Anyone ever sell their home " By Owner " or something with out a Realtor....

[Mattemma]

There was a house close to us that sold FSBO. I got their color flier still,and they listed at 123k. I though *good luck* buddy when homes were selling for 30k to 100k around here. Well darn if they did not sell it for 123! I checked on the auditor web page.It wasn't a super awesome house either If they had gone with a realtor they would have started at 123k and steadily dropped as do all the listed homes around us. I watch them all,because every sale affects our values.Unfortunately that 123k sale does not show up when realtors do a market value on my home!

There was another house across the street that sold in 2 days with a FSBO.Though I have not checked the sale amount I don't think they sold very low.They got buyers from a town over an hour away where I guess the house price here was a good deal from where they come from.

A lawyer that does real estate will be cheaper than a realtor. I would not show a house to people *just looking*. Screen and show only to those that are pre-approved.

 

[HarlansHollowFarms]

I just sold a house in June 2011 and bought a house in July 2011, both without a realtor. That being said, the housing market in Montana is booming right now due to the influx of oil workers and it only took one week for me to get offers. There is also a housing shortage in that area, so it was definitely a sellers market. I placed an add in the local paper that came out twice a week. I also place a free add on a FSBO site, although all the calls and inquiries came from the paper and work of mouth. We had a lot of equity and was able to sell for over a 100% profit.

In Alabama, it is a buyers market, so we had no problem finding a home without a realtor. The home we bought was a FSBO, listed in the local for sale paper, they also had it listed on the MLS which cost them an enormous amount of money. The house was on the market for over one year before we made them an offer. We actually paid $20,000 less then the appraisal, so we got a good deal, but we also had over 40% to put down on this new place.

Location has a lot to do with the market!

I don't know about Florida, but I would say if you are just looking at breaking even, I would ask you if it is really a good idea to try to sell right now? What are you planning to do if you do sell, where would you live, and will you have enough money to buy another place?

Also, there are a lot of associated costs that you will have to pay even when you sell without a realtor. You will have to negotiate all the closing costs with your potential buyer, that includes lawyer fees, title searches, loan origination fees, appraisals, home inspections, insurance, etc.plus much more depending on the state. There is more then just signing on the dotted line, and those costs add up quickly.

 

[speckledhen]

Location really, really does make a huge difference in the market, as Harlan's Hollow said. And, I did say that the internet has changed the entire face of real estate over the past 15 years.

There are pitfalls for an uninformed buyer or seller, but if you are willing to educate yourself (again, easier with the internet), you can do things that were way trickier all those years ago when I was in that career. It's not super simple and there are laws that control real estate transactions that you must follow, even without a realtor.

I was good and I was honest and conscientious. I had clients who used my services over and over again, but I got tired of many aspects of it, the restrictions placed on the realtor, etc. I would never do it again-too many bad memories. New world these days.

 

[australorpchick]

Just a suggestion...

Our credit union has a realtor referral program. That's how we found our realtor and she's wonderful. I believe we got back 2% of the sales/purchase price (bought & sold). Maybe your bank has something similar?

 

[chickenzoo]

Yeah, the first Realtor was with our credit union..... We had to buy another house because of zoning after being at the old place 15 years. Our new place is 16 acres for all the animals. So the old house sits vacant and ready. I wish we could wait and just rent... but with our luck and my husbands job is unsure at times and paying 2 mortgages...... we really need to sell. So I'll do some more research and get the house ready.... and see what we can do.

 

[speckledhen]

I'm really hoping for yours to be one of the success stories, that you sell really soon. Sometimes, it's not whether it's FSBO or with a realtor, but whether the house is for sale at the moment the person who loves it sees it and wants to buy it.

Let us know how it goes!

 

[seedcorn]

I used the FSBO site and got it sold. It did take over a year but the buyer was from California and the house was in KY. I would recommend a realtor but in my case they were all crooks that should be drawn and quartered. My cousin (who is a realtor in another state) told me he would find me one. After 2 months looking, he told me good luck as his research indicated that all the realtors in that area were crooks. Why, oh why, did my folks have to settle there????

To give you just one example of their "quality" service, the realtor that sold the house to my folks, called me and tried to buy it for $20,000 less than he sold it to them--this was after they put over $20,000 of improvements in the place. We are talking about a house that sold for much less than $90,000.

 

[chickenzoo]

Thanks Speckledhen, I'm hoping too. I would really rather have a realtor sell it.... it's just how to do it and break even or just a little less. so i'll research FSBO