You are not getting blackballed by agents. After all, 99% of buyers are receiving auto listing searches from their agents and then they let the agents know which homes they would like to view.

If you are getting hits on Zillow but they are not translating into showings and offers, then the lookers are not seeing enough value in what you are offering to even schedule a showing.

a lot of the buyers who came by had searches pulled by buyers. It seems a lot of newbies still prefer the help of a REA. We have had a mix of savvy buyers come here on their own and those who had no clue what they were doing with their buyer. but good point. thanks.

The Zillow write up needs considerable editing - also I feel it is much too long and projects a sense of desperation.

Also, for those of us that do not have solar panel experience, that portion of your post is not clear.

You should have removed the solar from your listing and lowered your price as you were told in your previous post. FSBO or Agent is not going to change the fact that many people will not pay extra for the solar when they can purchase a larger house for the same amount.

There are so very few "bad" agents out there doing what you suggest that you shouldn't worry about it. An agent with a real qualified and interested buyer will show your house. Period.

thanks sushi.

So then as a realtor they wouldnt pull a listing since it is sold fsbo.

Ive been told by a few of them that it took them a few minutes to figure out how to get in touch with me, but most have been able to do it with no problems. But is it possible they dont read the listing completely and try to call the listing agent who will not pick up as it goes to a 1800 nbr. Im trying to get a guage of realtors out there who have had to deal with fsbo on the mls. If the ones who came to me had problems finding me how do i know its not systematic.

I actually had one find me by driving by with his buyers to another property. Maybe I wasnt in his price range which doesnt make since we made his final cut 1 of 2 and only lost out to a bigger house which had to be more expensive than mine.

Over 90% of all buyers use the internet for selecting homes to see. Many MLS systems send automated listings to buyers when a profile is set up for them. Buyers select the homes they wish to see. Most agents don't even look at who or how a house is listed in the MLS. I wouldn't blame it on blackballing by agents especially since you have indicated you are getting more showings than other homes assuming these are in a similar price range. Just as there are bad doctors, teachers, plumbers, etc., there are less than ethical agents. No way to get around it.

I agree with rrah, your house is overpriced IMO. You are getting showings, I'd do less OH's (2mo).
I'd also change the wording as suggested to downplay the solar, it is confusing.
I know you want info only about getting showings, as said lower your price agents will bring buyers.
Agents already know you will work with them, you need to give the agents something they can sell to their buyers.
Agents don't blackball you, but if possible, they will avoid working with a difficult seller.

but as you said that number should be low. so then my concern isnt blackballing but rather is there a problem with realtors getting in touch with me. We have had a total of 33 showings in 6 weeks.

Has any one experienced selling unattached items to a house and not including it in a listing and then add it in as part of the contract. Im asking as maybe I remove the solar from my listing and then allow the buyer to add it in. Maybe I will be able to attract more people to the listing and then sell it as an add on. Thoughts on this approach?

We already had people ask about including our plastic shed to the contract.

I also do notice volume has slowed down here. So much NEW inventory in the area makes it hard to compete with those homes. (maybe another bubble forming?)

I would modify your listing to (1) not draw attention to your FSBO status and (2) eliminate or downplay the solar. If you're in the MLS, it's not obvious you're FSBO until they try to contact you, so I don't think you're getting blackballed. But if you're worried about that, delete the first 2 sentences.

Lead with the 3rd sentence, focusing on the beautiful house and yard, and put the solar stuff down to the bottom. Or delete the solar and drop the price accordingly. I'm not sure the best way to sell/price for solar, and it probably depends on how common and understood it is in your area, but you have another thread about that.

How much premium are you building into the price for the solar?

10K on solar. I added those first 2 lines to make sure buyer agents knew I would work with them and pay them a commission.

"im not worried about the write up. I asked about being blacked ball
since I am doing fsbo. If you dont know about solar then ignore the
question. Thx."

Incredible! You've errors in grammar and confusing statements in your listing and you don't care about comments from experienced buyers and sellers?

But you got it. Not sure why the post at all???

I do hope you'll post back in a few months and let us know how it is going.

Because every once in a while people will actually help me answer the original question. my original post is very specific on what help I am asking for. I like houzz when I get answers to my questions. I do hate posting on houzz because of snotty remarks I get from these "experts". I have had 4 close realtor friends review the description and approved the language. So Again I am not worried about the desc. Thx. Maybe tune it down on the caffeine though.

"I also do notice volume has slowed down here. So much NEW inventory in the area makes it hard to compete with those homes. (maybe another bubble forming?)"

You are in FL and you really asked that question about it slowing down? It slowed down because it is summer and summer in FL is like winter in most of the rest of the country. People buy in FL during the high season; Nov-end of April with Dec-end of March being most active.

