Selling House question

[joenorm]

Hello,

I am considering putting my house on the market with an agent through the MLS.

My question is whether or not I can, at the same time, try to sell the property independently as a private sale?

Do you typically enter a contract with a Realtor thtt prevents this?

thanks

[Dibdab]

I put my house up fsbo on zillow and craigslist 4/1 with a note in description of property that agent commission would be protected (3%) and had offer the next day from buyer who had a realtor. So I would have only had to pay %3 commission.  But buyer wanted a new roof after house inspector deemed it marginal but not defective - just toward end of life.  I offered to pay buyer 3K but they still wanted new roof so we cancelled offer.  I learned 2 mistakes I made.  1.) I could have held buyer of offer contract because roof was not defective and law states buyer cannot walk away unless it is a structural defect or health or safety issue. 2) Collecting earnest money with offer prevents buyer from stringing along deal  and wasting time.
Of course I learned the above subsequently talking with and hiring a realtor after trying FSBO alone to no avail for days .  Realtor allowed me to continue FSBO as long as I paid him 4% (3% going to buyers agent) if I brought buyer to table or %6 if my realtor brought buyer (%3 to him and 3% to buyers agent).  My agent brought a buyers offer to me in about a week.  So it looks like now I will make about $10K less than I would have made even if I had replaced the roof for the folks who made first offer provided house appraised at what was offered and that is highly debatable because they wanted to finance cash out.

[soccerluvof4]

Its a contract with a realtor so being just that if you can find an agent to do so, you can write whatever you want within that contract.

[ematicic]

Timing is also a factor. Selling agents can be negotiated with but not by much usually. Also, you typically get what you pay for, in terms of effort on their behalf. If you have time to sell, FSBO might give you some opportunities to save but almost every buyer will have an agent representing them that will need paid. Most moves are also seasonal with Spring or Summer being the higher move months. You may live in a seller's market area and can price the house well on your own. You house's "worth" is typically based on comps from houses similar in size, near you that sold in the last year. You can get some good ideas on the comps from free reality sites.

[Jon Bon]

Flat fee listing. Pay a realtor $500 or so to get into the MLS. Then it will show up in everyone's search so you wont be at a marketing disadvantage. You handle the pictures, description, showings and negotiations.

I just put a lockbox on the door and realtors let themselves in (which is how it works anyways!) Really quite easy and not very much work at all. Only issue is you have to be ready for showings within a few hours sometimes. But again this is just how it would be with a normal realtor anyways. Ive used it twice, been very happy both times.

Varies by state, so check into it.