Ways of Selling Your Home

[bmjohnson35]

We plan to sell our townhouse and replace it with a single family home within the next 2 years. I have been researching our options and wondering aI find the traditional US real estate commission excessive, especially during a sellers market. I certainly understand that agents must be paid for their services, but the compensation is not aligned with the level of effort. I have met with a local realtor, who has offered to reduce the commission from 6% to 5% (2.5% / 2.5%) or 4% if he sells the townhouse himself. 

I tried for sale by owner years ago, but the real estate industry shuts you out and actually steers clients away from you. I even posted on Zillow that I was willing to pay a 3% commission to anyone who brought me a buyer, but this did not help. If you aren't on the MLS, you are invisible to the market.

Has anyone tried Opendoor or some other home buying service? If so, how was your experience and how did the fees flush out?

Has anyone tried a flat-rate MLS broker service? If yes, what was your experience with this process?

[StPatrick]

Let's breakdown the main problem of the real estate industry.
A closed system where a 6% fee gets split between seller and buyer agencies and no one else.
The Seller agency gets paid 3% for posting the assets details to the MLS listing and essentially waiting for buyer agents to set appointments and close the sale. (I get corrected often by agents that it's so much more complicated, but it's not.)

If you have a big network, and enough time, you could try open-door, or do something crazier like a Facebook Marketplace post and create your own private sale to someone in your network. 6% is a lot! (12k-24k!) Hey, Mustachians have done crazier things. lol.

[Laura33]

Three things I'd be careful about:

1.  Make sure you really understand the market value of your home -- which can be difficult in a market that is changing rapidly.  We landed our house in the middle of the post-2000 runup at a comparatively cheap price, because the couple was splitting and selling it on their own and underestimated the current market (we made a full-price offer before it even hit the market, it was accepted, and by the following week they had two backup offers for $25K more).

2.  Be sure you know how to stage your home for sale.  We burned ourselves one time by having things like we liked them vs. making everything suitably beige.  The next time, we totally stripped down the house, then had to take out half of what was left after the realtor caravan (weekly tour by a bunch of agents to catch stuff coming on the market) all consistently said it was too cluttered.  (Note that we did not actually have a bunch of "stuff" -- I am not a tchotchke person -- so it's not like our house was Hummel Central to start with)

3.  If you sell yourself or with a discount agent, make sure that you are still offering 3% to the buyers' agent, unless you have one of those totally ridiculous markets where homes are getting 12 offers over asking the first weekend.  You want the buyers' realtor to have an incentive to bring them to your home.  Plus as a practical matter, if you don't have a realtor, the buyers' realtor knows they'll have do do all the work that the two realtors usually share, and more work for less money isn't particularly appealing. 

I'm not going to defend the costs of the current system; it seems weird to me that cheap and expensive homes require the same amount of work to sell and transfer, and yet the realtors make so much more on one than the other.  But do think closely about what you get for the 3% you're paying the selling agent (since I consider the 3% to the buyers' agent inviolable except in very unusual circumstances).  The most helpful thing we found was the local realtor network, which our best agents had begun working before we were even on the market/actively looking.  Our current house we found because our agent knew everything that was going on in the neighborhood and knew the house was going to be sold a month before it hit the market.  The house we sold before that, our agent was out there actively hustling to sell the house for us (vs. simply listing it and forgetting it); the amount of interaction we had with her was relatively ridiculous. 

Of course, we've also had bad agents, so caveat emptor and all that.  As with many other things, the best ones more than earn their pay (particularly in rapidly-changing markets), while the bad ones aren't worth a plugged nickel. 

[Morning Glory]

I had a really good experience selling with Redfin a couple years ago. I believe they charge less than a traditional realtor,  but more than a flat-rate listing service.

[Paper Chaser]

Opendoor might not be around in a couple of years, and if they are I'm betting they'll be very tight with their offers after getting burned badly in the recent run up/ freezing of the housing market. Most other "iBuyers" have drastically scaled back their operations or folded completely already. If you're balking at paying realtor commission, I doubt their offers will tempt you.

