Great advice homechef59 - thank you. I didn't realize you can negotiate commissions. I just assumed it was 6% or 7%. So I'll definitely think long and hard about all of this. You make a good point about a hot market/fewer marketing costs etc, leading to possibly lower commission.

They emphasize this fact in real estate class. But, it is conveniently forgotten by agents once they have their licenses. You can't set commissions. They must be negotiated. Now, a broker or agent is free to decline to represent you, too. They just can't discriminate. Everything in real estate is negotiable except the appraisal fee. (I'm are retired appraiser, so that's a joke and the truth:))

Hahaha sounds good!!!

You'll probably still have to pay a buyer's agent commission. So you're really only saving half the commission.

In follow up to greg_2015, you're also going to commit to twice the time.

To start- I'm not a Realtor, but some comments:

1. Fees to pay yourself.

--- You will need a good real estate attorney- you pay.

--- You will need to find the best escrow agent, and you pay in that one on research and work.

--- You will need to find out how to market your home. Were your fast-selling neighborhood listers FSBO- or did they have a Realtor- who did the hard work, ahead of time? Contacts, "Coming soon", Internet etc. You can do it all. But it takes a lot of time, and some specialty expertise. It's possible you have that, so I move on.

--- Your time- Are your prepared to leave your property, secured, but with a lock-box, for all showings?

2. Are you prepared to take random phone calls, regarding your property, no matter when, or from where? Are you prepared to field all offers- and make sure you don't go astray of the law?

3. Finally- do you understand the fact that most real estate agents will by-pass your property first (in favor of a like one, in the neighborhood) simply because they 1) hate FSBOs, as it hurts their industry and 2) Because they know that this sale will be a whole lot of work, without a professional on the other side?

Because that's how they think.

This is why realtors don't like to show FSBO's and drive right past them. There is no guarantee of commission. The seller has to agree to protect the agent in the event of completion of the sale. If the seller agrees to this, the seller can still negotiate the commission. The buyer's agent usually hates doing this because they end up doing a lot of work that they otherwise wouldn't have to do. In theory, the seller can refuse to cooperate and not pay a commission. If you brought me a buyer, I wouldn't pay more than 3%. I'd push for 2.5% or a flat fee. They are free to refuse.

902 Juanita - thanks for the insight.

You ask some interesting questions...

Your time- Are your prepared to leave your property, secured, but with a lock-box, for all showings? Not really... I'm actually really weirded out by strangers in my home... (Yeah, I'm that person lol)...

I was hoping to do what my neighbors did - list the home (with or without an agent) have an open house and hopefully get an offer quickly. That's what happened to my neighbor. She had a realtor. Another home in my neighborhood sold FSBO but I don't know all the details. I just remember seeing the sign and new people moving in.

You also write-

3. Finally- do you understand the fact that most real estate agents will by-pass your property first (in favor of a like one, in the neighborhood) simply because they 1) hate FSBOs, as it hurts their industry and 2) Because they know that this sale will be a whole lot of work, without a professional on the other side?

I hadn't thought of this. The more I think about things the more I feel the need to have a realtor. By the time I pay all the legal fees and agent commission I don't think I'll save much money.

Thanks again! I'm going to speak with a couple different agents and get their opinions.

Thanks again

homechef59 .. I'm going to continue getting advice and cleaning out the old house and declutter.

In addition to realtor commission, depending on what's customary in your state, expect to pay half of transfer/recordation taxes and a bunch of closing costs.

Update. I have a top realtor coming to visit me next week. She's going to walk thru my home and let me know what to change/update/etc and give me an idea of selling price.

One problem with FSBO is that "knowing" you are saving "a bundle" on fees, people tend to offer lower prices.

You also have the deluge of scammers wanting to rent it out to a third party with an "option to buy" ... later, maybe.

If you have time, try it and see what happens. Get an appraisal, or find similar recently sold houses near you to get an idea.

And scrub it till it shines.

I've got to jump in here so you don't get the feeling that there's a global consensus that listing with a realtor is the best way to go.

Attorney fees are around $500. Yes, lawyers are cheaper than realtors in real estate transactions. And they'll give you all the disclosure forms so you abide by the law.

Escrow agent: this must be a state specific thing, as I've never paid an escrow agent. You have to pay a title company, but that's true in all transactions, and it's not included in the realtor's fee.

Pricing: Realtors don't get higher prices than FSBOs. The average selling price of a FSBO is less than the average selling price of a realtor-listed house, but that's just selection bias, not because a realtor magically increases the house value. Someone linked to a story a few months ago explaining this marketing spin.