Additionally, if you are still higher priced than others in the neighborhood, you will still get lots of looks because people want to see what makes your home so special that it is worth more than surrounding homes. When they find out there is nothing special to make it cost more, they don't bid. (Solar is not a reason to price it higher.) And when agents see that there is nothing special, they don't bother bringing clients. Bring your price in line with others in the neighborhood and you'll sell your home quickly.

Lastly, now that it's slowing down, it means your house will sit longer. If it sits another 2-3 months people will begin to wonder what is wrong with the house. If it's because you have it priced too high, chances are that you'll wind up having to take less than what similar homes in your area that are new to the market (not new homes, but homes just coming up for sale) sell for. Meaning for less money than if you priced it correctly the first time. Why? Again because the perceived view is that there must be something wrong with a house that sits a long time, so buyers want to know that they are getting "a bargain" just in case they have to "fix" the perceived "problem".

Mass Imo, speaking as a realtor myself... I am happy to show my clients an FSBO or any other property they would like. My goal is to sell them a home, and if yours happens to be the one they like, I will take that 2.5% commission. Sure, we're in the business of sales and need to make a living, but I'm here to make both parties come to an agreement and have it be a win-win for everyone. If your property happens to be it, then so be it :)

Solar is not a reason to price it higher? Thats a false stmt. I agreed with everything else. A pool to me adds no value because i make no money on it. Solar makes me money. In fact my system makes me $1,200 a year (not pennies but USD). Tell me something in your home makes the money. But its that view point that ppl dont see the value and I cant fault you for that. But i can fault you for making false stmts.

Thanks Distinct for input from a realtor POV. Do you ever have issues finding the owner info if it is fsbo on the mls?

Mass,

If you have had 33 showings and no offers at all, then there is a reason. Obviously, getting showings is not your problem... getting offers is. Get rid of your $10,000 solar premium. Buyers are telling you loud and clear that they do not think it is worth it. For whatever reason.

No, it is not difficult to find limited service listings in the MLS... they are not filtered out when we do searches. We do know that it is a limited service listing though if we read that specific field. Do I and just about all agents show these types of listings? Yes. Do I and most agents have bad experiences working directly with the seller of these types of listings? Yes.

we actually got 4 offers, as I said just we havent signed on 3 of them as we didnt want to get held up. Well Im glad you are honest that it is true you dont prefer to work with these listings. That does confirm my thoughts. I may need to suck up the other 3% and just list it with a RE

I understand about the solar very well. However to pay a $20,000 premium for it means it will take me 15 years to make back that premium. So for me, I am not willing to pay a $20,000 premium for what is essentially either a retirement home or a starter home because neither customer will be staying long enough to reap the full benefit. the average number of years for a starter home is I believe 5-7 years.

Your question about will realtors show the house was answered. Yes they will, but I'm guessing if a client were to ask the realtor which is a better buy, your home or a similar home in your neighborhood that is $20,000 less, the realtor will tell them to buy the less expensive home. Number one rule of thumb in real estate is to never buy the most expensive home in the neighborhood.

You said you got 6 offers I think it was. However not one has panned out because the buyers are not qualified or for other reasons. And my guess is when you do find one, and they go to get a bank loan, the bank will not give the premium for your solar. then your choice will be to take the lowered value or ???

Mass Imo, how much did it cost you to install the solar system?

its funny no one wants to help me with the question i stated originally nor read any part of this post as I already have 2 pending offers that I wont sign until we have to. One is for the full amount but its dependent on the buyer selling their house the other is for the full amount but is dependent on when their bankruptcy has passed its 2 year mark which is on aug 5. so instead of talking about why i cant sell because i have 2 backup offers i can fall back to just wont as I prefer to sell sooner than later, Can i get assistance about REs please?

solar was 45k but its not how much it would sell for. it resales for whatever someone is willing to pay. we marked it to be 10k as its appraised value is 23k which would be recouped in 7 years. Good Homes have sold in the range of 100/sqft to 119/sqft with solar i am at 118/sqft.

You have received multiple answers to your question. People HAVE read your thread. When one posts in a public forum such as this people are free to respond as they wish. You cannot dictate how they respond. You don't have to like their answers, but you are not open to the feedback you are receiving here. Quit whining and trying to dictate how people respond to you. If you are like this in person, you are a difficult and unrealistic seller.

BTW--a home that is listed on the MLS, even with a limited agency that does nothing but list the property, is not considered a FSBO by most people. If a property is listed in the MLS few agents pay attention to the type of listing it is, and buyers typically dictate what homes they want to see, not the agent. You've been told that repeatedly. In the future if you want assistance from agents, I suggest you actually pay an agent for assistance.

Your home is being shown as the comparison house. By that I mean agents can show your overpriced listing so buyers can compare it to realistically priced houses. When a house is overpriced it's likely not being shown to buyers that would be interested in it if it was priced correctly. The buyers that can afford your price can get something bigger and better than your house.

