depends on your location. Ask around in your neighborhood and do your research. For instance here in my neighborhood in Canada, its between 2% - 5%. so all depends on location and skill level.

Here in Texas its 6%, split 3% buyers agent and 3% sellers agent...

Most selling agents split the commission with the buyers agent. In seeing properties listed in the MLS, most buyers agents would expect a commission from the seller. This is really going to be a local thing though. In some areas more agents have buyers sign an agency agreement that specifies, if the seller does not offer a commission the buyer will pay it. Even with that, most buyers will expect the seller to pay the commission for both agents.

If you cannot afford a 6% commission, look for a flat fee service that will list the property for a price and offer the buyer's agent a commission.

If you're in a seller's market, you're more likely to have success in negotiating with your buyer to pay their 3% of the commission.

@ rrah, like do a FSBO, and pay the buyers agent commission?

Also, when should I consult with a realtor? when I have decluttered the home and staged the home and replaced the things that need replacing? Does the realtor give advice on the selling price of the home or is that the job of an appraiser?

So we lost a lot of money in our home (bought at height of market 2007) and we really couldn't afford the 6% to sell it. We did a lot of research and decided to list it FSBO. In everyone I talked to and everything read, it's the buyers agent who does a lot of the work to get the contract ready and show the property. This is what I've gathered - I'm sure there are agents who can correct me if I'm wrong.

The sellers agent - prices the property, photographs it, lists it on the MLS (and maybe does some other advertising but honestly, most people are looking online for their properties anyway so not sure how much this other advertising does). They also review the contract and advise. Negotiations if there are any.

The buyers agent - shows the house, forms the initial contract, negotiates.

Both - help to get to closing.

Honestly, we felt like we could do most the things a sellers agent does on our own and decided to go the FSBO route. We considered finding a decreased fee agent however, most will split that reduced commission with the buyers agent (and both get a reduced commission). The buyers agent may not show the house if their commission is decreased (everyone is human and we all want to make money, right?). Many realtors will say that this isn't true but, the first thing every agent who has asked to show our FSBO home has asked if they have not seen the MLS listing is, "will you pay the buyers commission" (at least five or six agents).

So here is what we've done.

1. Got a consult from a photographer who specialized in home photographing and staging. She came in and told us the things we need to do and then came back several months later and took the photos (it took us a while to get the home ready and we were not pressed to sell it anyway). The key is to declutter - get rid of everything (we rented a storage shed to hold the extras). We actually used the pictures to make our own website - really simple with godaddy. We also made our own FSBO sign and put it onto a professional looking post (bought for $60 on amazon). Looks exactly like the fancy realtor signs.

2. Find a flat fee listing service. There are some nuances with this too (feel free to PM me on how to find a good one). This is to get it onto the MLS - offer the buyers agent 3% and make sure all leads will go directly to you.

3. Be available to show the home and answer all calls/emails within 24 hours.

4. Find out the laws in your state and what you have to disclose. Our flat fee service had all the disclosure statements available (because it's a realtor who is doing the MLS listing and they have to provide all that).

5. Don't get offended when someone doesn't like your home. Try and follow up with potential buyers or the realtors and find out what they did and didn't like.

The MOST important thing is pricing. For $30 we had the flat fee agent get us all the comps from the MLS of recent sales. We had been watching zillow for the last six months and knew what homes like ours were selling for. We put the home on the market for what we found was fair (actually priced it a little lower then fair to get as much traffic as possible).

Good luck - real estate sucks. I'm so glad this will hopefully be our last move. I couldn't do this a bunch of times!

bubbe2005 - I will probably be selling next year, it's time to downsize. Last year I engaged a local realtor, we both live in a small rural community, to give me an idea of my value. He did some basic research, walked through the property with me and pointed out things to fix .. and then gave me an approximate value if he were to list the property at that time. He did this knowing I wasn't planning on selling for at least a couple of years. He said he was happy to work with someone selling in the future that then could take the time to make the changes needed to get the property sold quickly when the time to sell came. The right realtor can be very helpful and can give you an unbiased perspective.