In a hot market, a FSBO listing on the primary real estate websites are an easy way to do it. We sold my former in-law's home in early 2022 that way. That was also near the peak of home values/frenzy so it was like shooting fish in a barrel. If the market is softer, then having MLS access might be more beneficial.

[nessness]

I got an offer from OpenDoor about a year and a half ago, but it was much lower than I expected so I didn't accept it. I ended up netting about $80k more selling it on the open market, if memory serves.

We used a Redfin agent to both buy and sell, and were happy with the experience.  They charge a lower commission than other realtors to sell, and give cash back when you buy, and we got excellent service.

[terran]

I discovered the other day that Redfin shows the buyer's agent commission being offered on a house, so you can take a look at that to see what the going rate is in your area. You can probably make the assumption the the overall commission is at most twice that amount. I found that in our market the near universal consensus seems to be a 2.5% Buyer's agent commission and according to the closing statements on our recently bought house our agent got 2.5% and the seller's agent got 2.25%. In other words, the agent you spoke with might not be doing you any favors with the 5% commission. They might just be taking the standard rate and telling you they're giving you a deal. But maybe 6% is still standard in some places.

[GilesMM]

Redfin offers reduced rates, greatly increased service (free staging, repair mgmt, etc) and fantastic (if over-worked) agents.  Highly recommended.  If you use a local agent with stellar recommendations from people you trust, get them to match the Redfin terms.

[bmjohnson35]

I discovered the other day that Redfin shows the buyer's agent commission being offered on a house, so you can take a look at that to see what the going rate is in your area. You can probably make the assumption the the overall commission is at most twice that amount. I found that in our market the near universal consensus seems to be a 2.5% Buyer's agent commission and according to the closing statements on our recently bought house our agent got 2.5% and the seller's agent got 2.25%. In other words, the agent you spoke with might not be doing you any favors with the 5% commission. They might just be taking the standard rate and telling you they're giving you a deal. But maybe 6% is still standard in some places.

I didn't mean to imply the agent was offering me a "deal." I just assumed the market is still high enough and inventory low enough to easily drop 1% off the standard rate.

[bmjohnson35]

I will definitely check into Redfin to see what they offer locally.

At the end of the day, I'm trying to sell and buy with as little out of pocket as possible.  I would probably only go cash offer route if I find another house at a great deal and the difference of the two makes sense. 

Any other input or recommendations on real-world personal experience?
   

[slappy]

Redfin offers reduced rates, greatly increased service (free staging, repair mgmt, etc) and fantastic (if over-worked) agents.  Highly recommended.  If you use a local agent with stellar recommendations from people you trust, get them to match the Redfin terms.

A local agent with stellar recommendations is not likely to match Redfin terms. What would the incentive be for them to do that?

[slappy]

As someone else mentioned, I also bought a FSBO property in the past year or so, during the hot market, 3% interest rate environment. I feel like the property would have sold for $35k-$50k more than we bought it for if the seller had listed with an agent. Granted, maybe most of that would likely have gone to the realtor.

It was super simple transaction for us. Realtors work very hard, but mostly the buyers realtor. Of course, some realtors are better than others. I've worked closely with a lot of realtors and I have seen a wide range. Overall, they have an ethical duty to their client to get the highest amount of money possible for the property.

[GilesMM]

Redfin offers reduced rates, greatly increased service (free staging, repair mgmt, etc) and fantastic (if over-worked) agents.  Highly recommended.  If you use a local agent with stellar recommendations from people you trust, get them to match the Redfin terms.

A local agent with stellar recommendations is not likely to match Redfin terms. What would the incentive be for them to do that?

Umm, the incentive is a commission which they would not get otherwise?? I have asked them and it works.  Just asking doesn't work without the Redfin offer in hand.

[GilesMM]

I will definitely check into Redfin to see what they offer locally.

At the end of the day, I'm trying to sell and buy with as little out of pocket as possible.  I would probably only go cash offer route if I find another house at a great deal and the difference of the two makes sense. 

Any other input or recommendations on real-world personal experience?
 

