[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

Has anyone sold a house by this method? I'm thinking of using it but I'd like to get the opinions of those who have done it.

Was it easy? Did they walk you through the legal and closing procedures?

[retiredguy123]

I did it once, but only because, at the time, the market was so hot that any idiot could find a buyer. The reason to hire a real estate agent is so they can market the house and find you a competent buyer at a good price, not to walk you through the closing process. So, if you think you need help finding a buyer, then hire an agent. If not, then don't. The legal and closing procedures are handled by the title company, not by the real estate agent. It is very easy to get a title company to handle the sale without a real estate agent.

[JohnN]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I did it once, but only because, at the time, the market was so hot that any idiot could find a buyer. The reason to hire a real estate agent is so they can market the house and find you a competent buyer at a good price, not to walk you through the closing process. So, if you think you need help finding a buyer, then hire an agent. If not, then don't. The legal and closing procedures are handled by the title company, not by the real estate agent. It is very easy to get a title company to handle the sale without a real estate agent.

Exactly right. I've done a FSBO and it went really well and I'd do it again here. The title company will do all the paperwork. FSBO means you'll find the buyer. If it's in The Villages in this good market, I bet you can do that fairly easily if you're inclined to put in the bit of work.

[l2ridehd]

Just did it 2 weeks ago. In this market it is very easy. Biggest challenge is to determine the correct price. You don’t want to give it away and you don’t want to price it so high you can’t sell it. McLin Burnsd will do all the legal stuff for the contract for a very small fee, the title company does all the paper work. My total cost was about 1.5% of sale price for everything. Send me a PM if you have any questions.

[DAVES]

Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr

Has anyone sold a house by this method? I'm thinking of using it but I'd like to get the opinions of those who have done it.

Was it easy? Did they walk you through the legal and closing procedures?

Opinion-For Sale by Owner-reason obviously, to save the commission. The buyer shopping For Sale By Owner is doing so to save the same commission. Obviously the buyer and the seller cannot save the same money.

Someone touring your home and says something like who the heck chose that color for the living room. You chose the color and think it is the cat's meow. Would you be offended, have a negative opinion of that person or would you stay on track? Your goal is to sell the house.

There is no shortage of people look at houses to see how yours is decorated or because they have nothing better to do.

My own sister, not in the Villages, tied people up for two months and then discovered she could not get a mortgage to cover it. Her attorney fixed it so the sellers got nothing.
The broker, did not but should have obviously continued to show the property. Like everything else there are brokers worth what you pay them and then there are all the rest.

[manaboutown]

I have friends who have done it close to twenty times and I have done it once. What my friends do is pay a top photographer to take professional quality photos of the house. In Orange County, CA they pay $750. Should be much cheaper here. Then they use a licensed broker who lists it for $500 or so, again, in The OC. This way it goes into MLS which gives it lots of exposure. They will "cooperate" with a selling broker to the tune of 2-1/2%. We are in a "hot" market here and in most of the country. Many well presented homes are bringing in multiple bids above asking price.

Their last FSBO was on the Big Island in Hawaii. They wanted to sell their condo but had not finished fixing it up to prepare to market it. The wife was taking out the trash and a couple who had just looked at another condo in the complex approached her and asked if she knew knew of any condos for sale. She said "Yes, ours." SOLD!

[dougjb]

I have never found a real estate agent, anywhere, who was completely forthcoming and honest.