And while people may think they can get a FSBO for under market price, they can only do that if you agree. And if you're in a hot market, the silly buyer that wants to offer you less will be outbid by the savvy buyer who knows market price means market price.

Lockbox: you'll have this with a realtor and a FSBO (the latter if you allow agents to show your house). As a FSBO, you can also opt to be present at showings (when I listed FSBO I left when realtors brought people but stayed in the house but out of the way when unrepresented people came. Or you can do the open house thing.

Agents hate FSBOs because they threaten their bloated commission layered system. I would offer a 2% commission to buyer's agent (that was standard for FSBOs in a city I used to live in). They claim to buyers that it's because they're so much more hassle, and I'm sure this is occasionally true. But there are plenty of represented sellers that are PITA and muck up the process. My last transaction (selling with a realtor) had a whole lot of wasted communications, as there were 2 agents in between us and the buyer, so questions and info took extra steps to get through. I don't see this as valued added, I see it as waste.

If it were me, I'd start with FSBO, have a big open house, advertised on Zillow & CL and with yard signs (and possibly scheduled to coincide with a realtor-listed open house so you'll get all that traffic). Best case, it works. Worst case no one shows and you end up hiring a realtor. In a hot market, I'd definitely DIY it first.

We sold a property FSBO a little over a year ago so thought I would chime in.

First, hubby and I are both lawyers. Plus we have bought and sold several properties so are very familiar with the process. Finally, we had access to the CA real estate forms. So perhaps our situation is not a good example.

Having said that, our process was fairly easy - honestly not really any more or less frustrating than ones where we had an agent. We were up front that we WOULD pay the buyers' agent fee and we made it 3% to encourage showings.

In the first two weeks we ended up with 3 offers at our asking price.

Yes we had to be there for showings. And our renters had to help facilitate inspections, but all in all it wasn't too bad.

As a final note, ours was a bit of a fluke. We had fully planned to list it with an agent once our renters were gone. But we got antsy so we threw it up as FSBO on Zillow just to see. The response was more than expected and it all ended well.

There's my $.02.

WOW weedyacres - thanks for all the insight! You offer strong points regarding FSBO and it's nice to hear the other side of the argument. I had no idea a lawyer may only cost about $500. I just assumed it would be thousands! And I hadn't considered that I'm going to be paying escrow/title regardless if we use an agent or not. So that's more $$ to factor in.

If I sold at 300k FSBO and paid a buyer's agent 2% ($6,000). Then I'm at 294k less - we'll just say 1,000 for lawyer then I'm looking at 293.. Let's just say there's another 1k of misc fees so we'll go with 292k.

If I sell with an agent at 300k w/ 6% fee then I'm at 282k.

There's 10k saved.

I feel very strongly that my house would sell from Zillow. I watch homes daily in my area and glance at the #s of "shoppers" who saved the homes - these #s go up quick so I feel very good that Zillow & CL could help me.

I like your final thought- if I do try FSBO and no one shows up then I just hire an agent! At least I'll know I tried :)

sarahsocal - thank you very much! If I get my house in order then I may just throw it on Zillow like you said and see the response. That will give me a good idea on whether or not there is interest if we go FSBO.

I had no idea a lawyer may only cost about $500. I just assumed it would be thousands!

If you're in rural TN it's probably $500, but if you're on Long Island or another high COLA area, you can be sure a lawyer will cost more.

Do you have sales experience?

And more importantly can you divorce yourself emotionally from the house and just look at it as a business deal? So when someone lowballs you on price, you don't get emotional and tell them to take a hike. Or when they talk about the awful color you painted your living room, or how they want to rip up the gorgeous countertops you love?

If not, don't sell it yourself. Don't assume just because you put it up on Zillow, they will come in droves. Maybe they will, or maybe they won't.

I sold my house many years ago FSBO. My husband at the time sabotaged the sale to a young couple. This couple came back a second time with their parents. We had a 1927 bungalow with a steep stairs up to the attic. An attic that could be turned into usable space. I had checked with an architect that the stairs could be changed to code. But when the parents asked if it could be done, my ex blurted out, "No it wouldn't work because it would angle into the bedroom." Sale killed.

He was a salesman too but he was too close to the situation so wasn't thinking.

$500 for an attorney? Maybe before Frank - Dodd. Not now. At least here in NC.

You should do whatever you feel most comfortable doing.

