Unless you're in a really hot market or just have a lot of luck, you can't just stick a sign in the yard. That is unrealistic. I highly suggest going to the bookstore and picking up a book or two on selling by owner. It will cover the do's and don'ts and what you need to do. It's really not difficult but there's more to know that anyone can really post here.

Here is a site that is a good start into the process of buying and selling.

Here is a link that might be useful: ABCs of Real Estate

Debra there are a lot of people on this forum who have sold FSBO. I'm sure they'll pipe up soon.

What area are you in? How hot is your market? Why do you want to do a FSBO? To get the most money from the sale, to have control over the showings? How will you advertise? Does FSBO sell in your area? Would you consider the local mls via a reduced-fee or flat-fee realtor? Do you have a back-up plan your house does not sell FSBO?

After doing some initial research, line up three local realtors to do comparables. You may be up front and explain you want to try a FSBO if that makes you comfortable. Why will a realtor be willing to give you this information? Because there is a decent chance you will not be able to sell by owner and they will hope to gain your business if you have no luck.

Line up a residential real estate attorney. If it is "not usually done" in your area, call up a local commercial real estate attorney and ask for recommendations for residential real estate attorneys in your area.

If as a seller you need any inspections/certificates in your area call the local town hall to find out what those might be. Explain what you are doing. You will be directed appopriately. Some areas require septic inspections, termite certificates, etc.

Above all remember real estate is local. The customs and laws may be just for your municipality, county or state.

Good luck :-)

To xamsx,and others, Thank you so much, you have given me the start that I needed. Thank you!!!
deb

We've done FSBO and would do it again for exactly the same reason. To save money. You also need to evaluate your personality, time and if it is a good fit. Will you be able to handle rude or pushy people? How will you deal with the realtors who call? Who will take the responsibility for showing the house? Some women don't like to be alone with people looking--it's your comfort level. How experienced are you with contracts in general?

Once you know the laws regarding real estate in your area, drop in on any FSBO open houses you see advertised. Be honest and tell them you area thinking of selling FSBO and ask if they would share with you how the experience is going and if there is anything they wish they had known sooner.

It's stressful to sell a house anytime and FSBO needs to be approached like a job. Take it seriously, realize it involves hours of work. But the paycheck can be really good.

Good luck, Gloria

Gloria,
Took your advice and popped in a FSBO. Very informative. Thank you for your great advice. I really think I can do this, but I want to get all the information I can. Thank you!!

deb

Gloria

What you have to remember is you may not get a better price just because you dont use a realtor. Realtors are able to create a feeling of urgency because your house is available to lots of realtors and all of their buyers. You are only one person and from the sounds of things, it doesnt sound like you have the slightest idea of what you need to do to sell a house. That is not meant to offend you in any way however, simply thinking that sticking a sign out front is going to get the job is pretty telling. Don't risk losing the best time of year for selling your house only to miss the opportunity and then have to sell it in the fall for a lower price then you could have sold it for even using a realtor. In realtity, do you think your house would be the price it is without the sales from realtors? Houses are based on salesprices and commission are part of those prices. Would you handle a legal matter yourself? Would you handle an insurance matter yourself? Why in the world would you want to handle the most expensive asset you'll probably ever own yourself when you have no idea of even what the asking price should be? If you are in a buyers market, please list your house with a realtor, you dont have the experience it takes to get this job done. If you are in a sellers market, it will be much easier to sell your home and even a novice can get the job done. (But again, you could wind up selling for more even with a realtor because of bidding wars that will most likely not happen if you are a FSBO)

Im sure this answer isnt going to be popular with the forum, but it is an honest answer.

I must chime in.
I just sold a house using one of those semi-FSBO companies (only pay the buyers broker commision or if you sell it yourself, you pay nothing). It cost me only $399 to get my house on their website & on the MLS & Realtor(dot)com. I got their sign & stuck it in my yard. I did my own advertising & my own brochures.

