FSBO experience
 

Anyone ever used "FSBO" (For Sale By Owner) to sell a home and your experience/opinion?

Thx

Call McLin Burnsed, the "Villages" Law Firm. (used for all Villages closings) Ask them any questions and pick up info. They are GREAT.

When we sold our home by ourselves they charged $700 to handle all of the legalities. That was seven years ago. They manage the closing, title searches etc. Closing costs are from the bank of the buyer if they don't pay cash of course.

Our buyer split the cost of the legal fees. Some will and some won't.

My neighbor listed his 2 BR masonry CYV seven years old for $229K on this website Villages4sale 3 weeks ago and sold it a week ago.

I totally agree. I bought a FSBO and was very happy with this method. However, if I was selling I would use the Villages Sales and pay the price. The reason I BOUGHT the FSBO was it had been on the market for a long time and was underpriced. It is not like other areas- nobody shops for FSBOs, they shop with a Villages Realtor. Just my 2 cents. If you are a buyer, FSBO is great.

As a buyer, I won't even look at a FSBO. They are almost always overpriced. I don't want to waste my time. If selling, hire a real estate company and let them earn their commission.

Fsbo
 

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to respond -
every little bit helps.

For your info - I have only owned my home less than 4 yrs, and 'tho I would love to hire a realtor ANY commission will mean my losing money on this sale which is why I must try to sell myself. Also, Gracie, I have already called 3 title co's re' handling the "closing"
Plus McLin & B. The cheapest was approx.$2400 with McLin coming in the highest at $4,000-$7,000 depending on the sale price. The cost of Title insurance alone (in my opinion a big "rip-off" and should not be necessary if whoever doors the title search does their job) is $885
Quoted by title cos. McL & B will, I am sure be more!

For some reason, selling oneself is not popular with buyers in The Villages. I have been offered less than 6%
By two realtors anxious to represent me. I live on the historical side ---- but on a golf course which may a plus.

Will check into The Villages4Sale and FSBO and hope I'm successful. Again, very many thanks to you all.



The guys for your input

Brandy4,

If you don't mind, would you let me know the name of the firm that had the lowest quote. Thanks

4 K to 7K for handling the legalities? I think you are WRONG.

I just called McLin Burnsed and the person who answered told me that they no longer do closings as of two years ago.

Depending on the county you are in the 4K to 7K (usually around 3% of selling price) represents the total seller closing costs. title insurance policy and research, survey, appraisal, DOC stamps.. ect.....minis the real estate commission fee if its a FSBO...

GracieGirl states $800? that figure only represents the lawyers closing charge for processing/handling the closing, and thats just the sellers side, the buyers also have a $800? fee on there side from the closing agent.

you can usually negotiate the closing costs, title policy with the closing agent if you have a policy existing, and the rest of the fees could be put to the buyer, if they are willing to pay for them, but customiery the seller pays all the closing fees in Marion, Sumter and Lake county.

just adding a little help....from a retired broward realtor..

So, who is correct? Does McLin and Burnsed do FSBO closings or not? This thread just reinforces my opinion that it is a bad idea to buy a FSBO, or to try to sell your own house. Real estate agents get paid a commission for a reason.

I would check with at least two MLS Realtors as well as a recommended agent at The Villages sales office to obtain opinions on what your home is actually worth right now in today's market. What a person paid for a home at a historical point in time may have little to do with what it will actually sell for right now. That is why an informed opinion - or three - of what it will likely currently sell for is important.

Good luck with your sale however you choose to proceed!

if you can handle the negotiations and have a phone, call a title company and its a piece of cake.

But remember back when you purchased your new home, get out your old HUD form and check it out. TV new homes closing costs are paid by the developer. Resales are a entirely different story.

The money comes from whoever is willing to pay it, but one side DOE'S have to pay it.

ZILLOW or TRULIA can give you a very close idea, without the sales pitch from a Realtor

While the cited websites are useful tools for obtaining ballpark guesstimates they are not suitable for actually pricing a home to be marketed. Many times their data on a particular property is incorrect and/or incomplete. I use them both as well as Redfin and Realtor.com as general guides.

A good Realtor will identify and utilize valid comps of actual sales and provide information on the direction the market is taking. Of course a Realtor hopes to land the listing.

BTW, I agree with retiredguy123's assessment that FSBO's are almost always overpriced. I rarely look at them although I recall buying a FSBO house once. I did overpay maybe 3% but I had a very tight time constraint to buy a house in order to avoid paying a relatively large capital gain tax on a house I had sold (under the tax law back in 1976).

I also sold a house myself as a FSBO from a one weekend newspaper ad in 1972 up in Rochester, NY to a fellow patent attorney. No problem, great guy; it was fun.

