How much to sell a house?

[Craig234]

If you want to sell a house, and have the buyer, how would you do it - who would you use for the paperwork and what would the normal price be? I'm assuming different than an agent @6%.

 

[Kaido]

Google "fsbo", just make sure you take steps to protect yourself!

 

[highland145]

Real estate lawyer. IIRC, the last time was under $500 but that was a while ago. Cutting out the realtor is a big fat bonus.

Sorry, Jules.

 

[MrSquished]

If you want to sell a house, and have the buyer, how would you do it - who would you use for the paperwork and what would the normal price be? I'm assuming different than an agent @6%.

Do you have an agreed upon price yet?

 

[cbrunny]

When we sold our lawyer only charged us about $500. We had a realtor.

 

[SKORPI0]

Price checks are not allowed here. j/k.
As already mentioned, Real estate lawyer. They'll do all the paperwork involved on whatever terms of sale are agreed upon between seller and buyer.
An aunt was a Real Estate agent since the '80s. Made good money and had lots of connections. Her buyers/sellers listings were huge. Of course having a lawyer husband (my Moms youngest brother) helped too
for any potential problems (he had his own lawfirm). I worked for her for a while doing the listing, map of houses for sale/pending/sold etc. together with her pretty secretary.

 

[MrSquished]

I'm a 3 year young real estate agent and we try to convince FSBO's to use us instead of course. But it's not totally necessary. Sometimes agents do a lot of work during a deal putting out fires and keeping the lines of communication open and everybody calm. I've had deals that were a breeze, and others that ran into multiple obstacles that had to be solved.

You want to make sure your home is priced right so you get the highest price. A good agent that really knows the market can do that very well. Without an agent, it's up to you. Using Zillow & Trulia is hit or miss, a lot of outdated info on them. You could hire an appraiser. But the way appraisers get to a price and an agent gets to a price are different. It's more likely an agent will tell you a higher price to get vs an appraiser.

Making sure the buyers offer is strong enough and using the right mortgage provider. At least 20% down. The market here is very competitive so 10% down mortgages don't often fly. That would be different in another market. Know your market.

Around here we recommend using a good mortgage broker vs going to a big bank. There are exceptions, certain mortgage reps at big banks are known to be good, you just have to know who they are. I don't have enough years of experience to know all this info, but I am good friends with multiple top realtors in my office, so I simply go to them and get the info. A good agent will know. Not sure what you would do besides google it. I can say that using Chase bank around here is terrible. They suck and deals fall through with them a lot or take forever to close. I even had a client once put an offer in with a Chase pre-approval and the sellers agents were like you won the bid, as LONG as you don't use Chase. I have a list of 5 mortgage brokers that I know the top agents in my office use. So I'm good. The list can change, I took one guy off the list so far and put another on. The one who got off the list was known as the best for a few years but then something happened and his service slipped bigly.

Get a great lawyer. That's the most important thing. I guess by reading reviews online. All competent realtors keep a running list of the best lawyers in the area, and again that list can change. Real estate lawyers here run approx $1,300-1,500

The buyers are responsible for taking care of the home inspection and appraisal.

Real estate buying processes vary state to state, and my experience is in Northern NJ.

 

[cbrunny]

also any agent charging 6% is a crook. Do not hire an agent that charges 6%.

 

[highland145]

also any agent charging 6% is a crook. Do not hire an agent that charges 6%.

lol I think they are at 7% here. Thankfully, I am not moving until I'm dead or headed to assisted living.

 

[SKORPI0]

Thanks for the info, PixelSquish.

 

[MrSquished]

also any agent charging 6% is a crook. Do not hire an agent that charges 6%.

6% is the traditional number and has nothing to do with being a crook or not. Times are a changing in some areas of the country and 5% is becoming the norm. I know plenty of ethical listing agents that go for 6% when getting a new listing. And they are very good at what they do. Around here most payouts to the buyers agent is 2.5%. Some not so great buyers agents may lower the priority of a property that has a 2% payout. I've never seen anything less than 2% though on the buyers side. The vast majority of buyers payouts are 2.5%, which means the sellers agents got at least a 5% commission.