When you list your home on the MLS, it will show the % commission to the buyers agent, you can't put zero. If you are tight on the selling budget, can you find a flat fee agent giving commission to only the buyers agent. What is the norm commission in your area?

@ cmarlin20 is commissary 6%, 3% to each agent (buyer and seller) with our house value ($192,000) in 78254 San Antonio, TX that's $17,000 in 6% fees not including taxes and title etc....

when I fill out an online sellers net sheet and only put 3% for the buyers agent on top of all the Texas fees etc...it comes to about $9000 out of pocket!!!!!

I just wonder how the hell people have this kind of money laying about. And I am not about to get a loan just to fund the closing cost on selling my house.

It is ridiculous - I agree. It's even worse if your getting less for your home then you owe!

"I just wonder how the hell people have this kind of money laying about. And I am not about to get a loan just to fund the closing cost on selling my house."

The money isn't laying about if it's paid out of proceeds at closing. Fortunately, despite the "bubble", many homeowners have equity.

I have zero equity on the house we purchased 2 years ago.

No doubt your situation, bubbe, is shared by hundreds of thousands of homeowners across the country.

However, there are hundreds of thousands of homeowners who DO have equity to pay for closing costs (as opposed to having the money "laying around").

Then, there are hundreds of thousands who have the money "laying around" without having to tap their equity.

Everyone's situation is different; based on your previous post it didn't seem that you were cognizant of that.

I don't have much to add, just that I feel for you! We bought our home 13 years ago, and in those 13 years MOST of our equity is simply from making house payments. Is that even equity?

I have often wondered how people can afford to sell their house they only lived in a few years, and buy a more expensive house, and pay for all the costs of selling their old house. Everyone is in a different situation, that's been my conclusion.

Do you absolutely have to move?

I absolutely have to move, there's no one else to take care of my elderly parents overseas. and moving here is not an option for them, because everything medically is provided for them for free (UK - national healthcare).

I'm sorry about your tough situation, bubbe. It doesn't appear to leave you with a lot of options. Unless renting it out with a company overseeing that for you, would help you stall until the equity gets built up a bit. Don't know what payment vs. rents are in your location. And that route has risks, too.

@gyr_falcon....I actually just found out thru my HOA that leasing is allowed....I originally thought of this BUT I didn't ask HOA at the time. Now that I know it's allowed I guess I need to work with a property management company. My mortgage payment is $1487 to be exact, How does one go about pricing the rental for the home? baring in mind that property management takes at least 10%....

There is rental comp information available from various sources, similar to home sales comps. Some may be more regionally based than for home sales. An agent or management company may be more aware of what are the most accurate sources available for your area. Sometimes with rentals, the variables such as proximity to mass transit, colleges, walkability scores, shopping, school scores etc. can hold different weight than they would for home purchase purposes.

Do you have craigslist? If yes, look for rentals. Another possibility is trulia. Also, try to determine who your potential renters might be. Is there a university, large hospital, army base, large corporations? Many will have internal housing boards/listings.

Just hire a Property Management Company and they will comp it out and handle everything else too.

Or sell completely FSBO, w/o offering a buyers agent any commission.

Agree with ncrealestate guy. Honestly, renting it out will be your best bet. You can try FSBO without any agents or commission involved, but you still need to try to get a good market analysis on the house, so you price it properly. Most agents will do it for free, but don't go by the highest (if you get 3 market analyses done). Some agents will high ball the estimate to get you to list, then tell you that you need to lower it after they have the listing and you don't get showings/offers. Use the middle one.

But if you do a FSBO, you need to have an understanding of required disclosure laws, so you don't violate the Deceptive Trade Practices act, as well as Fair housing laws knowledge, so you don't get in trouble for that. You will also want to hire a real estate atty to review any offers/contracts. It would also help if you know what items are normally paid by the seller, in the different types of financing, so you don't get surprised at closing. A title co can do a "net to seller" sheet for VA, Conv, FHA loans that a buyer might do. Get an actual payoff, and not rely on a principal balance on a mortgage stmt. There is a difference.

