Has Anyone Sold Their Own Homestead Without An Agent ??

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Would like to know the pros and cons of selling your own home without the use of a real estate agent. I realize they charge a %, around here about 7 %. Sure could use that money in my pocket. Would you tell me what your experiences have been doing either or both ?? Plan on getting an appraisal within the next couple of weeks with a real estate but don't want to deceive them if I deceide not to sell with them. Any help ?? Thank You !!

-- Helena (windyacs@npacc.net), March 27, 2002

Answers

We have sold a home without a real estate agent involved. I beleive that we got all the paper work right from the title company. The papers were really easy to fill out and it saved us and the purchasers about 7,000. We sold this house to the second person that came to see it.

All home sale prices are available to the general public. So you can look up property that is like yours and find out what the selling price was and do your own rough appraisal. The other house that we sold we sold thru a realator and it was a bit easier because we didn't have to do anything but sign our papers. But we also had to add the 7% to the cost of the house so that person ended up paying more.

-- shari (smillers@snowcrest.net), March 27, 2002.


It has been our experience that real estate people were actually a hinderance to selling out-of-town property. To sell your own, you need to do the following: 1. Have an appraisal done by a professional appraiser. Cost is around $500.00. This is necessary for your credibility in setting a price. 2. Have on hand an earnest money agreement form. Buy a few at a stationery store. 3. Select an escrow company. 4. Check with your county to determine anything that might be required when a property changes hands. In our county they require a septic tank inspection and a check of the well. When someone is interested enough to put earnest money down, fill out the form and both parties sign it. Take the form and the money to the escrow company. They will take care of the rest. They do a title check and issue a title insurance policy. This all will cost you much less than the real estate commission, and besides, you have to pay for all these things in addition to the real estate commission anyway. One thing that real estate people sometimes are good for is pointing the buyer in the right direction for financing. But people can arrange their own financing with their own bank or credit union, etc. Just make sure every word of agreement between you and the buyer is in writing, and signed before a notary.

-- Dianne Wood (woodgoat@pacifier.com), March 27, 2002.

In Colorado you normally do the closing at the title company and they handle everything anyhow. If you do a standard contract you call the title co and they set everything up for you and figure out all the paperwork. If you have a realtor he comes along, does nothing but pick up a check. The main thing you should do is disclose everything you know to be wrong with the property, in writting and make the buyer sign it. A responsible realtor will have you do this but you have to fill out the form when they bring it over, you can get or make one and do it yourself. You have to do all the hard work of getting your property ready to sell whether you get a realtor or not. I wouldn't cut them in on it myself. Whatever you do, don't let a realtor talk you into allowing them to come show the property to a buyer that they have lined up. They will then try to make you think that you owe it to them to sign a contract. Don't do it!

-- kim in CO (kimk61252@hotmail.com), March 27, 2002.

We sold our homestead in the U.P. of Mich. before moving here. It went very smoothly. The papers were easy to fill out. We urged the buyers to go ahead and get a lawyer if they wanted and they did. We hired one to be at the closing. Our total fee was $500. It was a far cry from what we would have given a realtor. I would always try to sell my own place first. After all, who knows or loves a place better than you? Jean

-- jean from ky. (dandrea @duo-county.com), March 27, 2002.

Well, we bought a place FROM some folks who were representing themselves (what real estate agents somewhat derisively call "Fisbos" meaning "for sale by owner") and it seemed to work smoothly on their end. Our agent tried to get them to sign with his agency, of course (in the real estate biz evidently having one agency represent the buyers AND the sellers on one house is not considered a conflict of interest) which they declined. As the above post says, I think the main thing is just to have a legit disclosure form (I think you can buy them or maybe find a printable one on the internet) and make sure all the paperwork is in order. One bad thing about listing with an agent is that some of them (if not most of them) will try to get you to pay them their fee whether they bring you the client or not---- e.g. if someone hears your place is for sale and drops by to see it,and decides to buy, the agent would want to treat it as if the lead had come from them. There are a good many books out there on selling a home by yourself. I think you will do fine. Good luck.

-- Jeff (lorianandjeff@aol.com), March 28, 2002.


Helena, Another point that I have not seen mentioned here is to have a pre-inspection sale done by a certified home inspector. As you will be liable for any defects not disclosed on the seller's disclosure, it's a good idea to have that report as a back up should a problem arise later. It's possible that the home inspector will educate you on a potential problem/defect. The money is better spent beforehand than having to spend it on legal fees later.

-- Marge (mboyc73@yahoo.com), March 28, 2002.

The title company walked us thru the process, no muss, no fuss and it saved us alot of money.

-- john (natlivent@pcpros.net), March 28, 2002.

I've done FSBO several times and am doing it again. I get the standard forms for disclosure and use a RE Attorney for checking all the details. I've carried the properties, so no title company and/or no other agencies are involved.

It's saved me many thousands of dollars from agencies who do little of nothing to earn their commissions. My experiences with agents has been horrible. First they don't follow up on leads. I called in most of them, from drive-bys. They don't call to say they'll be late or worse, don't show up at all. They are basically ignorant having moved to the area only six weeks before and transferring their licenses. When economic times get tough, I find more agents take course to re-instate their licenses than when the times are good.

If you do decide to go with an agency, even the "Help-U-Sells" get references & call them. Find out how long the property was on the market and how many people viewed the property or house and how many buyers were presented.

-- al (yr2012@hotmail.com), March 28, 2002.


Well, we also BOUGHT from a FSBO (someone we knew), in a state with nothing in the way of disclosure laws. One caveat is to look at the state you live in. Some states, like CA, have tons of disclosure laws, everything from earthquake to radon, mandatory inspections, and the average home seller hasn't a clue about this stuff. A real estate person in this case provides an added person to go after in any potential lawsuits over disclosure/nondisclosure.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), March 28, 2002.

I sold a three-acre subdivision of my homestead to some folks who had run an ad in the paper wanting land with mountain views, etc. I went to Staples Office Supply and bought a real estate sales contract on a disk for about $4 and typed in all the things we agreed on and we all (two of them, one of me) had our signatures notarized. They gave me $6,000 down on a total price of $17,500 for the 3 acres, but on condition that I have their septic field and well sites approved. Uh oh! I had to get a backhoe to dig septic field test pits! Who knew?? Then the health dept. person only came out two hours at a time and I had to pay the bck hoe guy for a day or half a day. I found lots of work for him to do, improving/extending the internal roades etc. The buyers made one complaint after another and soon I had recklessly squandered the whole $6,000 doing things for them to make them happy, so they were getting improved land instead of unimproved! As if that was not bad enough, after they made me spend the down-payment, they reneged on the deal, found a greedy lawyer, andsued me for their money back which they knew I didn;t have! They said they were going to get a lien against my property and take it all! So I had to get a lawyer who cost me $2,500 before I fired him and asked the judge to PLEASE make a judgment against me!

Now I did sell some land without an agent, but boy, did I get into a mess! I note that I got my land without an agent on either side -- by bartering some land I had in another state -- and that was a mess, too.

I took a course to be a real estate agent and passed the test. But the course didn't cover what to do about scam artists!

Good luck, whatever you choose to do. There are some very valid points in your replies, especially the stuff about "agency". That's abig cover-up for caveat emptor, buyer beware! (sellers, too!)

-- Elizabeth (arvon104@cs.com), March 31, 2002.



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