 

[Craig234]

The situation here is, I'm only selling if I can sell to the person there now and we're discussing price. They're trying to beg off paying for an appraiser to have their 'real estate friends' provide an estimated value - uh, no. But if we agree on a price, then it's just a matter of the paperwork processing. I offered to carry the financing with 10% down, figure why not - can foreclose.

Of course if I did that, picking the interest rate is tricky.

But they're trying to get a loan somewhere.

When you mention appraiser and agent getting different values, which is higher? More accurate?

I'm dubious the deal will happen but want to plan for if it does. I have a real estate lawyer in the area referred by a property manager so I'll consider them.

 

[cbrunny]

6% is the traditional number and has nothing to do with being a crook or not. Times are a changing in some areas of the country and 5% is becoming the norm. I know plenty of ethical listing agents that go for 6% when getting a new listing. And they are very good at what they do. Around here most payouts to the buyers agent is 2.5%. Some not so great buyers agents may lower the priority of a property that has a 2% payout. I've never seen anything less than 2% though on the buyers side. The vast majority of buyers payouts are 2.5%, which means the sellers agents got at least a 5% commission.

that is balls to the wall nuts. I would never ever hire an agent that took more than 4%. When I sold my house (at 4%) the agent had a buyer in place before the sign went in the yard. Literally, the offer was signed and done before the sign was in the yard. There's absolutely no need for an expensive realtor when the market is moving so fast that your head spins.

 

[highland145]

Can you check the county records for recent sales? Ours is online and pretty nifty.

You as the lender because they can't get a loan...I'd have to really like/trust them for it to be under 8%.

 

[MrSquished]

that is balls to the wall nuts. I would never ever hire an agent that took more than 4%. When I sold my house (at 4%) the agent had a buyer in place before the sign went in the yard. Literally, the offer was signed and done before the sign was in the yard. There's absolutely no need for an expensive realtor when the market is moving so fast that your head spins.

If you live in an insanely hot market, which I do, you could probably do a 4% commission deal, but it just rarely happens. There is just too much fluctuation - the majority of properties sit for a month or less depending upon the cost - but others sit a lot longer. Most people want to pay the 1% extra to get professional service.

You might have been able to get an extra $30,000 while paying out an extra $3k in commission.

 

[cbrunny]

If you live in an insanely hot market, which I do, you could probably do a 4% commission deal, but it just rarely happens. There is just too much fluctuation - the majority of properties sit for a month or less depending upon the cost - but others sit a lot longer. Most people want to pay the 1% extra to get professional service.

You might have been able to get an extra $30,000 while paying out an extra $3k in commission.

ha, nope. I'd believe maybe 5k at most. We listed at more than what our agent suggested at my insistence. We lived in the house for 3 years and made 20% off the sale in a small town.

 

[AdamK47]

If your buyer is getting the money to purchase the home through a mortgage, the mortgage company will require an independant appraisal. The mortgage company will not fund the mortgage if the appraisal is lower than the agreed upon price. The seller has the right to terminate the contract, but chances are the next buyer trying to mortgage the place will run into the same problem. Appraisals done by different companies are very close to each other since they mainly rely on comparables sales in the area.

 

[Craig234]

Can you check the county records for recent sales? Ours is online and pretty nifty.

You as the lender because they can't get a loan...I'd have to really like/trust them for it to be under 8%.

Why, when it's secured by the property?

If they don't pay, they lose it - still profitable.

 

[highland145]

Why, when it's secured by the property?

If they don't pay, they lose it - still profitable.

I've had rentals and have seen what people can do to a place. And what it costs to fix.

A friend has a family house in NY but lives here (SC). It's been rented for 2 years while the tenant tried to get a loan. She finally just couldn't. So she moves to TN and ignores all attempts to contact her. A friend of my friend lives nearby and went to check on the house. The old tenant's boyfriend is squatting in the house. Nice to be 15 hrs away, right?

Your people could be fantastic but I don't know them. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt but, in my business, there's usually a good reason people have bad credit.