If it isn't on the MLS (no buyer's agent comm), then you need to figure out how you will market it. And decide how you will handle showings/security during showings. Are you able to show it most of the time? Are you comfortable with the risk of having strangers in your home with you? Do you have someone that would be able to do showings with you so you won't be alone? Also, read up on safety when showing homes. You always want to buyer to go into rooms ahead of you, so you don't get trapped in a room. You always want doors unlocked to allow you to get out. You need to keep your phone in your pocket...not a purse, not left in another room. Call someone when buyers arrive and give them the license plate number of buyer's car, and tell them you will call them back in a set amount of time (so if something happened, they will check on you. Make sure jewelry, prescriptions (even ones that won't get someone high...people will just grab prescription bottles and check them later to see if they are valuable, and throw out ones that have no black market value. But they are expensive to replace), credit card stmts, are all somewhere secure.

everyone has been awesome here with their responses..this may be my final question then went renting out our home....so our monthly mortgage is $1487, the comps in the same zip code 78254 rent for around $1200 to $1400, so including the prop. management fees, I will have to come up with the rest of the numbers, right?

Also, when a tenant pays, where does that money go? does it get deposited in my account ready for me to then use to pay my mortgage?

You can request direct bank deposit for their monthly rent. Do you know anyone near the house that can help you manage it (in addition to mgmt co)?

You know, you could rent it yourself, if, as mentioned above, you have a relative or friend that would help as needed. You would have them do electronic deposit into your acct. You can list it on various websites for free. Credit cks/criminal background ck/eviction ck done online with www.mysmartmove.com. Not too difficult. I manage 11 rentals on my own. Never had any problems. Just have some phone numbers of handymen, plumbers/electrician/HVAC people that you trust. You could also have a property mgmt. co or realtor get it rented for you, then you manage it yourself, so you save 10% of the pmt each mo.

I would be concerned about the cost of renting. You already know you'll be in the red every month. What if the tenant leaves and you can't get another? What if they damage the place? I know you can't know for sure, but when do you expect to return? If you end up selling it later as a rental, or if prices drop, what then? Personally I wouldn't want the long-distance headache, and would just sell now and take the financial hit.

I get what you are saying otta...but if I cannot afford the closing costs to sell, what am I to do? I could always ask my neighbor but I don't want to be a burden....she herself is renting out rooms in her house...I don't know her well enough, we say hi and bye every other day or days that I see her which is hardly often...

I don't really know if this is an option. Maybe others that are more knowledgeable can jump in and comment, but if you are planning on staying in the UK for the foreseeable future then do you have to worry about your credit score here? Declare bankruptcy, hand the keys to the bank, and leave the country.

understood but no thanks, that's not an option. we may return...who knows...?

I get what you are saying otta...but if I cannot afford the closing costs to sell, what am I to do?
Get a loan to pay the closing costs? I know that it would suck to owe money for something that you no longer own, but paying off a loan for a few thousand dollars might be better than taking the risk of renting. Renting could turn out nicely or it could be a real nightmare.

Have you thought about leasing with the option to buy? Maybe someone can chime in with how exactly that would work. At least the people would probably take better care of the house if they were going to purchase down the line.

definitely otterkill.....I am thinking about that option....

If I were you I wouldn't rent it out. It's tough to be a long-distance landlord, you'll be underwater every month, and if you get a bad tenant or have a vacancy, it can cost you thousands. You don't need those kind of headaches when you're overseas.

I'd bite the bullet, do a FSBO, sell it for whatever the market will bear, and take out a personal loan to pay off any mortgage deficit. Unfortunately buyers won't have any sympathy for your financial situation, they'll only pay what the market will bear, even if that means you lose money. It may suck, but that's life and it is what it is,

Do you have any estimate how much you can sell it for vs. the current mortgage?

I agree that I would not rent it from afar. We looked at renting the home (b/c we are under water and want to sell our current home). With all the costs associated with selling and needing to pay our mortgage company money to just settle the mortgage with them we are looking at at least 14K. We definitely don't have that kind of money sitting around but we looked at it from all angles.