Here's my opinion based on my experience:

Side note: I had bad experiences with realtors before & during my listing. Some realtors give the entire profession a bad name.

1)The buyers expected to save on the commission if they came without a realtor. You attract bargain seekers, which means that your house has to be priced below comps. Generally, a realtor can get you more for your house. Although, I had similar offers with or without a realtor...

Basically, that's what happened when my buyers purchased my home. THEY saved. I didn't. THEY beligerently demanded it. I acquiesed because I needed to sell. The closing time was very important to me. If I didn't sell, it would have cost us a lot in mortgage fees for the new purchase. It worked out for us & I ratioanlized that if I sold it with both sides 6%, I would not have netted anymore than I did.
But in all fairness, I felt that the commission should have been split down the middle, esp. since I listed the house for $20,000 less than the realtors suggested. I had a couple of realtors stop by before I listed & they gave me comps.

2)the realtors were more rude than usual. They don't like to show FSBO. They boycotted my house. They only showed it to people how themselves saw it on Realtor.com.

3) on the plus side. I was in control of calls coming directly to me & I scheduled the showings. Nobody had to track the listing agent down (I had issues tracking agents down before I listed).

4)I showed the property,so I had a good handle whether the peole were good buyers for the property or not. I also let the realtors in with their clients. I was right in my assessments of the traffic coming thrugh my house...long story!

5)downside- you have nobody to be a buffer between the crazy buyers & yourself. If a situation gets sticky, and it almost always does (like a divorce, cuz $ is involoved-lol)you're on your own fighting your own battle & doing your own negotiations.

6)you must know what you're doing with the paperwork, inspections & have a RE atty. I did.

7)your RE market needs to be good in order to go FSBO.

8) selling a starter home is a lot easier FSBO than a mid-high priced home.
Good luck.

linda117 - ummm Gloria sold her house FSBO. I think she has a clue.

As a realtor, you may dislike FSBO but they are here to stay. The more information available via online, the better for FSBO.

Personally, I have neither the time nor the inclination to sell without a realtor, but would never disparage those that do. If you read this forum closely, you will find many who would only sell with a real estate agent and many who would never consider uaing an agent. One size does NOT fit all in real estate.

I'd also like to add something that I personally think is important.
I would not put your property on the MLS to start out but instead as a last resort only. I beleieve the MLS is more or less exclusive to agents/brokers and that you can do a better job of marketing the property to more people in other ways. Plus you don't want to have a record of officially being on the market any longer than you have to. So stay off the MLS unless you're really struggling and have exhausted every other means of gaining exposure for your property.

Thank you for your insight. I realize selling my home is a major undertaking. Your comments and suggestions are very much appreciated. You have given me so much food for thought. I will let you know which road we take. Thank you very much.
Deb

xamsx, my message was meant for Deb and I realized as soon as I posted it that I had put the wrong name down. I think most people recognized that without feeling the need to point it out. I never said I disliked FSBO's, I don't have a problem with ANYONE selling anything of their own and don't feel that I have to defend my opinion to you or anyone else. This is a forum and thats what its here for. My point was to let her know that in the long run she could lose money because she really had no idea of any of the process which she admitted herself. It was not to disparage her from selling on her own. There is lots of information out there for sellers to sell their own property, it still doesnt create a sense of urgency as I stated. The more people that are interested in your home at the same time, the better the price is for the seller. This will most likely happen if you have multiple agents, offices and buyers looking at your home, which is what you get when you list with a realtor.

Deb- If you do go FSBO try to do the following:

let's assume that you've already decluttered, staged the house & your home has a great curb appeal.

1)Contact a couple of realtors & get their opinion & comps on listing your house. You can always have them as back ups in case you get tired of having your house FSBO.

2)Contact a RE attorney. Get a CONTRACT from him/her. Do not get any contracts from Staples or such.

