We did the same in 1984 or so when I sold a house in NH. And we did the same when we bought that same house in 1976. Just a lawyer to draw up the documents. That’s it.
1 Like
I literally cried when we closed on our current house saying “good bye” to our realtor. That woman stuck with us through a three year search and when we found “the one” it was because she was on her toes that we were able to snatch and secure our house. Probably she saw it as a way to finally get rid of us! Seriously, I’d recommend her in a heartbeat.
8 Likes
We did that for one of our house sales. The market was hot and we put a sign in our yard. The real estate contracts are boiler plate.
Re engaging this thread.
The new real estate commission rules are in effect.
Has anyone listed a home? What is the process? What is the new method? What’s the new total expected commission?
Business as usual here in WA. I see properties listed with 2.5-3% buyer agent fees.
2 Likes
Oh, I thought the new method was you sign with a selling agent…but then a buying agent is a separate negotiation?
I’m thinking of listing and even wondering about FSBO.
The market has slowed - but if i can take $30 or $40K off, maybe I have better luck?
You include the buying agent percentage in your listing (at least I had to for my NJ MLS)
What does this mean? Nothing has changed in my neck of the woods.
Just keep in mind the amount of work YOU need to do if you do this…showings, listings, photos, vetting buyers, open houses possibly. It’s not free in terms of what you need to do. IOW you need to be available whenever the potential buyers are.
The key here is choosing a realistic price.
My H just helped sell the home of a family member in the mid Atlantic and there was no noticeable difference with commission. My understanding is simply how it’s communicated on the listing.
Another word of caution about FSBO in terms of work, advertising, getting the house on MLS, working through the documents, closing, etc… In my experience, a good agent is worth more than their commission.
3 Likes
We sold our house FSBO. It does take work, marketing (water bottles labeled with pic of the house, WSJ ad, MLS listing, etc) and the right price informed by recent comps but the savings can be substantial. One also has to be comfortable handling the negotiations. We had an attorney at closing. We offered 2% or 2.5% buyers agent commission and held a broker open house (typically Tuesdays in Chicagoland.) We got plenty of traffic and sold the house pretty quickly. Too quickly could mean one left money on the table. It seems with the new real estate commission structure that FSBO would be the same, but not sure.
I am eagerly watching this issue to see what it will mean in the long term. (We have no plans to do anything with our current house.) It’s supposed to save $$ and increase competition. We’ll see what really happens.
2 Likes
I wonder if it’s not taken place yet because the new rules say something different than you’re all saying. I thought they started mid July but maybe not.
“While the new rules prevent listing agents from posting buy-side commissions in the MLS, sellers and listing agents still can agree on the amount off the MLS…”
A good realtor can anticipate issues that could cause a sale to fail and may have network of trades or financial professionals to smooth the way forward.
2 Likes
And if the market is softening, that may be the worst time to try FSBO. My DH had a friend trying to sell his condo FSBO. He has very poor signage and I don’t think he’s had any nibbles.
1 Like
We just sold our home FSBO. Did not list on MLS but did offer 2.5% to the buyers agent. Home was on the market for 2 weeks before getting “the offer.”
Upfront costs had to spend about $2500 on professional pics and website; then sent a link to area real estate agents. Our particular neighborhood is in high demand so doing it ourselves made sense financially. Yes, I had to be available to show the house, answer questions etc. but if you have a real estate attorney the contracts are pretty boiler plate. Saving 3% was definitely worth it since we will ultimately be paying tax on the sale. There are several companies that offer to list houses on MLS for a flat fee of $300-$500. Because of the internet… Zillow, Realtor, and other websites most buyers are finding their homes by surfing.
We did interview several agents before going it ourselves. They wanted us to list it significantly lower than what we ultimately did list it for. They rationalized a lower price would set up a bidding war.
5 Likes
This has definitely been an effective strategy in our area. Not low-low, but low enough comparative to other selling comps - and then ending up sold at or above those comps.
4 Likes
I received an email with forms to file if I want to opt in to the monetary settlement from this lawsuit. No idea how much I might actually receive. Given the settlement amount I’m thinking not much.
As far as consequences for realtor compensation I’m not clear how the settlement affects commissions going forward.
1 Like
Yep - that’s what I’m asking - how will it impact?
Apparently you cannot have a both side commission anymore.
You negotiate with the seller and the buyer with the buyer’s agent - if I’m reading right - but they can write into the sales contract that the seller has to pay the buyer, etc.
I imagine it will eventually get normalized - but not sure. Maybe not a good time to think about listing - but with a $40K old, roof that the insurance has us over a barrel - I just feel maybe it’s time to get out - as is (lower the price a bit) and save future headaches.
Our market is odd - $800K or less it flies.
More than $800K, it sits.
Interestingly, we had a home listed - I want to say - $899K. No bites.
Price dropped to $849K and had a bidding war and sold for - $899K.
So lots of different nuances pricing wise - happen.
Yes, that works sometimes but their sell price was way lower than what we sold our house for… we got a full price offer.
I filled one out also - let’s see if I get any money!
1 Like