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TailgateTiger 
LSU Fan
Flint, Texas
Member since Oct 2008
440 posts
| Selling a house by owner question (Posted on 1/27/13 at 8:09 am)
All the houses I have sold have been through a realtor. If I remember their normal fee is 6%. How difficult is it to sell by owner besides showing your house when interested parties call?
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Lsut81
LSU Fan
Member since Jun 2005
54843 posts
| re: Selling a house by owner question (Posted on 1/27/13 at 8:16 am to TailgateTiger)
quote:
How difficult is it to sell by owner besides showing your house when interested parties call?
I've heard its not that hard if you can do paperwork. But what you have to consider is that 6% doesn't go to one realtor, they split it. So the problem you may have, is realtors not showing their clients your home if you're not going to pay a commission.
I think you can pay to list on MLS or one of those sites and put in there "2% commission to realtors who bring purchaser" or something like that.
Again, this is just all minor stuff I remember hearing when I sold mine 3yrs ago.
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Pilot Tiger 
Georgetown Fan
Washington DC
Member since Nov 2005
50369 posts
| re: Selling a house by owner question (Posted on 1/27/13 at 8:46 am to TailgateTiger)
if you arent in a hurry, it can be good.
you could, hopefully, have someone interested in it who doesnt have an agent and save 6%
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Lsut81
LSU Fan
Member since Jun 2005
54843 posts
| re: Selling a house by owner question (Posted on 1/27/13 at 8:48 am to Pilot Tiger)
quote:
you could, hopefully, have someone interested in it who doesnt have an agent and save 6%
True, but I've even heard that its worth paying 1-2% to a specialist in the field to do the paperwork and make sure it is done correctly 
I do believe that some out there will just charge a flat fee to do it.
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TigerintheNO
LSU Fan
New Orleans
Member since Jan 2004
18927 posts
| re: Selling a house by owner question (Posted on 1/27/13 at 12:12 pm to Lsut81)
quote:
True, but I've even heard that its worth paying 1-2% to a specialist in the field to do the paperwork and make sure it is done correctly
that's what my wife did before we got married, show it herself, found a buy, paid 1% for someone to do the paperwork
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guttata
LSU Fan
prairieville
Member since Feb 2006
18240 posts
| re: Selling a house by owner question (Posted on 1/27/13 at 5:13 pm to TigerintheNO)
If you price it right, it shouldn't be a problem. I sold my last house 7 months ago. There were 3 others in the neighborhood for sale by a realtor and I simply priced mine at 6% less their asking price. 3rd couple to look at it, bought it. Had them fill out the purchase agreement provided by fsbo and closed with the mortgage co of their choice 2 months later. It did cost me $199 for them to come take pics and put it on the fsbo website.
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chuckitdeep
LSU Fan
Member since Nov 2008
355 posts
| re: Selling a house by owner question (Posted on 1/27/13 at 6:11 pm to TailgateTiger)
If you have the time to show, and advertise the house not a bad idea. If you don't have a high traffic neighborhood defintely pay for the realtor.
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Gr8t8s 
Alabama Fan
Athens, AL
Member since Oct 2009
317 posts
| re: Selling a house by owner question (Posted on 1/27/13 at 7:00 pm to TailgateTiger)
Because I'm a Realtor, I feel I can help you out here. You can absolutely sell your home yourself if you have the time. They key is to price it right. Anyone can do the paperwork and you can find contracts online to do what you need. It's definitely easier to hire a Realtor, though.
If you're in a bit more of a pinch for time, find someone or a company that will do a flat fee listing in the MLS. The MLS is the most powerful marketing tool out there and has the best chance of getting your home sold. The only issue is that you're gonna need to pay the selling realtor 3% (don't pay any less than that unless something like 2.5% is market standard). If you try to skimp and only offer 1 or 2%, you'll cut your number of showings drastically.
Think of it like this, the Realtor can push your house as the one the buyers pick, or they can suggest another. If yours pays less than another....you can see where that may be a problem.
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XanderCrews
LSU Fan
Member since Mar 2009
236 posts
| re: Selling a house by owner question (Posted on 1/27/13 at 7:42 pm to Gr8t8s)
Put your house on FSBOBR and then do trulia zillow and craigslist/ Any competent buyer will search these sights to look for homes.
