[francesco]

We just got a call from our agent that we have our first offer on the table. We are on our way to see what it is. We are ready to deal!!!!
Frank & Linda

[NJblue]

Good luck. Keep us informed as to how the negotiations went.

We are awaiting our first offer. I am starting to feel like the girl who is always told by the guy, "I'll give you a call tomorrow" ... and then the phone never rings. We have been told by several prospective buyers that they loved the house and "to expect an offer soon". So far the phone hasn't rung.

However, we're not giving up. There are buyers out there. It's just a matter of connecting with them.

[elevatorman]

Congrats, how long did it take? We have been on the market for 105 days, but who's counting. Only about 10 walk throughs, they all said it was very nice but no offers yet.

[NJblue]

elevatorman,

Have you adjusted your price? Around here, the conventional wisdom of Realtors is that after about 3 weeks on the market if the volume of buyers and the seriousness of them is inadequate that you need to lower your price. We are beyond the 3 week point now, but due to the very serious interest expressed by several prospective buyers, our agent is advising us to hold the price firm for at least another week. In a little over a month we've probably had about 20 or so people look at the house. We had a couple visit on Sunday who stayed almost 2 hours looking at it.

[Russ_Boston]

Good luck Francesco - Just curious - what good is a Realtor if:

1. They keep lowering the price from its starting point to sell the home - you could have done that on your own.

2. The flow of buyers isn't any better than you could have received with a more realistic price that had the Realtor fee out of it.

In my opinion unless you need to sell TODAY, why not try pricing it and selling it on your own with a lowered price from the beginning. Has anyone started this way and then went back to a Realtor to finish the job? I thought the value of a Realtor was that they know how to best price the house???

[NJblue]

Russ, I don't necessarily disagree with your comments and I have considered strategies along the lines of marketing it at a lower price (without an agent) to account for the commission. However, I think to go completely FISBO where no commission is offered to the buyer's agent is quite risky in this market. There just aren't that many buyers out there and most who are are working through Realtors. If you exclude them from the pool of potential buyers, you end up with slim pickings in terms of what is left. There is also the issue of completely missing out of some of the key marketing tools/web sites that are available only to Realtors.

The alternative is to go semi-FSBO and give the buyer's agent their due and save on the listing agent's commission. In our area that only amounts to a 2.5% savings. While still a fair amount of money, I'm not sure lowering the price by 2.5% is enough to compensate for the marketing knowledge, contacts and "comfort factor" that both the seller and other agents have in dealing with a Realtor on the selling side rather than a novice. I'd be interested to compare success of those who go FSBO versus multiple listing.

As far as pricing is concerned, there is no science to this and I personally don't think that an agent can do that much better than someone who spends a bit of time scoping out comparable houses on the market as well as recent sales. Much of this data is available. However, this is still very imprecise and is very difficult to get a firm price when every house is different and where the pool of buyers at any given time can vary considerably - not to mention external factors like the economy and Wall St.

[downeaster]

Well said, NJblue. As a former, although still Florida licensed, real estate broker, I couldn't agree more.
Another point, real estate people are hurting too so they may be open to negotiation. When I was active we had a policy of reducing the commission by 50% if the seller brought us a buyer. I can't remember a seller ever bringing us a buyer but the offer was sincere.

[jeffy]

Originally Posted by francesco

We just got a call from our agent that we have our first offer on the table. We are on our way to see what it is. We are ready to deal!!!!
Frank & Linda

Dont forget the old saying that your first offer is usually your best.

I know a lot of people that turned down an offer months ago that was 20k below their asking price, that would give anything to have that offer again now. Prices in TV on new homes right now are great. If you loose 20k on the sale of your house, you can make it up here on your purchase.

When the economy is gloom and doom, with few buyers , and prices are dropping , your best bet is to get it sold now and not keep dropping the price every few months, chasing the market down.

jeffy

[SteveFromNY]

Originally Posted by francesco

We just got a call from our agent that we have our first offer on the table. We are on our way to see what it is. We are ready to deal!!!!
Frank & Linda

Congratulations!

