd rather let professionals do it. I still stick with that decision.

Be careful out there, pre-owned homes are not selling as quickly as they were even a year ago unless you have a patio villa, they have been moving quickly.

Just my opinion and experience.

On my three separate visits to TV the developer's agent very subtly and cleverly steered me toward buying new and showed me only new homes. When I asked to see resales he implied that he did not show them but his (unavailable) partner did. I checked and his partner did have resale listings although I have no idea how well they were marketed.

From a business standpoint it makes sense for the agents of The Villages to push new sales since that is how developers make most of their money. Resales are their competition! I also had the impression that agents of TV received larger commissions and other incentives for pushing the sales of new homes over resales which also makes sense from the developer's side.

My third time posting this.

Sell it on your own, it's so easy

You need a lawyer whether you sellit on your own or not.
Your lawyer will do all necessary work, transfers, closing , everything cost 950.00

I put a for sign om my window and listed on craigs list

I had it listed on every site about 12 cost 400..00

The only work I had to do was take pictures of my house

My cost for selling my house 1,350.00

You can do tyhe same just do it

You actually DON'T NEED a lawyer. A reputable title company can handle a sale from beginning to end.

We paid McLin Burnsed $750 and they handled all paper work, all reminders, all scheduling, all clearances and the new owners were ready for their picture taking and chip insertion.

WHO does more closings than McLin Burnsed in the whole United States? Nobody.

I just love the perfection of every aspect of this place.

No I don't work for The Villages.

But I still love Gary Morse.

I agree with Gracie ... if I were to sell my home I would definitely use McLin Burnsed. I was just stating fact in my previous message to PIVO that you don't actually NEED a lawyer and that was false information given. However, its best to play it safe in my opinion.

I would use them too. I agree with Gracie. They could probably do them in their sleep.

.........Phanatic I used my lawyer for everything which I felt comfortable with-

You mean a title company would do the same thing my lawyer di, closing, transfering
and what would the charge be?

Their has to be some cost if not--for sure selling on your own is the way to go

I'm selling my house myself but offering realtors half their commission if they bring the buyer. I used a realtor to buy because we have used him successfully before. I've sold homes without a realtor a few times in the past with no problems. The Title Company keeps things in check.

[QUOTE=graciegirl;1001244]We paid McLin Burnsed $750 and they handled all paper work, all reminders, all scheduling, all clearances and the new owners were ready for their picture taking and chip insertion.
WHO does more closings than McLin Burnsed in the whole United States? Nobody.QUOTE]

McLin may very well do more closings than anyone(?), but they don't do any more than any other attorney or title company regarding a closing. And one would have to admit that a closing is a piece of cake for them. $750 isn't chump change for changing a couple of names and addresses on a closing statement in addition to the final figures. And like magic -- the computer does the rest while a clerk stands there and waits for the computer to spit out all the pages.

...

Ya got something against McLin and Burnsed, Bonanza?

They close for The Villages and undoubtedly the Villages sell more homes than any other developer in the country. The Villages are reputable and above board company. Mclin and Burnsed are associated closely to The villages if not completely owned by them.

We were in Cincinnati...the other couple was in New Jersey. They did all things necessary, the arrangement for surveying, the arrangement for title search, sending letters to both of us. Calling us on the phone They were polite, warm, exact, skilled, on time and I have NEVER heard anyone on this forum say they weren't perfect. The price seemed reasonable to both of us. (We spit the cost)

AND I don't work for them either.

I just love the developer. AND I love THE VILLAGES.

It's a piece of cake? Perhaps until something goes wrong, then you better hope you have a good lawyer or Title Company. Recommendations such as those offered here are valuable.