Has anyone ever listed their own home for sale?

[Tangwhich]

I need a tooth pulled. Think I'll do it myself and avoid paying a dentist. Proven fact that when you sell a house without using a professional real estate agent, money is left on the table. FSBO's don't save as much as you're reading here. In most instances, real Buyer's are working under contract with a real estate agent. Therefore you still pay a selling commission. You save on the listing side. Still a lot of money, I agree. REAL BUYER'S work with agents. FSBO's see mostly tire kickers who immediately discount the commission a seller would normally pay and expect to save it off the asking price. Imho, you get what you pay for. Just sayin'.

Proven where? Can we get a link to that research?
That's realtor propaganda I've heard more than once but has never been proven to me. In fact comfree showed me data that it's false.

Yes you CAN sell to a buyer with an agent but you don't have to. You can also negotiate commission with them. I was lucky, I sold without an agent on the buyers side. So do many others. I could have taken a leave of absence from my job for a couple of months, made selling my place a full time job and still come out way ahead than having used an agent. Like I said, I sold for MORE than comparables and didn't have to pay commision. I walked away with a fuck of a lot more money than any of my competing sales.

 

[Tangwhich]

I need a tooth pulled. Think I'll do it myself and avoid paying a dentist. Proven fact that when you sell a house without using a professional real estate agent, money is left on the table. FSBO's don't save as much as you're reading here. In most instances, real Buyer's are working under contract with a real estate agent. Therefore you still pay a selling commission. You save on the listing side. Still a lot of money, I agree. REAL BUYER'S work with agents. FSBO's see mostly tire kickers who immediately discount the commission a seller would normally pay and expect to save it off the asking price. Imho, you get what you pay for. Just sayin'.

BTW, there's no shortage of people in here who do things like repairing their cars, fixing their plumbing, landscaping their lawns, etc, etc. They do it themselves to save money and in many cases do a better job! Comparing a dentist - someone with tons of education to an agent that may well have taken a few course from home is pathetic.

 

[gdurham]

I need a tooth pulled. Think I'll do it myself and avoid paying a dentist. Proven fact that when you sell a house without using a professional real estate agent, money is left on the table. FSBO's don't save as much as you're reading here. In most instances, real Buyer's are working under contract with a real estate agent. Therefore you still pay a selling commission. You save on the listing side. Still a lot of money, I agree. REAL BUYER'S work with agents. FSBO's see mostly tire kickers who immediately discount the commission a seller would normally pay and expect to save it off the asking price. Imho, you get what you pay for. Just sayin'.

the studies that were done to suggest that private sales resulted in lower prices were more than a few years ago. We have advanced quite a long way in e-marketing and technology since then. I am willing to bet that the gap has closed substantially.

the real question is how difficult it is to establish what a market price is for your house without the help of an agent who as access to comparables? I think you may want to be upfront with an agent and bring an appraiser in to establish a value.

 

[Tangwhich]

the real question is how difficult it is to establish what a market price is for your house without the help of an agent who as access to comparables? I think you may want to be upfront with an agent and bring an appraiser in to establish a value.

Depending on the package you go with on comfree, a full market assessment will be given to you. It's compiled by an agent/broker and it's very detailed. It gives you all the information you need to conclude a fair price for your home and to show to prospective buyers why your place is worth what you're asking.

 

[james t kirk]

I tried selling my dad's house myself and failed.

Now, the catch would be that that was in Hamilton and Hamilton is not Toronto. It has been and always will be a buyer's market because half the city is broke.

But these were my experiences:

1. Everyone thought it was some sort of scam on my part (people are conditioned to seeing real estate signs).

2. People want to scam you. They come up with all kinds of whacky ideas on how to pay you.

3. Agents come out of the woodwork trying to get you to sign up.

4. Some agents will approach you with clients, but they want 3 percent or more.

5. You need to get on MLS and at the time, it was impossible.

All in all, it was a bad experience. I ended up hiring an agent and sold it the old fashioned way.

IMHO, if I sell again, I will simply find an agent in my hood and try to beat them down as much as possible (think 4 percent)

 

[james t kirk]

My take on Real Estate Agents / Companies

It's the greatest scam ever invented in the course of human history.

I don't respect Real Estate Agents. It is not a skilled profession. They have convinced the public that they are needed, when really they are not needed. The lawyer actually does the deal. He's the one with the education and training and his fees are usually next to nothing compared to the real estate company.