Be careful to not let the tail wag the dog.  Minimizing sales costs can easily result in maximizing time on market and minimizing sales price resulting in more pain and agon for the seller and less net cash.  Get the best broker you can find at the best price, but realize the room to move on commission, while not zero, is low. 

[Jon Bon]

Has anyone tried a flat-rate MLS broker service? If yes, what was your experience with this process?

Yes I have done this twice, it was $500 to get into the MLS. I just sent her all the info to put into the listing and she sent all the leads to me. It was pretty easy.

Realtors do call (because they generally suck) and confirm you are willing to pay a fee to them before they are even willing to show the house. They do sometimes call at 9am, and expect to see the house at noon. You have to say yes because you don't want to miss out on a lead. My wife, and sleeping infant daughter was not happy about it. I put a lockbox on the house, other than the occasional short notice it was pretty painless.

[snic]

Unless you're an expert in your local real estate market - and by that I mean you've bought and sold at least SEVERAL houses RECENTLY, you are probably better off hiring an agent. There are a lot of details to worry about and seemingly small mistakes can cost you a good deal of money - quite possibly more than the commission. Interview as many agents as you have the stomach for and talk to their references. You want the agent that will work hard for you, not push you into something, and be ethical in everything they do. You won't know whether that's true about an agent unless you talk to at least 2 or 3 references.

Keep in mind that you can negotiate the commission. In any market I've been in, real estate agents are a dime a dozen. They are all desperate for a sale and even the ones who have a good reputation are unlikely to say "no" if you insist on, say, a 4% commission. This is exactly what we did with our most recent agent. Also, the commissions I've seen are always split 50-50, so the buyer's agent would get 2% in this case. Is that going to discourage buyers' agents from showing your house? I very much doubt it. Nowadays most buyers are finding the houses themselves on Zillow, Realtor.com, etc. If there's a house that looks good they'll ask to see it, and their agent will show it to them even if the commission is only 2% for them. Why? Same reason I mentioned above: there are only so many sales to go around and 10x the number of agents. No agent in their right mind will turn down a sale because they feel entitled to 3% and will only get 2%.

[Laura33]

No agent in their right mind will turn down a sale because they feel entitled to 3% and will only get 2%.

Of course not.  But they also won't put your house at the top of places to see.  Which can be fine in a seller's market, but deadly in a buyer's market.

[Just Joe]

We thought hiring an agent was worthwhile last time we sold a house. We did our own comps and figured our house was worth $X. An agent a friend used and recommended came to visit and talked us through what she thought was important in our renovation (paint, flooring, general cleaning).

When it was time to put it on the market she recommended a price $55K higher than we originally thought and it sold in ~36 hours.

Definitely worth the price although I would have been happy to pocket the fee instead of paying it... ;)

[snic]

[quote author=Just Joe link=topic=129904.msg3112381#msg3112381 date=1675971799
When it was time to put it on the market she recommended a price $55K higher than we originally thought and it sold in ~36 hours.
[/quote]

Sounds like she underpriced it. And possibly didn't know how to precipitate and handle a multiple offer situation.

[afox]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFYlgqv3T-w

RE agents are largely in a popularity contest with other agents. It has become fashionable for the popular RE agents to use their name/reputation to garner clients however do little of the work themselves, instead hiring poorly paid employees of the agency or wanna-be/not as popular RE agents to do much of the "work". Usually they wait till a property is under contract to offload the work to their inferiors. Its like they all read the 4 hour workweek book at the same time and are in a contest to outdo eachohter to work as little as possible.

Agent fees are easily negotiable. Agents arent too dumb to realize that it takes the same amount of work to sell a home for $1M that sold for $500k 5 years ago. In expensive home price areas the agent fees are usually well below 3% per agent.

The reason RE agents adamently defend the "work" they do and the amount of work relative to the compensation is that most of the work an agent does is recruiting new clients. Since the compensation is so high for transactions they need few transactions to earn a living, things like "open houses" appear to be "work" from outsiders but in reality are marketing opportunities for agents to attract new clients. So agents are correct when they defend their compensation relative to the workload, the problem is much of the workload isnt actually working for their clients on buying/selling properties.