1. Short sale or forclosure - ruins your credit and takes a long time. Just prolongs the headache and can ruin you financially for up to seven years. Plus, if the bank determines you are financially able to pay up, they can come after you for the difference between the short sale price and what you owed (so you can wind up owing the money anyway).

2. Renting - first off, most people have a hard time recouping their mortgage and all associated fees in renting (unless you are in a very desirable area). We would have ended up losing probably $200-300 every month and that adds up over the years. Although the market is starting to look better and better, we are still several years away from the house appreciating thus losing a couple thousand a year just wasn't worth it to us. Plus renting can be a HUGE headache. You have no idea who you are renting the home to. Things break (water heater, appliances, HVAC, etc) so you have to pay to fix those things. And the laws protect the renter. If you have someone who doesn't pay their rent you can spend months trying to evict them. If you rent to someone who is an a-hole and they destroy your house you can sue them but doesn't mean they will pay up. These are worst case scenarios and people rent all the time with no problems but, you just never know.

3. Just sucking it up and trying FSBO to start - this way we save a couple thousand in realtor commissions. This is what we decided. I ended up borrowing money in order to pay for the buyers agent and some of the other fees (deed taxes, transfer fees, etc). It sucks having to take a loan to sell a home (because we bought thinking we would gain some equity) but, in the end this was the least painful option and it was a very good lesson.

You could try and call your mortgage lender and see if they will work with you. If we don't sell our house in the next few months, we won't be able to make mortgage payment and we would attempt to see if the lender will help us. Probably won't but it's always worth a try. They just want their money. What burns me is how much we've paid in interest in the years we were in this house .. our mortgage is over 1500 and each month only 300 goes to principle (of course you have the 150 mortgage insurance and the property taxes/insurance) but a large chunk of that >1500 goes to interest so the bank has made a ton of money off us. I just love how the banks get bailed out but the small people get no help.

If you are interested in FSBO, I have all sorts of info and please feel free to ask any questions. You are not the only one in this boat!

OP wrote:

"with our house value ($192,000) in 78254 San Antonio, TX that's $17,000 in 6% fees not including taxes and title etc...."

6% of $192000 is not $17000. More like $11520.

If you decide to rent, the pros figure on two months of vacancy/year. Seeing you have no cash on hand, for the difference of the rent vs. the mortgage, maintenance, paint and carpet between every tenant, full house cleaning between tenants, taxes and insurance and other expenses, I would not do it.

A lease to own is usually even a less desirable deal for the seller too.

how much does a landlord have to have as his/her safety net? when talking about maintenance upkeep etc...?

I only brought up renting as a possibility because it is an option to consider in some instances. For example, in our market, we could rent the house we purchased five years ago for about $1000 per month over our payment amount. But since the rent would not even cover your payment, even without taking the other expenses into account, I don't believe it is a viable option in your situation.

Since you're moving to help care for your aging parents, is there any way that they'd be able to help you out financially to do it? I know that it can be demoralizing to ask parents for help once you've become a responsible adult yourself, but since you're getting into this mess because you want to help them it's a little different situation than just going to them with your hand held out.
That's assuming that they're even able to help.

@greg, they have ALWAYS to this day helped me financially. Even though I am 34 years of age!! to me its a shame...BUT I am forever grateful. They plan to help us buy a house in UK once we've settled with jobs there..I just hate to be a burden. They are 70+ and should be enjoying retirement already. They have given me $4000 CASH in hand to help pay for the loan I took out for debt consolidation....

The pros allocate/estimate 50% of annual rental income to cover expenses (taxes, maintenance, vacancies) NOT counting mortgage payment.

Given your situation, renting shouldn't be an option. It won't cover your payment and that;s just the starting point. You would need to talk to your insurance agent to see how your insurance costs would change -- they might well increase even though your personal property is no longer covered and you may need to increase your liability coverage. One injury on the property could cost a fortune, so you want more protection, not less.