When you think about it, their objective is to sell the house and get the commission as quickly as they can. But, their interest does not extend to the seller (despite their protestations to the contrary). If they can't move a house quickly, their first response to the seller is to lower the price. That costs the seller big time. It costs the agent very little. Here is an example: You list a house for 300,000. The realtor's (or The Villages fee is 6% or 18,000--after the agent [there are two--a selling agent and a buyer's agent] splits the fee with the broker, the agents fee is 4,500 [about 1.5%]). So, in the example, the house does not sell immediately. The selling agent then sympathetically tells the seller the price is too high, that there is no interest in the property at 300,000 (which may or may not be true and may be because of other reasons--such as the season of the year, the ineptitude of the agent's marketing, etc.). The agent suggests lowering the price to 280,000? Assuming it sells at that price, the agent's share (after the splits with the broker and selling agent) is now 4,200. That is 600 less. But, look what happened to the seller. The seller gets 263,200 instead of 282,000...a difference of 18,800. That is quite a hit for what amounts to negotiating against oneself. When I have used a broker (a couple of times), I have refused to lower the price and told the agent, that if someone wants to offer less, they can do so, we can always negotiate. But, if I lower the price, all I am doing is negotiating against myself. Brokers will claim they incur great expenses in marketing the house. But, to be honest, and think about it, $18,000 is one hell of a lot of adverts and marketing. I would rather just market it myself and spend a whole lot less money. What I have found particularly gauling is the fact that real estate agents are typically not long term professionals. Most have been in the business for just a few years at best. Their training is to get the buyer to lower the price and lower the price rather than market it better. They are in many ways amateurs. And they lie through their teeth. In the Villages, although many of their salespeople are nice, long-term agents, they are not Realtors and are not bound by any code of ethics. Real estate pros who are Realtors must abide follow the Realtors code of conduct. Some of the Villages sales people (and, by all means, not all) behavior, I have found, borders on conflict of interest. While they are the only way to get a new house in the Villages, I do not think I would use them for a resale. Indeed, I would likely not use a Realtor either to sell my house for the reasons stated above.

[DAVES]

Originally Posted by dougjb

I have never found a real estate agent, anywhere, who was completely forthcoming and honest.

When you think about it, their objective is to sell the house and get the commission as quickly as they can. But, their interest does not extend to the seller (despite their protestations to the contrary). If they can't move a house quickly, their first response to the seller is to lower the price. That costs the seller big time. It costs the agent very little. Here is an example: You list a house for 300,000. The realtor's (or The Villages fee is 6% or 18,000--after the agent [there are two--a selling agent and a buyer's agent] splits the fee with the broker, the agents fee is 4,500 [about 1.5%]). So, in the example, the house does not sell immediately. The selling agent then sympathetically tells the seller the price is too high, that there is no interest in the property at 300,000 (which may or may not be true and may be because of other reasons--such as the season of the year, the ineptitude of the agent's marketing, etc.). The agent suggests lowering the price to 280,000? Assuming it sells at that price, the agent's share (after the splits with the broker and selling agent) is now 4,200. That is 600 less. But, look what happened to the seller. The seller gets 263,200 instead of 282,000...a difference of 18,800. That is quite a hit for what amounts to negotiating against oneself. When I have used a broker (a couple of times), I have refused to lower the price and told the agent, that if someone wants to offer less, they can do so, we can always negotiate. But, if I lower the price, all I am doing is negotiating against myself. Brokers will claim they incur great expenses in marketing the house. But, to be honest, and think about it, $18,000 is one hell of a lot of adverts and marketing. I would rather just market it myself and spend a whole lot less money. What I have found particularly gauling is the fact that real estate agents are typically not long term professionals. Most have been in the business for just a few years at best. Their training is to get the buyer to lower the price and lower the price rather than market it better. They are in many ways amateurs. And they lie through their teeth. In the Villages, although many of their salespeople are nice, long-term agents, they are not Realtors and are not bound by any code of ethics. Real estate pros who are Realtors must abide follow the Realtors code of conduct. Some of the Villages sales people (and, by all means, not all) behavior, I have found, borders on conflict of interest. While they are the only way to get a new house in the Villages, I do not think I would use them for a resale. Indeed, I would likely not use a Realtor either to sell my house for the reasons stated above.