Try being an architect and telling a client you want 6 percent to design their house. An architect has gone to school for years, university training, high skill, high risk. (Ditto an Engineer.) They need to handle all kinds of complex management and handling of the construction process. Try telling a guy building a million dollar house that he has to spend 60 grand on an architect and they will laugh in the architect's face. But a real estate agent? "Oh, ok, here's 50 grand, no problem"

Until society wakes the hell up and figures out that we don't need real estate agents, people will continue to get fucked over by them.

 

[Tangwhich]

Until society wakes the hell up and figures out that we don't need real estate agents, people will continue to get fucked over by them.

It's coming. Just like with travel agents their days are numbered. Comfree represents 43% of the Quebec market and it's growing. It's only a matter of time before Ontario and beyond start racking up larger numbers of FSBO sales.

 

[Blue-Spheroid]

Has anyone ever sold their own home?

It's a crime to sell someone else's home...though the ROI is much higher.

 

[fmahovalich]

I would say do it....much easier and better in a sellers market!

Also..do not blow those brokers off who come calling. Offer them 3%...

Once the deal gets close..offer them 2%.... Private deal. Everyone is a winner.

 

[FatOne]

BTW, there's no shortage of people in here who do things like repairing their cars, fixing their plumbing, landscaping their lawns, etc, etc. They do it themselves to save money and in many cases do a better job! Comparing a dentist - someone with tons of education to an agent that may well have taken a few course from home is pathetic.

Never mind that dental work is almost impossible to do on yourself.

Typical bullshit from RE agents. Much like those commercials. Really as if without a agent you will buy a house without any legal advice, without someone to inspect the property to notice the door will come off the hinges. Also I doubt a agent would know or bother to tell you that your new neighbors are nudists. I've seen multiple commercials over the years and they all seem to assume that joe average is even more retarded than a bitter hate filled misanthrope like myself do. You know you are stretching that case when someone like me says, WTF.

Also the buyer agent is motivated to get you to pay as much as possible and the seller's agent is motivated to get you to reduce your price as much as possible. A sellers agent who can sell a home twice as fast by getting you to drop your price will make 2*0.9 or 1.8 times as much. According to that freakanomics guy IIRC when agents sell their own home they get 3% more. In that case when they go from 500 to 515 they make an extra 15 K and it is worth it. When they are selling your home they are only getting about 2.5 or 5% of that 15 K extra money depending on if they get both sides. 375 to 750 bucks isn't worth putting that much time when you could be selling a second home and nailing another 12.5 to 25K in commissions.

 

[GG2]

I need a tooth pulled. Think I'll do it myself and avoid paying a dentist. Proven fact that when you sell a house without using a professional real estate agent, money is left on the table.

The analogy is comical. It's not even an analogy, it's a wannabe.

 

[Blue-Spheroid]

I'd be interested to know how that fact was "proven" and whether the price disparity is less or more than the commission costs.

It may be true that some agents have skills and experience that will help improve the price of a sale, especially if they are very familiar with that particular market. However, many agents add little value to the transaction. Additionally, by the nature of the business, agents are motivated by the commission they will earn. It's in their interest for your house to sell at (almost) any price because then (and only then) they get paid. As your own agent, you can always walk away from a deal that's not right for you. A hired agent will often be motivated to push you to drop your price to make a deal.

All that said, there's work and effort to listing, showing, and selling a house. Many agents will bargain down the percentage of the commission to get your business and the reduced cost that results may be well worth the savings in time and hassle to the seller - especially if your time is valuable to you.

Nothing is free. If you want someone to handle the paperwork and legwork you have to pay for the service. It's up to each seller to decide where the right balance lies.

 

[goomba]

a good Realtor will put more money in your pocket everry single time. These people who sold on their think they saved money, but they were actually preyed upon. Find a good Realtor.(A Realtor that does open houses every Sunday is not a good Realtor)

 

[dondada]

had a house sell nearby by owner...lost a few months prior by listing with an agent...house was overpriced by agent and homeowners realized to get the return they wanted...get rid of agent...

they sold within in 2 weeks of listing privately...

personally...i sold a property and had to change agents...first one put out ads but never updated me with the goings on or what they were doing...no open house ever and we lost 6 months in the market by being overpriced...

agent knew we would lower the price but i let the agent know that they had their chance...

sold in 6 weeks with new agent...