[curious_george]

I sold my house myself. No realtors, no lawyers, no closing costs, no inspections, no survey fees, nothing.

Yep.

Literally - it was just the buyer and I. I have told this story to so many people and they always seem so amazed for some odd reason.

I found someone who wanted to buy my house in my own social circle.

I wrote the deed myself. We went to the bank - he handed me a cashier's check for the full amount. We then went to the county court house, had the deed notarized, then filed the deed.

There was a $65 dollar filing fee to do the transfer. That was it.

It was easier than selling a car.

[snic]

I sold my house myself. No realtors, no lawyers, no closing costs, no inspections, no survey fees, nothing.

Yep.

Literally - it was just the buyer and I. I have told this story to so many people and they always seem so amazed for some odd reason.

I found someone who wanted to buy my house in my own social circle.

I wrote the deed myself. We went to the bank - he handed me a cashier's check for the full amount. We then went to the county court house, had the deed notarized, then filed the deed.

There was a $65 dollar filing fee to do the transfer. That was it.

It was easier than selling a car.

What we don't know (and have no way of finding out) is whether a good agent could have gotten you far more than your friend paid you for the house.

The last time my wife and I sold a house, a neighbor offered to buy it when he saw that we were moving out. He argued that we'd save on the agent's commission, plus the expense we were about to put into the house to have it painted and staged. His offer was actually pretty reasonable, and we probably could have talked the price up a bit. But I had an inkling at the time that the market was taking off and that our house filled a very rare niche in our neighborhood and had a lot going for it (excellent school district, under $1m, easy walk to public transit, lots of older-house charm but little of the awkwardness, and all the benefits of a recent remodel). I convinced my wife we should turn him down. We ended up with something like 19 offers and the house sold for $100k over asking - and even more over what what our neighbor had offered. Now, painting, staging and the commission did eat up some of that, but we still came out ahead by to the tune of mid 5 figures.

Ironically, our neighbor made one of the offers, and it was for considerably more than his informal offer.

[Zamboni]

I sold a house to Opendoor. At the time they were right in the middle of fighting for market share with Zillow, who had just hopped into the home flipping game. Zillow has since bailed on the idea. It may have been the best time to sell to Opendoor? I had been closely following home prices in my area for several years and found Opendoor's offer to be quite good.

Their inspection didn't reveal any problems that they felt needed repair (apparently they used to do a bit of a "bait-and-switch" with an offer price that they then routinely cut down a lot with "needed repairs," which can also happen in any other real estate transaction especially with first-time home buyers, but they didn't do that to me.)  You should be aware that they will still withhold a RE commission, which is part of their business model. I got them to knock a percent off of it by just asking. They will give you a statement about that up front, so you'll know what you will be getting before you agree to anything. They did a two week close at my request, I got paid, and they then painted, blew the leaves off the deck, and sold it for a minuscule amount more a few months later. So I'm calling it a win. They probably are too. Everybody is happy.

I wouldn't have done that if I hadn't also talked to several agents about listing price. It was nice to get that proceeds check so rapidly and not worry about flaky buyers.

[curious_george]

I sold my house myself. No realtors, no lawyers, no closing costs, no inspections, no survey fees, nothing.

Yep.

Literally - it was just the buyer and I. I have told this story to so many people and they always seem so amazed for some odd reason.

I found someone who wanted to buy my house in my own social circle.

I wrote the deed myself. We went to the bank - he handed me a cashier's check for the full amount. We then went to the county court house, had the deed notarized, then filed the deed.

There was a $65 dollar filing fee to do the transfer. That was it.

It was easier than selling a car.

What we don't know (and have no way of finding out) is whether a good agent could have gotten you far more than your friend paid you for the house.

The last time my wife and I sold a house, a neighbor offered to buy it when he saw that we were moving out. He argued that we'd save on the agent's commission, plus the expense we were about to put into the house to have it painted and staged. His offer was actually pretty reasonable, and we probably could have talked the price up a bit. But I had an inkling at the time that the market was taking off and that our house filled a very rare niche in our neighborhood and had a lot going for it (excellent school district, under $1m, easy walk to public transit, lots of older-house charm but little of the awkwardness, and all the benefits of a recent remodel). I convinced my wife we should turn him down. We ended up with something like 19 offers and the house sold for $100k over asking - and even more over what what our neighbor had offered. Now, painting, staging and the commission did eat up some of that, but we still came out ahead by to the tune of mid 5 figures.