I've never sold real estate. But, I have professionally sold merchandise and dealt with brokers for real estate

Truth according to me. Sales people like new toys as do buyers. The realtor first of all needs to, has potential income by getting the listing. The seller chooses the broker to sign with. Often the seller thinks the property is worth more than it is. The broker will take the listing, wait a period of time and then break reality to the buyer. It is priced too high you need to drop the price. To refresh that now old toy you will see stuff like new lower price. Sometimes the seller will take it off the market for a while making is seem to be a new toy. However it is easy to look up the history, last sold for, listed for sale in for, now listed again at,

Pushing a particular house. The listing broker gets full commission. A sale from multiple listing service, the listing broker splits with the selling broker-so gets half commission.

In terms of broker's ethics. I had experience with that. Years ago, I made a written offer
on a house. I later discovered it was sold for less than my offer. A likely guess the seller took cash under the table. I showed what I had to the reality board. They wanted me to drive a couple of hours to THEIR offices to testify. Obvious question what would I get in damages. Reply, NOTHING, any damages goes to the real estate board.

As a buyer, it is too easy to forget the broker unless they are a buyers broker, works for the seller. You drive around with the broker, often in the brokers car. You say to your wife, that house is nice, we'll offer 25,000 below the ask price, we can always go up.
The broker talks to his client, THE SELLER and says they are offering but, I think they will go up. Sadly typical.

Reality, is also that most homes are sold through brokers for sale by owner there are less homes and fewer buyers.

[ohiosbestus]

i listed my house on FSBO paid a one time fee. They do most of the marketing and listings. You supply pictures to the website. Not a bad deal. This was done in Ohio.

[DAVES]

Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr

Has anyone sold a house by this method? I'm thinking of using it but I'd like to get the opinions of those who have done it.

Was it easy? Did they walk you through the legal and closing procedures?

As I've said, I have sold for a living. A large part of selling is control. Asking, did they walk you through the legal and closing procedures, they are in control-not you. Must be sure wa they are people you are paying and they are competent-an attorney and it will surely cost you more than the cheapest guy or gal in town.

[LateBoomer]

we are currently having the same debate. Why use a real estate agent when you can expect 10-30 competing offers mostly over your asking price inside of one week?

the market is so hot I literally could be watching tv in my underwear, scratching my sack while buyers walked through and would still get immediate offers.

I guess the reason is that the real estate agents are a huge assist in the process. but they do come at a very big price if you're selling say a $600K home (like we are). a typical listing agent fee is 6%-7%. That's a lot of dough to spend on someone.

We are weighing the options right now. I know that FSBO can be complicated too.

I wonder if you can negotiate a lower % fee with a listing agent? I guess that's my question. In this markets, agents aren't much more than order-takers. Why pay so high a fee?

[RealJudy]

The Villages has a 5% commission rate that has been in effect for over a year.

[Beyond The Wall]

In a hot market, worth the trouble. Once interest rates rise and demand softens, it get tougher and annoying

[jeffy]

We have bought and sold several homes in the last few years FSBO. Contact Tri County. They are a settlement company in the Villages. They handle all the legal and closing and contract items for a couple of hundred dollars. You and the buyer come to terms and tri county handles the rest. Make sure to list your home on Zillow as most people look there for sale properties. It is free and you include your own description and lots of photos. I always have taken my own photos. This is a perfect market to for sale by owner. You might want to have a couple of realtors come by and give you a market analysis to determine price, then reduce that price by a couple of thousand, still saving yourself 4% or so. Buyers like to save a little too. If , in the unlikely instance you are unable to sell, use the Realtor you liked best who took the time to price your home as your agent.

[Irishmen]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I did it once, but only because, at the time, the market was so hot that any idiot could find a buyer. The reason to hire a real estate agent is so they can market the house and find you a competent buyer at a good price, not to walk you through the closing process. So, if you think you need help finding a buyer, then hire an agent. If not, then don't. The legal and closing procedures are handled by the title company, not by the real estate agent. It is very easy to get a title company to handle the sale without a real estate agent.

This. Spend $35 for a Nice For Sale Sign for the professional look instead of Lowes and a magic marker....