A wise man once told me "Do not turn down the first offer because it is the first offer!" We did,and it was about 6 more months before we got the same offer again - which we then took! It was thirteen months from when we listed to the day we closed!

On the topic of using a realtor or not....
I think it's wise to use one. I believe most buyers use a realtor, just like most car buyers go to a dealer to buy. Ease of selection and assistance through the transaction are probably the main reason people use realtors to buy. I think most folks looking to buy FSBO's are going to be folks in search of a real bargain deal - and will low-ball the sellers and automatically subtract the commission from the price - just as most FSBO's will tend to include the commission in the price. So the transaction is likely to reduce the sale by the commission with or without the realtor. I think the value they can add is screening the buyers before bringing them in, and fielding the calls from the "just curious". I think you can negotiate the living daylights out of them too. Just my 2 cents.

[Sidney Lanier]

Originally Posted by SteveFromNY

I think most folks looking to buy FSBO's are going to be folks in search of a real bargain deal - and will low-ball the sellers and automatically subtract the commission from the price - just as most FSBO's will tend to include the commission in the price. So the transaction is likely to reduce the sale by the commission with or without the realtor.

From the other point of view, when we were looking to buy here in TV (which we did a year ago), we had both a Villages salesperson AND a MLS salesperson. However, friends of ours introduced us to the owners of the house that we ended up buying privately. Because of their personal circumstances, they HAD to sell, and before we said a word, THEY proposed subtracting the 6% commission to give us a STARTING point from which to negotiate.

The bottom line was that they had been unable to sell through their formal listing, and apparently in Florida all they had to do was make a call to the real estate office (in their case it was The Villages Preowned) to ask that their listing be ended as they were selling privately. Needless to say, we are more than pleased to have bought a designer home for little more than the patio villas that we as snowbirds had been looking at, and the sellers were relieved to finally be able to sell and move on.

[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by SteveFromNY

Congratulations!

Ease of selection and assistance through the transaction are probably the main reason people use realtors to buy. I think most folks looking to buy FSBO's are going to be folks in search of a real bargain deal - and will low-ball the sellers and automatically subtract the commission from the price - just as most FSBO's will tend to include the commission in the price. So the transaction is likely to reduce the sale by the commission with or without the realtor. I think the value they can add is screening the buyers before bringing them in, and fielding the calls from the "just curious". I think you can negotiate the living daylights out of them too. Just my 2 cents.

Steve, you have made some very valid points. Many Purchasers feel they can "steal" a FSBO. Other Purchasers will avoid FSBO's as they don't want to deal with an emotional owner.

[SteveFromNY]

Originally Posted by Sidney Lanier

From the other point of view, when we were looking to buy here in TV (which we did a year ago), we had both a Villages salesperson AND a MLS salesperson. However, friends of ours introduced us to the owners of the house that we ended up buying privately. Because of their personal circumstances, they HAD to sell, and before we said a word, THEY proposed subtracting the 6% commission to give us a STARTING point from which to negotiate.

The bottom line was that they had been unable to sell through their formal listing, and apparently in Florida all they had to do was make a call to the real estate office (in their case it was The Villages Preowned) to ask that their listing be ended as they were selling privately. Needless to say, we are more than pleased to have bought a designer home for little more than the patio villas that we as snowbirds had been looking at, and the sellers were relieved to finally be able to sell and move on.

I did caveat my remarks by saying "most folks"! Glad it worked out well for you .

[NJblue]

So, Francesco, how did it work out for you? Do you have a signed contract?

We have been told by the agent that showed our house on Sunday that the people are very interested, looking into financing and want to be informed if we get another offer. Seems like they have taken the bait and are running with it. So, now I'm hoping for any offer (even a low-ball) so we can go back to them and sink the hook. (Pardon the fishing metaphor, but that's what this whole process feels like.)

[francesco]

Well, we are waiting to hear back from the buyers with our counter. We are kneeling in front of our upside down St. Joseph in the front yard praying they say it's a go.
Frank & Linda

[redwitch]

Good luck!