If it were me and it was a hot market, I would go the FSBO route first. But, I'm an educated seller. I would interview agents and get their information. I would find a real estate attorney, get their fee schedule and have them on standby. You will go through the same process of getting the property ready to show using either option. After a month of doing the FSBO route, if I didn't have a contract, I would hire a realtor. I would negotiate the commission of the realtor. Remember all commissions are negotiable. It's an anti-trust violation to try to fix real estate commissions.

An educated seller is half-way out the door. It's a hassle either way. You just need to assess how much hassle you are willing to endure.

Just because an agent won't negotiate their commission down, does not mean they are fixing the price.

I sold my home FSBO recently but I had preidentified a buyer (friend of a neighbor) so no showings or dealing with crazies or buyers agents. My real estate attorney fees were about $1200. My realtor commission fee would have been $26,000.

I watch homes daily in my area and glance at the #s of "shoppers" who saved the homes - these #s go up quick so I feel very good that Zillow & CL could help me.

You should understand that many people who are not prospective buyers, use that saved feature. I often favorite/save homes in my area to track the local market. Often when a house has a pending offer here, the listing gets removed from Zillow prior to the house being shown as sold. If I have it saved, I can easily relocate the house that was listed to eventually check the sold price.

Thank you all for the added comments and insight.

I searched locally for a lawyer and found one who has a starting $500 fee, but she charges $50-$100 per extra document (if they are needed) - so I'll just assume $800-$1500.

This is from her website:

My fees for real estate transaction representation start at $500. This fee includes negotiation of the sale price on your behalf, preparation and signing of the Sale Contract, any additional riders, and your disclosure statements, and supervising the closing process on your behalf (reviewing the closing settlement statement prior to closing). In addition, for a small additional fee (approximately $50-$100 per document), I can prepare any sale documents required, such as General Warranty Deeds, Quit Claim Deeds, Deeds of Trust, or Promissory Notes. These are documents that the Title Company generally charges you much more for preparation

cpartist - you ask if we have sales experience. The honest answer is little to none. My hopes were since the market is so hot and inventory is low, I wouldn't have to try so hard "sell" my home.

As someone else mentioned, I could put my home on Zillow FSBO and see what happens. If there is little to no interest then I just hire an agent. The problem here is "time" - the only reason we'd be moving is if the perfect house pops up... And if it does then I"ll need to sell my home so I wont have time to waste.

cpartist - you bring up other interesting points. I honestly don't know how I would react to negative views of my home lol, since I love it. I know there are flaws and not everyone will like my taste, but I also know I could get offended and tell someone to "beat it" if they were rude or tried to low ball me.

I honestly think if my house was priced right then someone would have to be a moron to low ball me, because there is no way I would take such a low offer. Not when the SAME homes are going under contract in under 24 hours and before their open houses.

But I know without a doubt I'm unprepared and not ready to take on people without help. That's where I would have to decide if the extra $$ I might clear is worth it. Right now, I don't know.

homechef59 - thank you. We have a top agent coming out tomorrow. That will give us a lot of insight as to what changes we need to make, if any, and what to expect to list the home at. We'll also know her commission fee.

gyr_falcon- I agree. I save homes on zillow as well that I would never buy so I know those #s are not all true buyers. I'm looking at more than the saved #s though. I watch homes that are similar to mine (price/sq ft/school/taxes/etc) and those are the ones I'm seeing that are going under contract within 24-48 hours. That's what gives me some confidence that I may be able to sell myself. If the market wasn't so hot then I wouldn't be so sure.

My town has three different school districts in it. My neighborhood along with one other are the only two in my town that is in a certain school district. The next town over homes are MUCH higher with the same school. So there is low inventory for buyers looking in my town in my school district.

I viewed one home a couple weeks ago (I just contacted an agent through zillow) and a lady showed us the home. When we mentioned where we live she just assumed we were in the lower rated school district, but when we mentioned our actual school district, her eyes lit up and she said "you'll have no problem selling your home right away."

Now I know nothing is guaranteed and things can pop up in the inspection so I'm not "assuming" anything.. I'm just thinking ahead so that if our dream home does pop up then I'm a little prepared.

Thank you all again!!! I have an agent coming out tomorrow so it's good to know commission is negotiable.

Remember that the major RE sites are tools, not sales sites. Zillow, Realtor.com, Redfin etc.- There's a time lag between "pending" (which doesn't necessarily reflect sales price), and closing, then public recording of the sales price. Especially in hot markets, they often can't keep up. In non disclosure states, they may never have accurate comps, since the only real way to do that is through local MLS.

This up-to-date, daily comp information provided by a Realtor could mean the difference between days on market, even in sales price. It's great for you to get a good market analysis. Just be aware that a Realtor has access to tools that you, as a FSBO, won't.