Ironically, our neighbor made one of the offers, and it was for considerably more than his informal offer.

This is an excellent point.

I will never know if I got top dollar on selling my old house that way or not.

I would guess the answer is no, and that I could have sold it for a higher amount if I would have listed it through an agent. Selling it to my friend did make the whole process extremely easy and saved a ton of time though.

[Zamboni]

^Yes, and time is money. And it sounds like your friend was a completely reasonable buyer. That alone is worth something.

I've previously had to deal with irrational and unreasonable buyers during the due diligence period. People who wanted my definitely "not new" home that they bought at the "not new" price to be made brand new before they moved in. People who made me an offer, then two months after contract was signed decided I should pay to have perfectly healthy trees and shrubs removed from throughout the property because "we don't like yard work and we've just realized trimming hedges is work." Literally that was their stated reason. And we now want an additional discount because the bathroom is ugly and needs to be updated . . . ummm, it's not that ugly, but even if it is ugly, then it's the same ugly bathroom you saw before we all signed this contract! Also, our buyer's agent, who happens to be our Auntie who has never actually completed a RE transaction before in her life, thinks you should do every repair and cosmetic upgrade we dream up immediately, using the contractors we choose here are their quotes, AND you must discount the price even more or we are going to back out, even though the due diligence period is over and we are supposed to close next week. Thankfully the closing lawyer stepped in at that point and explained the financial penalties they would incur by backing out, and that it was already a done deal in terms of what the seller needed to do, so they closed after all, but I had gotten to the point where I didn't actually want them to buy it anymore because they were so obnoxious.

That kind of buyer BS is annoying once you've agreed to a purchase offer. Is it rare to have buyer's like that? I don't know. I think in a Seller's market you'll encounter less of it, but it's always a risk if the contract doesn't close fast and it has any contingencies.

Thus my very happy sale of another home to Opendoor, perhaps not top dollar, but close enough. And easy peasy, which honestly I may not have considered as super important without that horrible prior experience.

[Just Joe]

[quote author=Just Joe link=topic=129904.msg3112381#msg3112381 date=1675971799
When it was time to put it on the market she recommended a price $55K higher than we originally thought and it sold in ~36 hours.

Sounds like she underpriced it. And possibly didn't know how to precipitate and handle a multiple offer situation.
[/quote]

There were several offers during that period. Top offer was from a family moving here from out of town. They were offering our asking price, no adjustments, just give them 30 days. Everyone else offered less. We took a chance and gave them the 30 days. They bought it and according to the neighbors who have met them, they are very content. 

We might have held out for more money but we were floating two mortgages at that time. The old house we held on to so we could renovate it and maximize its value without being in a mad rush due to some health issues one of us was dealing with. DW and I expected it to sit on the market for a while. Also COVID caused the local house markets to explode rather than depress local real estate markets. We first expected the COVID shutdown to lead to a major recession or worse - an economic depression.

In short, we were pleased as we could be to pocket the extra money.   

[afox]

One way to handle a sale yourself is to use the same software as a service the agents are using for their contracts and forms. Here in Colorado nearly all agents use CTM eContracts, anyone can buy a subscription to create contracts and other RE forms with esigning on their website for $50 a month, a tiny expense compared to the 3% some agents are charging. Alternatively you can hire a lawyer to create the contracts and any other forms, generally an attorney charges less than $1000 to handle the transaction.

https://www.ctmecontracts.com/eContracts/wp/index.htm

[Arbitrage]

I will definitely check into Redfin to see what they offer locally.

At the end of the day, I'm trying to sell and buy with as little out of pocket as possible.  I would probably only go cash offer route if I find another house at a great deal and the difference of the two makes sense. 

Any other input or recommendations on real-world personal experience?
 

