Best way to sell a house?

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Need to sale a house. I know it's a bad time to do it blah bla blah.. House needs to be sold regardless. I do have some equity in it. Is it best to use a real estate agent or do it yourself? Please let me know the pros and cons of each way.

 

[ultimatebob]

Right now, the only quick way to unload a house is to over-insure the sucker and torch it.

But, yeah... get a realtor. If your property isn't in the MLS listings, most buyers will never notice it.

 

[unxpurg8d]

Need to sale a house. I know it's a bad time to do it blah bla blah.. House needs to be sold regardless. I do have some equity in it. Is it best to use a real estate agent or do it yourself? Please let me know the pros and cons of each way.

Post it on craigslist also.

 

[Doppel]

Post it on craigslist also.

I find the quality of cl buyers terrible, I can't imagine selling a house is really a great place. All you really need is to make sure it's in good shape, price is good, is on mls. That's basically all a realtor is going to do for you as well unless they are one of the few who actually have any connections and give a sh*t. Most don't seem to from what I can tell.

 

[alkemyst]

How much is in it and how much do you owe? Then what is the price you'd like.

Houses are selling when fairly priced. Not everyone bought their home in the last 5ish years.

 

[unxpurg8d]

I find the quality of cl buyers terrible, I can't imagine selling a house is really a great place. All you really need is to make sure it's in good shape, price is good, is on mls. That's basically all a realtor is going to do for you as well unless they are one of the few who actually have any connections and give a sh*t. Most don't seem to from what I can tell.

I've bought three houses I found through craigslist in the last four years so I can say definitely that buyers look there.

If you're in a good enough selling position to discount craigslist's "terrible buyers" then more power to you. And in this market if you think that " All you really need is to make sure it's in good shape, price is good, is on mls" good luck selling your home because it's probably going to sit there along with the others owned by complacent sellers who think the MLS is all they need to focus on.

 

[nanette1985]

There are good real estate agents and bad ones. If that's what you're going for, do some research and find out how many homes they've sold recently and to whom.

 

[Bignate603]

There are good real estate agents and bad ones. If that's what you're going for, do some research and find out how many homes they've sold recently and to whom.

I've got agree. The difference between a good realtor and a bad one is huge.

 

[Mermaidman]

http://www.city-data.com/forum/real-estate/

^can be informative.

 

[Oakenfold]

Pay a fee to a broker to list it on the MLS for you and show it yourself.
Pro-
Save 3% typically by representing yourself.

Con-
Working with buyer agents (most realtors i've met I'm not impressed with).
Working with potential buyers (I had pretty good luck, ymmv though).
Most buyers like to see a house in 1 hour to 24 hours, assuming you aren't going to use a lockbox and will be present to show the house you will need to be very flexible with your schedule.

If you are comfortable with a lockbox that's the way to go, this way you don't need to be present (I'm sure most realtors would recommend that the owner not be present to begin with).

Let a realtor do it for you:
Pro-
You don't have to deal with agents or buyers and don't have to invest as much time yourself since your realtor should be doing the above for you.

Con-
You are paying 3% or more by having someone represent you.

If you do list it on the MLS yourself I would recommend the following:
Pay 3% for a buyer agent to bring you a buyer, agents are not going to show a house if the commission isn't worth their time.

Clearly indicate that your property IS NOT A SHORT SALE (you should list this in the public comments on the MLS). Some buyers and agents prefer not to deal with short sales since they can take quite a bit longer to close if they do at all..

Price it right from the start.

If you aren't getting showings determine early on what's wrong (e.g., are you competitive with the market? have you adequately prepped the house for showings? does the house need updating? do you need to stage the house with appropriate furniture?).

 

[Blayze]

Right now list it with an agent, and plan to get a lot less for it than you wanted. That is if it even sales.

 

[alkemyst]

even if it "sales", awe; I think I am picking your real estate advice.

 

[rh71]

agents have connections - when they do open houses - they are not necessarily selling that particular home, but they can interest buyers in their other listings / their partner's listings. So if it's on some agent's radar, it's got a bigger chance. It's good to have an agent as long as you can afford the commission.

 

[edro]

I sold mine myself using a For Sale By Owner website that simply posted it to MLS.
I had ~6 showings and one of those bought it after 2-3 weeks.

Using a selling agent is next to worthless.
You are the one who is inconvenienced by the showings. If you can answer emails and setup appointments, you can do it yourself and save 3%.

Also, make sure you list it as a 3% buyers agent commission. I have heard that realtors will avoid your house if it is less than 3%. You can try it with less than 3, but I didn't.

 

[edro]

Right now list it with an agent, and plan to get a lot less for it than you wanted. That is if it even sales.

Why post worthless nonsense like this?
Houses are selling like normal again, unless you live in Vegas or Phoenix.

 

[mshan]

Do your research, find a good realtor, get a real comparative market analysis, and slightly underprice home in current market.

