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Buying and Selling Homes

Anyone done a FSBO and worked full-time?

17 years ago

We may relocate (depends on outcome of DH job prospects). I am trying to be prepared should an offer come and it is attractive. I would like to sell myself but want to be realistic about taking this approach. We both work 50+ hours a week, therefore showing could only be in evening or weekends.

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Comments (7)

quirkyquercus
17 years ago
You will have to schedule showings for after work then. Nothing wrong with that but if you're too exhausted from 50+ hrs a week to devote to this it may behoove you to sign with a broker.
quirkyquercus
17 years ago
I should also add the the majority of the time you will need to spend during the work day is fielding phone calls. You can alleviate some of this by letting a mortgage person screen your calls (and also prequalify the callers!) After or before work you'll probably want to clean the house daily especially if you have kids or pets and set aside time to work on marketing.
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truzella
Original Author
17 years ago
quirkyquercus are you saying that I would hire a mortgage broker to pre-qualify candidates? What if buyer didn't want to use this broker for financing? What is a reasonable amount to pay a mtg broker for this service (never done anything like this before so patience please)
quirkyquercus
17 years ago
A reasonable amount to pay a mortgage person for this task is zero dollars and zero cents.
A great deal of these guys and gals are finding the benefit of working with FSBO's, screening calls, attending open houses and giving free brochures and payment calculators to you to distribute. Their only payment for this work are the leads that they get and a list of open house attendees. I have had great luck with this in my last sale. My buyer called the mortage guy first who then ran his credit and all that stuff. Then the mortgage guy called me immediately and said don't let this one get away and then scheduled the showing later that day and had an offer that evening and a contract the following day.
If the buyer doesn't want to use them then that's ok too. They still get the names and numbers of all the other callers that whether or not they buy your house, they're still fresh hot leads for lenders.

These mortgage guys want to sell your house more than you do so they can land the sale on the loan. Call up several that you see advertised in the real estate mags and ask them what they can do to help a fsbo. You want to find one that is easy to get ahold of day/night/weekends. And as soon as you find one that you like tell them the first thing you need are some teaser rate programs to advertise such as "own this house from $x per month" or "no money down, 5%" or "0%" or whatever. Then get a payment chart to put up on your website and in your brochure. They'll convince the lookie-lou that they can afford the house.
quiltglo
17 years ago
We did. We also worked opposite of each other, had four kids at home and were already in our other house so there was a bunch of running back and forth.

People looking for homes are at work also.

We decided we would try to have most of our showing during open houses, so when people called we would make sure they knew they could come during that time and not feel rushed. If they felt like they wanted in sooner, we headed over. Lots of disrupted meals times and the kids waiting in van. That was fine, because we were mentally prepared for the disruptions.

You have to approach FSBO as a second job. Your time will not be your own until it is sold. Our house was empty, so I left on lights, opened the curtains and encouraged people to walk around and peek inside. Our flyer listed a good deal of information. Price in big print. As much information as we could give without overloading people. I didn't want to just spark their interest and then get them inside. I wanted the possible questions already answered. We checked our answering machine frequently, I listed my email address and gave out my cell # so I could get calls when I was out. I turned off the cell when I was at work and just let it pick up messages since I didn't have the type of job where I could talk on the phone during work.

I would never involve a mortgage company. I'm not interested in them using my property to get leads for themselves. Never. As a buyer I would only release information to the mortgage people I want to deal with, not a seller's connection. Depending upon your home price, we didn't have a ton of looky lou people. People know if they can afford something or not. They may have come to the open houses, but they didn't take my time for a personal showing.

Good luck. It can be done.

Gloria
solie
17 years ago
I agree with Gloria. I don't understand the idea of having a mortgage broker screen calls. That seems like asking alot. Also, the mortgage broker would have an incentive to sell your house to someone who would seek financing through them. Not to sell your house period. And as a potential buyer I would be extremely annoyed at having to go through a mortgage broker that I would have no intention of using. Is this common practice?

You might be able to hire someone in your neighborhood to show the house for you on a one-off basis. But your are going to have to consider safety issues.

If I were in your shoes I'd probably have Saturday AND Sunday open houses for two or three weekends straight and hope that anyone who was interested could make at least one for a first viewing.
melbat
17 years ago
a mortgage broker screening calls would make your house seem like a scam, don't do it.

I agree with quiltglo that you'd have to treat it as a second job....
makes for a heck of a day on top of 50+ hours a week.

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