 

[Tangwhich]

a good Realtor will put more money in your pocket everry single time. These people who sold on their think they saved money, but they were actually preyed upon. Find a good Realtor.(A Realtor that does open houses every Sunday is not a good Realtor)

Please back those words up with evidence. I've seen real data that proves I sold my place for MORE the comparables without an agent!

 

[miles@divas]

a good Realtor will put more money in your pocket everry single time. These people who sold on their think they saved money, but they were actually preyed upon. Find a good Realtor.(A Realtor that does open houses every Sunday is not a good Realtor)

Total rubbish. You must be an agent.

 

[nuprin001]

If you have the time, patience, and a good head for business/finance, go right ahead. If you don't, hire an agent.

I don't know how it works in Canada, but in the US almost every state requires a professional real estate licensee to complete a course and pass a state exam. For a self-seller who has the time, I suggest taking the course. Don't bother with the exam or becoming a real estate professional, but take the course. It's a couple of months of after-work classes a couple of times a week. It'll teach you what you need to know about how loans work, how to define your property line, etc., etc. It will give you the toolkit that your agent has, all for less than $1k. It just requires you to give up some of your personal time. Don't tell them why you're taking the course: they'll resent the hell out of you. Especially the instructors, who are usually moonlighting real estate professionals themselves.

You will be spending a LOT of time selling your home. It will take effort, it will take time. Don't go in expecting to sell your home within a week. If it happens that's great, but expect it to take twice as long as the average listing time for your area.

Why should you do this? On a $100k home, it'll save you the $4k of a cheap agent's fee. If you're selling a $500k home, that's $20k. That's a lot of hobbying with some seriously premium girls. If that kind of money isn't important to you then don't worry about it. But if it does matter, then be willing to do the work yourself.

Find out what homes in your neighborhood are selling for, go on an open house tour, and then dispassionately figure out what your house is actually worth.

Oh, and comparing the price between private sales and agent sales is a bullshit statistic. A LOT of private sales are between family members or people who know each other. If my parents sell me their home for $1, that counts against the stats for private sales. The stat you should pay attention to is the one found in the book Freakonomics. Homes sold by agents are consistently sold for less than the agents' homes in the same market and were on the market for a much shorter time than when agents listed those homes. Real estate agents' time vs. money earned curve is NOT the same as a home owner's. The extra $400 for an extra $10k in sales price (given the 4% commission mentioned earlier) isn't worth an extra 2 months of the agent's time and effort showing the house every Sunday, taking appointments, paying for it to stay on the MLS, fielding phone calls, etc., etc. That $10k is definitely worth an extra two months' time for most homeowners, though.

Arm yourself with information and go to war.

Edit: Oh, and Superfreakonomics has a lot of bad news for those of us in the hobby, both on the low end of streetwalkers and the high end of courtesans.

 

[miles@divas]

If what i'm seeing is accurate comfree.ca has a good success rate.
http://comfree.com/search/?hash=/g-...plex/p-con=main/p-ord=date/p-dir=DESC/pa-ge=1

 

[MrBruce]

I need a tooth pulled. Think I'll do it myself and avoid paying a dentist. Proven fact that when you sell a house without using a professional real estate agent, money is left on the table. FSBO's don't save as much as you're reading here. In most instances, real Buyer's are working under contract with a real estate agent. Therefore you still pay a selling commission. You save on the listing side. Still a lot of money, I agree. REAL BUYER'S work with agents. FSBO's see mostly tire kickers who immediately discount the commission a seller would normally pay and expect to save it off the asking price. Imho, you get what you pay for. Just sayin'.

How long does it take to become a Dentist? Or any other legitimate Professional?? A realtor is what, a weekend course with a pre-requisite of reading?! I've been in sales my entire life, started out retail worked my way up where I'm now a National Manager for a large distribution company and I will NEVER use a realtor again. I've sold several houses, the last one I sold myself around $400K privately and it was an overall pleasant experience. If you can put in the time, do the open houses and deal with dead end follow ups, it will work, but if you work like a realtor and have high expectations with little effort, your results may vary!

I think maybe 1% of realtors genuinely work hard and have their clients best interests in mind. The other 99% are doing it because it's easy money with no career investment or specialized skills.

 

[james t kirk]

I suppose if you wanted to try selling your house yourself, you could try selling it privately.

Advertise it, take offers and if you don't like the offers, reject them all and take it off the market.

A couple of months later, list it using an agent.