 

[MrDudeMan]

that is balls to the wall nuts. I would never ever hire an agent that took more than 4%. When I sold my house (at 4%) the agent had a buyer in place before the sign went in the yard. Literally, the offer was signed and done before the sign was in the yard. There's absolutely no need for an expensive realtor when the market is moving so fast that your head spins.

You seem to be awfully snarky for not really understanding what you're talking about. The seller's agent typically takes a 6% commission in most areas of the country because the buyer's agent is paid through that commission. In other words, the prototypical arrangement is for the agents to split what the seller agrees to pay. People often confuse this by thinking they don't have to pay for a real estate agent as the buyer, but that's not true because the seller is far less willing to come down on price when they are stuck with a 6% commission. You seem to have some inkling of how this works, but you should be a little less aggressive and sarcastic until you actually understand.

I have been buying and selling properties for a long time without a realtor. The very first time I bought a house I used a realtor, but that's before I figured out how the process works. For some people, I will always tell them to use a realtor because they think they're smart enough to handle it when they aren't. If you can do basic math and have some semblance of fiscal responsibility, you can handle it on your own. Using an agent takes the guess work out if you aren't sure which person you are or if you don't have any experience. Just because the market is hot doesn't mean you can't step on a landmine that totally fucks you later. It's the same thing as basically everything else - if you don't know what you don't know, you won't know when it's going to bite you in the ass.

Edit: Also, if the market was that hot, you could have sold it on your own. You paid a pair of realtors 4% to walk across your lawn a few times and to print a contract. That is balls to the wall nuts.

 

[Fern]

If you want to sell a house, and have the buyer, how would you do it - who would you use for the paperwork and what would the normal price be? I'm assuming different than an agent @6%.

Check your state's laws.

IIRC, in FL anybody can sell their house and do their own paperwork. In NC I'm pretty sure a lawyer is required.

Fern

 

[cbrunny]

You seem to be awfully snarky for not really understanding what you're talking about. The seller's agent typically takes a 6% commission in most areas of the country because the buyer's agent is paid through that commission. In other words, the prototypical arrangement is for the agents to split what the seller agrees to pay. People often confuse this by thinking they don't have to pay for a real estate agent as the buyer, but that's not true because the seller is far less willing to come down on price when they are stuck with a 6% commission. You seem to have some inkling of how this works, but you should be a little less aggressive and sarcastic until you actually understand.

I have been buying and selling properties for a long time without a realtor. The very first time I bought a house I used a realtor, but that's before I figured out how the process works. For some people, I will always tell them to use a realtor because they think they're smart enough to handle it when they aren't. If you can do basic math and have some semblance of fiscal responsibility, you can handle it on your own. Using an agent takes the guess work out if you aren't sure which person you are or if you don't have any experience. Just because the market is hot doesn't mean you can't step on a landmine that totally fucks you later. It's the same thing as basically everything else - if you don't know what you don't know, you won't know when it's going to bite you in the ass.

Edit: Also, if the market was that hot, you could have sold it on your own. You paid a pair of realtors 4% to walk across your lawn a few times and to print a contract. That is balls to the wall nuts.

this seems like its completely at odds with what I was saying (noting that I am both "not really understanding" and "seem to have some inkling" in the same paragraph), and the judgement on whether or not I was "right" to use a realtor at 4% in a hot market is completely unnecessary - particularly when you follow that up with a full paragraph describing the exact reasons why I used a realtor in the first place. I paid 4% to my agent. I was selling a house for the first time. What's it to you?

 

[Fanatical Meat]

If you want to sell a house, and have the buyer, how would you do it - who would you use for the paperwork and what would the normal price be? I'm assuming different than an agent @6%.

I just took a job as a realtor, PM some info and we can talk. I can look for a well rated realtor in your area.

*if* we talk obviously its between you and I. I will not release any info on AT or to anyone else without your consent

 

[Craig234]

I just took a job as a realtor, PM some info and we can talk. I can look for a well rated realtor in your area.

Thanks for the nice offer and congrats. We'll see if it gets closer - not sure if I need a realtor from the other posts saying to use a real estate lawyer?

 

[Carson Dyle]

Should cost about a buck-fifty.