We went over your supposedly appraised value for the solar panels in your last lengthy, argumentative thread. Who exactly appraised it? Was it the company that sold it to you? People clearly told you in that thread and in this one that very few people will be willing to pay a premium for the solar. I understand the arguments of using something that is more energy efficient. I installed geothermal heating/cooling in my own home, but that does not mean a buyer will appreciate it or be willing to pay for it. It does not mean a buyer will agree with the benefits of an energy efficient addition enough to pay for it as I did.

More advice--residential appraisers generally don't use price/sq. foot. They use the selling price, not the listing price, of recently sold homes and make standard value adjustments for differences such as a bathroom or garage. Have you looked at the recently SOLD prices in your neighborhood? You price is higher than any of them. Your proposed price without solar is still higher than any of them. List prices are generally irrelevant. I used to tell my sellers that sold prices show one exactly what people "will" pay for a property. List prices tell one what people "might" pay for a property. Since you seem to be basing your price on what people "might" pay for your house, you "might" get a legitimate contract that closes.

http://www.zillow.com/homes/comps/80410280_zpid/

A final piece of advice--that offer from a buyer waiting for the bankruptcy waiting time to pass is a horrible offer. Unless you are willing to have many sleepless nights and a stressful experience, I would move on. Given the financial history it will be a long and stressful period until, and if, it closes.

Thanks everyone we have an offer I don't need any addl help. All cash and asking price. Thanks again. FYI too many pessimistic ppl out there

Highest sold was 206k thanks

No, homes are not ''blackballed'' when selling from a limited service MLS. They often receive less showings and less offers for other reasons, often interrelated to the seller's choice to do a flat fee no service listing.

Anyone with a brain, including realtors and their customers, can read between the lines on the listing. The listing says,''difficult seller with inflated price''. The price isn't low enough to compensate for that incurable defect. When facing that situation, a buyer and a realtor will want a significant bargain, which means the cheapest house in the neighborhood, not the most expensive. The killer to the whole transaction is the ''no buffer'' between the seller and buyer. Even if they like the house, buyers just don't want to deal directly with the soul killing contentiousness when they could just buy something bigger for less, and have their realtor receive her full compensation, not a reduced one.

BTW a $90 electricity bill in the summer isn't really that great to be touting so prominently, as in one thing listed in the few brief words that you have available for view. With just addressing air sealing and insulation, my 1000 sf larger home was able to get the bill down to just $130 with no solar anything. If we were talking a $90 credit from the utility, then you'd have some bragging rights.

Last two posts were perfect feedback I was looking for. So it is true some ppl would be turned off from dealing directly with a seller. It makes sense this why I wanted to ask if a lot of ppl feel that way. I like the analogy that if you sell fsbo then you either have a great price to deal with or someone who will work with the buyer agent and be flexible. Really great feedback. .

In Florida a 2 story house electric bill can hit 200 easy in the summer. Even 1 stories in my community get high 100s

Out of curiosity. Are you at the house during showings? While we house hunter in FL, I noticed home owners and agents would stay in the home during showings. I cannot begin to say what a turn off this was. We have house hunted in SC, GA (twice), PA, WV, OH (Cincy and Columbus). And now central FL. Not to far from your location.

FSBO doesn't bother me. But your description comes across as a very combative person. I am not sure if this communicates with the buyer if you are in the home.

Honestly,. I do wonder if Florida is coming out of the housing bust. (Non-city) I cannot get over the amount of inventory. And what is on inventory. I see two types of properties. Investors, and homeowners who purchased high and now wanting to sell because they think their house is finally worth it. But it isn't worth it. The houses are now 10 years old and need updating. The rental neighborhood I am living in. Great neighborhood. Homes from 250,000 to 308,000. I would say about 10% of homes are on market in this neighborhood. All not selling. I do see new construction moving. And why not? You can get nicer home and brand new for same or less price in my area.

I listened to a conversation between two neighbors. One with a home for sell. They bought high. They have had three offers and never countered. Her point...we aren't giving the house away. She is listed highest in neighborhood and only house without granite.

I won't recoup my costs and I'm OK with that. I priced my home withon thw range of prior sales in my neighborjood. New homes are in high 200s. I stay out and let them roam and but will answer any questions they have. When we house shop we have our rea or the seller show us around. I already roamed their house when looking at pics online. Ive got no issues who shows me the house. I rather get real answers then guesses from a rea.

so let me ask gwlake this if you knew other fsbo did stay in the house would you steer clear of that house? Wouldnt you expect someone who lives at the house to be there? or do you prefer to look at vacant homes only?

For REs would a re say to their buyer hey its fsbo they may stalk you around the house? So its not a black ball per say but its already giving a bad impression. I remember many years ago one re said she prefer she didnt show any fsbo. Before flat fee mls. I can understand on her commission but why not make me pay for it.

