My parents are selling 7-year 'new' our house

[jEct2]

Obviously this will be a big transaction. We built it new for $250K~ seven years ago and house has proabbly appreciated to about 30-50%.

They're seeing a Coldwell Banker real-state agent right now. My parents don't know a thing or two when it comes ot selling houses. What are some unbiased options I should look at for getting our house sold?

Another thing is can brokers screw us over? What are some cautious tips to watch out for?

[edit]
What are the pros & cons of isoldmyhouse.com? How does this work?

Thanks AT!

 

[MrCodeDude]

You don't know how much it appreciated. You're just throwing 30-50% in the wind and expecting advice.

Where do you live? Square Footage of Land? Square Footage of House? Bedrooms? Bathrooms?

edit: Always ask for more than it's worth if it's in a nice area. That way if you only receive lesser offers, it should be around what you really want for the house.

 

[jEct2]

Originally posted by: MrCodeDude
You don't know how much it appreciated. You're just throwing 30-50% in the wind and expecting advice.

Where do you live? Square Footage of Land? Square Footage of House? Bedrooms? Bathrooms?

A very calm suburbs thirty minutes north of Boston, MA. I don't know the square footage.
3 bedroom,
1.5 bathroom,
3 floors (finished 'basement, kitchen/living/dining room floor/bedroom floor.)
about an acrew of land (pain in the ass to mow)

I throw that figure around because that's how much it was set by the Town hall when we were considering selling about three years ago.

 

[Ornery]

It's probably too late if they already signed something, but start reading...

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

As long as the realtor has more than a few years of experience and isn't some bored housewife who sells houses as a hobby they should be ok.

Most home sale transactions are handled with standard, boiler-plate paperwork. Most of the mods to the paperwork are done in real time and are hand written into a specific place on the contract.

As far as making sure your parents get proper value for their house, they should get an appraisal. They'll have to get one anyway in order for the buyer to obtain financing so get it out of the way early. DO NOT use whoever the realtor tells you to. Not that it's a bad thing to use your realtors preference in anything, it's just nice to have independent verification on things like this. Don't get suckered into paying for a Comparitive Market Analysis. (CMA) A CMA doesn't carry the weight of an appraisal and, like I said above, you have to get an appraisal anyway.

It's doubtful that a broker would deliberately screw your parents over. They don't get paid unless the house sells. The only thing you should watch out for is a realtor tying to talk your parents into taking the first offer that comes along. If they aren't satisfied with the numbers then don't take the deal. Or counteroffer back with numbers that work for them.