3)VERY IMPORTANT-When you get an offer get a FULL LARGE DEPOSIT on the day of the offer & take it to your attorney to put it in escrow immediately. Try not to split the deposit.
Unfortunately, most people will give you $1,000 to hold the property & within a week will come up with additional money.Try to get 10% of the purchase price. Get the largest deposit you can. If buyers put a large sum down & it's in escrow, it's less likely that they'll try to back out. Do not do long closing dates. The faster you can close the better. Too much time may kick in the buyers remorse.

Almost everybody gets buyers remorse, esp when it comes to large purchases. There has been an epidemic of buyers remorse in the past year. I had one back out & the ones who purchased almost backed out!!! If you get a large deposit & it's deposited into an escrow quickly, it will be very difficult or impossible for buyers to get that money back, otherwise they can cancel the checks...

4)Get familiar with the contract so you can fill it out properly. PUT EVERYTHING IN WRITING -what stays, goes, contingency dates, special clauses...The TWO important contingencies:
a)THE INSPECTIONS-Radon, Asbestos, termite & home....Try to have your buyers get those done ASAP- within 1-2 weeks.
This gives them wiggle room so get it out of the way quickly.
b)THEIR FINANCING- Make sure they show you a PRE-QUALIFICATION letter that they qualify for the amount of the purchase. Try to get them to get approved as soon as possible-2-3 weeks. Get a confirmation letter that they have been approved. These are 2 different things.
The first one tells you that they can afford it, but their credit has not been checked. The APPROVAL letter tells you that EVERYTHING is OK. They are good to go.

AFTER the inspections & the financing approval letter from the bank you can be ALMOST be sure you have the house sold.
However, anything can happen so it's not sold until closing. Good luck.

I think DaBunch brings up a really valid point about bargain-huntiny buyers automatically discounting your house by the commissions you won't be paying. We bought a FSBO house once and looked seriously at another, and the first thought into my mind both times was "minus an additional 3%" for RE commissions. So in a sense, to a certain segment of the population, this could actually be a selling point. But it may not net you, the seller, much additional money. I'd figure the 'backlash' from RE agents probably more than offsets this in most circumstances. IMO, it can also send buyers the message that you may be "cheap" - and may have skimped on maintenance.

One other point to consider is that if you're doing a buy-sell transaction, you can ask prospective Realtors to discount their commissions if you give them both sides of your transaction. (You can always ask - but with two transactions, your chances of getting a discount are better.) Then choose your Realtor from the seller's prospective since that's where his/her skills will be of most value to you.

Selling FSBO to pocket the commission is not a good reason to sell FSBO and frankly it's unrealistic to expect an = or greater price than listed with a broker. The main benefit to selling FSBO is to sell the home faster because you will be doing a lot more marketing that agents/brokers don't do and you will open up your schedule to show prospective buyers immediately and ask them directly for feedback. Working with a mortgage lender is nice because they will screen your callers, attend open houses and get prospective buyers financed on the spot or offer creative financing instead of like with a realtor where the buyer has to figure that all out on their own and wastes a lot of time and you never know what's going on.
Try to find an atty who also does the title work that way you can get them to write and review contracts free of charge as long as you use them for the title and you can use their office for the contract signing and closing even though I highly recommend mailing in your closing papers so there are no last minute negotiations.

Actually, putting that 3% in my pocket was exactly why we sold FSBO. We tracked all of our time (showings, driving time, cleaning time, phone calls, advertising.) It worked out to be $150 an hour. That's way more than I can make teaching school. And it was tax free.

Gloria

DaBunch, thank you! Your insight and steps are very much appreciated. I really appreciate everyone's input. It's a bit overwhelming, going thru so much information and filtering thru. I am taking your excellent advice. I will report back on what is happening.

I'll be coming back to this thread to read how your project is going. If you update us, that'll be great. Good luck.

I want to sell my home, too. I figure since I work at home, am good at bargaining and have already bought and sold a couple times and been extremely dissatisfied with the real estate agents, I will give a shot at saving a few thousand in this still hot and very desirable market. My house isn't high-end so that makes it desirable too. There are ten houses for sale nearby. Traffic is good.