That being said it can take more time with FSBO but it can be worth 10-30k in your pocket.
Steps involved.
Decide to sell.
Market through above techniques.
Show your home.
Print Offer Contract off the web and have the buyer sign it.
Once purchase price is agreed the buyer "should" get an inspection.
Buyer chooses title company.
Clean your house and show up at closing with the keys.
Cash check and proceed to strip club and drug dealers.
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TailgateTiger
LSU Fan
Flint, Texas
Member since Oct 2008
440 posts
| re: Selling a house by owner question (Posted on 1/27/13 at 8:18 pm to XanderCrews)
Thanks for everyones input!
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DownSouthTiger
LSU Fan
downsouth
Member since Jan 2005
2063 posts
| re: Selling a house by owner question (Posted on 1/27/13 at 10:06 pm to XanderCrews)
Good info everyone I am about to sell mine in a couple of months.
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Libertariantiger
LSU Fan
Member since Nov 2012
122 posts
| re: Selling a house by owner question (Posted on 1/27/13 at 10:39 pm to TailgateTiger)
I sold a house by owner in August. Trickiest part for me was pricing it. I wanted it to be low enough to be at my number for a quick sell and people come look, but I was nervous about what if I had to list it after three months, could I add the 6% to the price to stay where I needed to be. That was what was nerve racking. If it didn't sell in three months as low as I had it for, would it sell at all. It was nice and got lots of looks and three offers. I lost money, but bought high and sold in this market. Realtors are a waste IMHO. Bankers do most of the paper work. They helped us with the purchase agreement and pretty much any paperwork. Realtors stick it on the online MLS, wait, then turn it over to bankers.
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ItNeverRains
LSU Fan
Franklin, TN
Member since Oct 2007
4595 posts
| re: Selling a house by owner question (Posted on 1/28/13 at 6:58 am to Libertariantiger)
quote:
Realtors are a waste IMHO. Bankers do most of the paper work.
This is why the money board is great, because 95% of OT intelligent posts like these need not even be debunked. But for the 5%, If you think a loan officer(?) spends more hours, sets up more showings, sets up termite inspectors, home inspectors, does more paperwork, and spends more time & money on a buyer or seller, you are seriously misguided.
Now in niche communities where "T-Boy" is selling his house and "Little Ricky" at Dow who fishes with "T-Boy's" cousin "Junior" wants to buy it, yes a realtor is seldom needed.
Outside of that is a gigantic world full of unique situations where a realtor is paramount.
Ask your banker 
This post was edited on 1/28 at 7:01 am
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yellowfin 
Illinois Fan
Paige is Pretty
Member since May 2006
51853 posts
| re: Selling a house by owner question (Posted on 1/28/13 at 7:37 am to TailgateTiger)
It's really not that difficult if you have the time to sell it, just takes a little longer. Everyone knows a lawyer that can print the paperwork.
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poule deau
Member since Jan 2009
811 posts
| re: Selling a house by owner question (Posted on 1/28/13 at 8:50 am to yellowfin)
quote:
Everyone knows a lawyer that can print the paperwork.
This is how I did it.
Found a local lawyer who specialized in property transactions. He printed out the purchase agreement and disclosure documents for me. I went through it with the buyer and filled it all out. Lawyer reviewed it, made a few corrections and that was it. I don't think the lawyer spent more than one hour on the whole deal. He charged me $250.
The buyer did have all cash so I imagine this cut down on the paperwork involved.
I did spend another $300 to have the property appraised and this was how I arrived at my price. The only place I listed the property for sale was the classifieds of the local newspaper.
All in all, easy deal and would do it that way again.
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KG6
LSU Fan
Member since Aug 2009
618 posts
| re: Selling a house by owner question (Posted on 1/28/13 at 9:03 am to ItNeverRains)
quote:
Realtors are a waste IMHO. Bankers do most of the paper work.
I bought my house from the owner. The banker didn't do any of the paperwork, but he was more than willing to tell me exactly what I needed in order to have everything sqaured away. It really wasn't difficult at all.
The sellers actually paid to have an appraisal done before listing a price to get an idea of what to list the house for. So if you are worried about setting a price that may be an option that would only cost you 300-400 bucks instead of 3%-6%.
I'm definately going to try to sell my house myself. I'll get an agent if it's taking too long and I need to sell in a hurry.
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