Think more in terms of trade up (you will hopefully being buying another nicer, newer home in better neighborhood that is also currently slightly undervalued).

Especially if you have equity and are not under water, it is more a matter of making less money on current home and hopefully finding better home at slight discount too.

 

[nanette1985]

I sold mine myself using a For Sale By Owner website that simply posted it to MLS.
I had ~6 showings and one of those bought it after 2-3 weeks.

Using a selling agent is next to worthless.
You are the one who is inconvenienced by the showings. If you can answer emails and setup appointments, you can do it yourself and save 3%.

Also, make sure you list it as a 3% buyers agent commission. I have heard that realtors will avoid your house if it is less than 3%. You can try it with less than 3, but I didn't.

keep in mind that people buying a FSBO know that there's no agent getting that 3% and will take the 3% off their offering price because they don't see any reason why they should pay it to you.

doesn't mean avoid FSBO but it's just something to think about.

 

[edro]

keep in mind that people buying a FSBO know that there's no agent getting that 3% and will take the 3% off their offering price because they don't see any reason why they should pay it to you.

doesn't mean avoid FSBO but it's just something to think about.

Right, which also makes it look like they are getting a deal and saving 3%.

 

[dullard]

The real question to answer first is can people find your house. If you live in a well known area, with lots of drive-by traffic, then do a for sale by owner. But if you live in a great location but on a street that no one has ever heard of, then you'll be wasting your time with FSBO. The very first thing most people think about when buying is the location. If they read an ad in the paper and don't know the location, forget it they'll never call and they'll never buy. That is when a real-estate agent helps. He'll get his coworkers to show their clients at your house even if they've never heard of your street. I sold my house in a short time with an agent while my FSBO neighbors wasted 6+ months for the same house on the same street for the same price and the same condition at almost the same time (our street was only 1 block long and no one knew where it was). They later got an agent and it sold in weeks.

The next question is what is the house truely worth. It isn't worth what you want to get. It isn't worth what you paid for it (or even some percent above or below). It is worth what buyers are willing to pay for it. If you can judge this price properly, then you might not need a professional's help. But if not, you'll be sitting there 12 months from now wondering why you just paid $20,000 in interest, maintanence, and taxes instead of paying a realtor $10,000 to sell the house quickly.

Finally, is your house in selling condition? I can't count the number of homes I've seen on walks with a FSBO sign and a yard that looks like crap. I'm talking piles of trash that would take only 10 minutes to clean up (or similar issues). Say goodbye to any sales if that applies to you. An independant real estate agent can really help give an unbiased eye. And they often provide professional house stagers for free to help move furniture around and remove eyesores that you'll never think about.

 

[spidey07]

Put ours up and had a contract in 4 days. The best way to sell a house in today's market is simple - price. Price it lower than comparables sales of homes in the last few months in your location. We listed this one for 5K under other properties that sold. It sat on the market for 6 months of last year because we didn't price it right and wanted more money.

As said, the market will tell you what your house is worth. It's right price is the one a buyer is willing to pay and not a penny more.

 

[edro]

No one searches for houses by driving around.
Everyone uses the internet to search/map listings.

As long as you get it on the MLS with good photos, the buyers will come to you.

 

[dullard]

No one searches for houses by driving around.
Everyone uses the internet to search/map listings.

As long as you get it on the MLS with good photos, the buyers will come to you.

Not really true. At least in my internet home searches, there has never once been a map. MLS.com doesn't have a map for my city neither do any of the major real estate websites that I've browsed (I just checked today to verify).

All I get is a list of homes with prices, street names, photos, and other information. If a buyer can't tell the location quickly from the street name, that buyer often will just go to one of the dozens of MLS listings that they do recogonize as being in their desired neighborhood.

Unless I'm blind.

 

[juiio]

Not really true. At least in my internet home searches, there has never once been a map. MLS.com doesn't have a map for my city neither do any of the major real estate websites that I've browsed (I just checked today to verify).

Try Redfin. It is the best site that I've found. It uses Google for maps and bird's eye view shots.

 

[edro]

Not really true. At least in my internet home searches, there has never once been a map. MLS.com doesn't have a map for my city neither do any of the major real estate websites that I've browsed (I just checked today to verify).

All I get is a list of homes with prices, street names, photos, and other information. If a buyer can't tell the location quickly from the street name, that buyer often will just go to one of the dozens of MLS listings that they do recogonize as being in their desired neighborhood.

Unless I'm blind.

Use a site like Realtor.com or Zillow.com.
They pull from the MLS and give tons of good info with nice maps and Bird's Eye view.

 

[spidey07]

Use a site like Realtor.com or Zillow.com.
They pull from the MLS and give tons of good info with nice maps and Bird's Eye view.

Yep. Our agent said some 85% find the home via the intarweb, so if you're not on MLS/Zillow you're kinda screwed.