Author Topic: Selling an expensive house yourself?  (Read 1623 times)

Linea_Norway

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Selling an expensive house yourself?
« on: July 10, 2018, 01:02:54 PM »
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« Last Edit: November 13, 2019, 02:37:46 AM by Linea_Norway »

Sibley

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Re: Selling an expensive house yourself?
« Reply #1 on: July 23, 2018, 07:58:41 PM »
In the US, for-sale-by-owner homes have the reputation of selling for less than they're worth. Of course, our entire system is a bit different than yours, so YMMV.

px4shooter

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Re: Selling an expensive house yourself?
« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2018, 09:35:21 PM »
In the US, for-sale-by-owner homes have the reputation of selling for less than they're worth. Of course, our entire system is a bit different than yours, so YMMV.

When the seller loses 6-8% by using a realtor, I am sure the realtors are the ones saying the home sold for less than it is worth :)

We are in a sellers market in my town and quite a few are selling without a realtor. I have not heard the arguments about selling for less, except from the one realtor that posts about how he could have sold it for more.

With the multiple offers coming in, the market is setting the price anyways. Sure, the realtors may find a bigger sucker, but you are also paying for it.

waltworks

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Re: Selling an expensive house yourself?
« Reply #3 on: July 23, 2018, 10:09:57 PM »
I have both bought and sold a decent number of houses at this point, and I'll say this: 95% of FSBO listings are garbage. Horrible photos, house a mess, impossible to schedule showings, and most important - almost always priced wrong (ie, too high).

There are people who know what they're doing, can run their own comps, are familiar with all the docs needed - for those folks, go for it. Download $20 worth of FSBO forms, hire a title company, and you're done. I sold a house that way last year - but I'm on double digits worth of house sales in my life. I also know the neighborhoods in the town intimately, tracked *every* sale that happened in the zip code for 2+ years, and was realistic about the shortcomings of the house (no garage/covered parking, weird hexagonal hippie thing, etc). 

If you aren't pretty intimately familiar with pricing and negotiations and marketing your house, and your local market, you are *probably* better off hiring a professional (picking a decent one is a whole different problem, of course).

For 2%, I'd just hire someone, personally. In the US you're going to pay double or triple that amount, and the incentive to FSBO if you're up to it is greater.

-W
« Last Edit: July 23, 2018, 10:13:55 PM by waltworks »

Linea_Norway

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Re: Selling an expensive house yourself?
« Reply #4 on: August 14, 2018, 01:36:01 AM »
I have both bought and sold a decent number of houses at this point, and I'll say this: 95% of FSBO listings are garbage. Horrible photos, house a mess, impossible to schedule showings, and most important - almost always priced wrong (ie, too high).

There are people who know what they're doing, can run their own comps, are familiar with all the docs needed - for those folks, go for it. Download $20 worth of FSBO forms, hire a title company, and you're done. I sold a house that way last year - but I'm on double digits worth of house sales in my life. I also know the neighborhoods in the town intimately, tracked *every* sale that happened in the zip code for 2+ years, and was realistic about the shortcomings of the house (no garage/covered parking, weird hexagonal hippie thing, etc). 

If you aren't pretty intimately familiar with pricing and negotiations and marketing your house, and your local market, you are *probably* better off hiring a professional (picking a decent one is a whole different problem, of course).

For 2%, I'd just hire someone, personally. In the US you're going to pay double or triple that amount, and the incentive to FSBO if you're up to it is greater.

-W

I hear you.
We are very realistic people. We know how to make a house look representative for sale, but we are not very experienced in buying and selling houses. This is only our second house. I have a recent list of sold houses in our immediate  neighbourhood and I can predict to a reasonable degree what our house will sell for. I am NOT familiar with negotiating house prices. We would choose to get professional photos, get a professional technical report and buy the realtor "package" with house papers.

Last time we sold, we started by not having a good realtor, who wasn't able to "sell" our house. We ended up changing to another one halfway in the process. So I know now that you should choose a realtor by his/her reputation.

I recently had a realtor looking at our house, to give a price evaluation. He seemed good and a friend of mine recommended him. He also thought it was difficult to set the price and took a 50.000 USD margin.
I will soon get another realtor over, although the fact that she hasn't been to our house yet, says something about how she prioritized us. I don't think I will choose her eventually.

We have also considered putting the house on the market without a realtor in spring 2019. If it doesn't get sold during the summer, then sell it again with a realtor in 2020. But you might be right and using a good realtor would be better.

 

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