A real estate agent is going to at least make an attempt to show every house that the clients ask for. They may hate it, and they may well try to talk buyers away from dealing with you if you give off the wrong vibe, but that really isn't different than any other seller, whether FSBO or not. I was personally looking at buying some rental property and the owners of a $120K house wanted me to jump through a bunch of hoops, before I could see it. I passed, and I actually was seriously interested.

Realtors have some influence over clients, and they can certainly point out flaws, but really if you think about the way you buy stuff, how much do you listen to the professionals? When people like things, they like them, and no matter how much a salesperson talks them up or down it really doesn't matter. In the end, if someone likes your house at the price you have it, then the realtor will find a way to make it work, whether they love dealing with you or not.

To the OP. This is the only market I have house hunted in with this situation. It's just not owners doing FSBO. (Most will have a lock box in other states). In central Florida (we looked in Tampa, Gainesville and Orlando. Every single house the realtor met us at (listing). And sometimes owners would be there. I haven't seen this happen anywhere else. (We've own 8 homes).

Looking at FSBO doesn't bother me. I do want my buying agent to be compensated. It's funny because vacant homes have the worst vibe. We have never purchased a vacant home. I do think it is difficult to look at a home which has small children. I have nothing against children. I have three. It's just that it's tough as a home owner to corral the small child mess/toys. Homes with small children in my experience never look very crisp. Lots of stuff in closets. Cabinets are not wiped down. And very distinct children's bedrooms.

Do you still have the stickers on the walls? Selling a home is very stressful. I hope you are able to sell soon.

lol keeping the house is a nightmare wit kids but we tried to empty out everytin or put it into storage bins to keep it oranized lookin and not messy. Dont go to gville. It is a collegetown. tampa or orlando is your best bet. We are in tampa ;)

No you are not getting blackballed because it is a Flat Fee MLS listing. RE agents are probably not showing your home for other reasons. I will show Flat fee homes if I feel that it is a good deal for my buyers. Many are not because they are overpriced.

A good RE agent will price homes appropriately, and market a home well (photos, descriptions, advertising.) They also show buyers homes that they feel meet their needs and are a good value. A good agent will usually sell a home more quickly and for more money than a FSBO. It is normally an easier process for everyone involved to have agents.

With that said, I would prefer to not sell FSBO/Flat Fee MLS homes, because often the sellers are difficult or have no clue about what they must disclose, what items must convey with home, access to home for inspections, walk thru's etc. It makes it a lot more work to have to educate the seller on the selling process, plus handle all of the paperwork and running around. My Last Flat fee seller didn't get email, so I had to hand deliver all of the documents, explain why his floorplan wasn't the same as a survey, etc. I end up doing all of the work the seller's agent would do plus the work I do for buyer. It really isn't worth dealing with them unless the house is the only one out there that would work for buyer or is an incredible deal for my buyer.

so in theory you should get more tan 3.0% for the extra work if working with an uneducated seller. i have my docs in order though and work as close as possible with the RE as possible. I convey everything altered, not working, and not visible that a buyer cant guess. I have my hoa docs and my survey and ready at a moments notice to help the buyer agent with anything they need like scheduling for all items needed.

If agents aren't showing your house, then it boils down to whether they think it is a good value for their clients based on comps for your area.

well luckily we have had at least 19 realtor showings

So why the thread? And you said you had 3 or 4 offers? Did you accept any? If not why not?

1 fell through. the others had issues that would make me wait. 2 waiting to sell their house (we have 1 contract the oter is waitin to mail). The 4th had a bankruptcy so I told them i wont sign anything until they can prove the bank has approved everything. so we waited, but then we got an offer

Well, they say luck is a fickle mistress, you went from, "Are we getting blackballed by buyer agents since we did a flat fee mls" to "well luckily we have had at least 19 realtor showings", in 3 days. I guess it has been a busy week for you.

Being the dubious curmudgeon that I am, I suspect you are not so lucky as you are proud. But hey I am right there with you.

3 days? no, i was answering someone to say we had at least 19 realtor showings which means we have a decent house to show to prospects lol

Mass, Yesterday you wrote that you went under contract for full price, cash offer. And then just above you say you have another contract and one party that is waiting to mail you a contract.

I'm getting confused...

What are you talking bout? I was telling the order that we went through on what happened to those offers. I finalized by saying we got an offer lastly.

Huh? lol

Is there any value in continuing this thread?

Personally, I would get a realtor who is recommended by people in the neighborhood. It would not be worth saving the 1% in realty fees to deal with all the hassle of buyers, realty ads, reviewing contracts, etc. Also, the realtor should know how to present your house professionally and to target it to the appropriate buyers. If you cant get the price you want, maybe you can consider renting it out?