Repairs and other expenses have already been pointed out. Your reserves for those should be higher than if you were living in the home too. You might replace a washer, change out a light switch. Tenants won't and you won't be able to, so it's a service call for anything. If they don't notify you timely, that leaking faucet can go from a $250 service call to thousands in damage. That may not be covered by insurance if they determine that it wasn't "sudden and accidental."

I was in a similar situation with my first home. I had two sets of tenants. The first destroyed my lawn and garden and did a lot of damage to the home too. And they skipped on the last rent payent. A couple of professionals. The second set were great. My DH had a rental unit in the basement of his prior home. They had a number of good tenants, but the last ones (law school students) were absolutely horrid. They intentionally destroyed and defaced property. Poop on the walls, disposal and drains permanantly clogged, locked a kitten in a cabinet before they left. My point is that the good and acceptable outweigh the bad in numbers, but the bad ones can cause a lot of pain, grief and cost you a lot that you don't have.

If you have to take cash to closing, at least you know how much it will be and then you leave it behind you. But do everything you can to maximize the return on your home.

Check your figures -- as pointed out above, 6% of less tan $200k is less than $12,000. Maybe it's not as bad as you think.

Talk to some realtors now to get advise on what you need to to properly stage your home. You want everything clean, clean, clean. You want it to look as HGTV ready as possible, but you want to do it with what you arleady have or can borrow as much as possible. Some realtors will offer assistance with this. They may have an advantage in getting your listing.

Prioritize the things you can do that have little or no cost and those that will get the most return. Do as much as you can, but clean carpets yourself touch up paint or try a gentle Mr Clean Magic Eraser to get scuffs off walls, etc. Clean and repair. Have your heating and AC sericed and cleaned beore showing. Make sure you walk the property inside and out and touch up paint, caulk, clean everything you can to make it look as much like the builder just left or better as possible. Plant a flat of bedding flowers or have aplanter or two out front for some welcoming color. Look at the listings in your area and make sure you look as good or better than waht you are seeing. If in doubt, less is more and the extra boxes or furniture can go in the garage if you don't have somewhere to store them. Better yet, sell some of that stuff. Chances are, you aren't going to haul it over to the UK. Do it all -- or as much as you can, and then have your realtor back to re-evaluate.

See where you are at that point. If your math was off and you have $5K off the top with the commission really being less than $12k, you sell another $1000 or 2,000 in furniture and stuff you can't take with you, you only need a little more to close a $9k gap. If your home sparkles, you might be able to ask $5k ($7-$10k?) more and get enough at closing to close the gap.

If you can't close the gap, FSBO or a short sale (which can take too long if you need to split) would seem to be your options. I don't know how lenders are about short sales in TX these days, but if you only need a few thousand dollars nad you've been making all your payments on time and are leaving the country -- well, I'd take a short sale to them and ask. It beats a foreclosure where someone has stripped the house of all the fixtures, appliances - sometimes even cabinets. Rational people would see that, but insitutions are not always rational.

I lost both of may parents recently. Those final years can be very hard without any of this real estate mess. Stop stressing about it and start making a plan. I hope it works for you and I wish you and your parents the best.

So, let me add a few things to this discussion. First, you seem to have multiple problems hiding in one question, your interest rate seems really crappy. You bought the house 2 years ago, and are still at something near 5% interest. I assume then that you have bad credit. If that is true maybe you should speak to the mortgage company about a short sale and then just declare bankruptcy. You say you have no equity after 2 years, that really doesn't make sense. You should have gotten $7,000 of equity even at 5% interest with zero down. Now I realize closing costs might have jacked your loan up a bit and you might be right back where you started but still did you not put any money down? Next, are you taking your stuff with you? When I lived overseas we actually sold our larger house, bought a smaller house, furnished it and rented it out because it was financially smarter than storage for our stuff. Finally, more than just about any person I have ever seen you need a realtor. Talk to one and see if they will help you develop a plan. While they are salesmen and are going to try to get you to sign with them, they are also knowledgeable on both real estate and your area, two things you desperately need.