So you just never know. The main thing as I see it is to not initially overprice a FSBO so that it stays on the market a long time, thereby becoming "stale". If it remains for sale too long buyers tend to think there is a problem with it. Also carrying costs such as mortgage payments, taxes, insurance, maintenance and utilities, not to mention the time value of money, add up over time. A slightly lower price right now to get an actual sale may net one more than waiting it out for a higher price - if you can even get one.

If you have a neighborhood website try listing it on that or on the nextdoor site and also on TOTV. My neighbor just put hers on our neighborhood website and by word of mouth it sold at full price and 4 bidders. No open houses even.

Fsbo
 

Dublin 78 - Tri-County (Pam) 352-753-4411
$2372 plus VCDD (Villages Amenity, Trash,etc).
Correction to my post: Title ins. From 2 were both $825 not 885 sorry - hit wrong digit. Also total - could be more or less, depends on sale price of home.

Gracie Girl. I too was in shock even when I got estimates from 3 Title cos. I purposely didn't call McLin until after I read your response because I suspected they would be the most expensive. Their P & S agreement fee is $500. Tri-Cty is $395.

I too intend to try to either have my buyer and I pay our own going costs or, you did, split! Which is why is done up north where the buyer costs are always more. They need a title search o note work involved; buyer doesn't
Need, and, therefore, should not have to pay title insurance.

One last comment for those who don't know. FSBO (For Sale By Owner) is a company who will (for a fee) provide documents and step by step instructions in selling your home. I don't yet know what the fee is but cheaper than 6% to a realtor. Also, strongly suspect McLin I owned by The Villages, they do everything else. They handled my closing (on the home I'm seling) 4 yrs.ago.

Again, everyone Many thanks - too to chat with you!

Fsbo
 

Dublin 78 - TRI-County 352-753-4441 (Pam). Quoted me a total of $2372 plus (The Villages) charges. 1 mo. Amenity fee, trash etc. Also need to make a correction: Title insurance quoted by two title cos. was $825 not $885 - sorry my finger hit wrong digit!
Most helpful gal. Their charge for a P & S contract is $395. Freedom Title Was $400, didn't get the third one, but McLin is $500.

Graciegirl. I too was shocked at closing costs even from 3 title cos. I purposely did not call McLin until AFTER I read your post to me as I suspected they would be the most expensive. I called them at around 1:30pmand was told if I would go to their office they would give me a breakdown of their $4-$7000 charges - which will depend on selling price of my house. Therefore, I don't understand your being told they no longer do closings and will call them again on this.

For those who don't know FSBO is a company who, for a fee, will provide documents and a step by step process
For selling a house anywhere. I don't yet know what the fee is but a lot less than that of a realtor. If I go with a realtor I will end up with thousands less than I paid for my house and don't want to do that. I' m not trying to make ANY profit - just get back what I.paid.

Again, thank you, appreciate everyone's input - a big help.

Dublin78 - I did respond to your post but don't see it here, however, TOTV has had problems for days so I will repeat.
Cheapest title co. Was Tri-Cty (352-753-4411) @ $2372 (plus Villages costs) and based on the selling price of ones house.
Freedom was: Approx.$2615.
Affiliated: $2485 + VCDD $425
McLin & B: (Lawyers - always more expensive): $4000-7000 . I strongly suspect are owned by The Villages. I don't understand what they told GracieGirl (don't do closings anymore) as I called them AFTER Graciegirl's initial suggestion/ recommendation.
All of the title via. Above are in the Villages tel. Directory.

Brandy4

NO. It was seven hundred dollars seven years ago and we split it.

Be prepared to have open houses, put up the signs and balloons and receive a lot of people coming through just to look. My wife is an ex realtor and we tried for a couple of months on Zillow and every other website and finally turned it over to TV Sales and they sold it in a few weeks. Its a lot of work and time so be prepared for that.

Yes
 

We have bought and sold through fsbo a number of times. It’s never been an issue, in fact, much easier as you know exactly what is happening and who you are dealing with. Missy at Advantage Title does all the paper work. She is ultra efficient. You just bring the buyer. We also offer a 2.5% fee if a real estate person brings the buyer, go on mls and tell others. We did not feel we overpaid whe buying and priced competitively when selling. Also, if selling and you paid 300kfor example and the house is not upgraded substantially, if it is only worth $315k now, if you had to pay hefty real estate fees and closing costs...the only way to not lose your shirt is to sell FSBO.

I totally agree!

We listed with TV and sold to the first buyer for so much over the asking price it would have covered the real estate fee of the asking price. They have connections to the largest number of interested buyers. Two showings in one day, and two over-price offers--all before the trolley viewing.

It used to be they were mainly interested in selling new homes, but not anymore since most of the new housing is in Fenney with no golf cart access to up here. Plus this is a busy buying season.

Yep, more buyers interested in newer resale’s rather than new Fenny.


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Where are you heading?

Ohiobestus - did you get my "private" response about viewing my house.
TOTV has had problems.

Not leaving TV--too nice here. We want to downsize to a CYV with no yard maintenance since we're going to be seasonal.