Don't know about agents matching Redfin's terms, but we had a good experience with them as well (twice when buying, once when selling).  Buying (into sellers' markets, once completely remotely) has been perfectly fine in both cases.  Selling was not quite a 5-star experience, as the agent and his team were not always the most responsive during the prep process, though I know that part of this was the agent going through some personal stuff that I wasn't privy to.  Once we were close to listing, things did change on that front, and the team did a great job.

We opted to use their "concierge" service, which had them do an assessment and facelift of the property, including minor renovations.  Staging was included in the fee.  This cost us 1%, increasing the listing fee to 2.5%.  However, we were remote and in the midst of our own issues with fixing up the new house, so it was worth it to us.  We did get a 0.5% discount for doing both our buying and selling with Redfin, and also only offered a buyer's agent fee of 2%.  Thus:

1.5% Sell with Redfin
+1% for concierge service + staging
-0.5% Discount for buy/sell with Redfin
2% Buyer's agent fee

= 4% total.  Still a lot of money, but better than 6%.  Also did get a couple of grand in cash during the purchase process for buying with Redfin.

[snic]

[quote author=Just Joe link=topic=129904.msg3112381#msg3112381 date=1675971799
When it was time to put it on the market she recommended a price $55K higher than we originally thought and it sold in ~36 hours.

Sounds like she underpriced it. And possibly didn't know how to precipitate and handle a multiple offer situation.

There were several offers during that period. Top offer was from a family moving here from out of town. They were offering our asking price, no adjustments, just give them 30 days. Everyone else offered less. We took a chance and gave them the 30 days. They bought it and according to the neighbors who have met them, they are very content. 

We might have held out for more money but we were floating two mortgages at that time. The old house we held on to so we could renovate it and maximize its value without being in a mad rush due to some health issues one of us was dealing with. DW and I expected it to sit on the market for a while. Also COVID caused the local house markets to explode rather than depress local real estate markets. We first expected the COVID shutdown to lead to a major recession or worse - an economic depression.

In short, we were pleased as we could be to pocket the extra money.
[/quote]

Not all agents know how to handle a hot sellers' market because, because not all agents have been through one (and some areas rarely experience them). The correct way to do it would have been to set the listing price at slightly below what you think market value is, and after listing it, set a date for receiving offers, between 1 and 2 weeks after the listing date. The agent notifies every buyer's agent that comes through that offers will be reviewed on that day and tells the agents that there is lots of interest in the house (assuming that's true).

With this process, (a), you attract more interest (because you underpriced it), (b) you give more people time to see the house (imagine how many people couldn't make it during the 3 days before you took it off the market), (c) you makes sure all buyers know there is a high level of interest, and (d) you prevent yourself from having the make the classical foraging decision, "do I bite on this offer or pass in hopes of a better one?" because you get all your offers at once and all you have to do is choose the best.

This works very well for a attractive properties in a hot market.

[ChpBstrd]

I've sold multiple homes by myself. It was the easiest money I ever saved. Some notes though:

1) Listen to @Laura33 when they say you need to de-clutter your house. You may not think it's cluttered, but it is. Get it down to hotel room declutter! When shopping for a house, I actually prefer empty houses.

2) Photography is THE thing that matters. After de-cluttering and meticulously cleaning, spend a couple hundred bucks and hire a professional to come on a sunny day. People decide they want a house based on the pictures and great pictures usually require a pro!

3) Go to a title company or two and ask about their process for FSBOs. Ask if they offer free templates for written offers / counteroffers or real estate contracts. If a title company says "we got nothing for you" move on to one that wants your business.

4) I sold all my houses in 2-3 months, in not-hot market conditions, because I held open houses every weekend. This is what an agent won't do for you! For each OH, I put out a half-dozen or more signs, baked cookies, and maintained everything meticulously clean. A common mistake with FSBO open houses is for the owner of the house to follow people around, making them feel uncomfortable about frank conversations. Nope. Tell them you'll be available on the porch if they need you, and to take all the time they need. When somebody spends an hour or two at your house, that's a good sign. Let them be! In 100% of my sales the eventual buyer spent significant time looking around the house by themselves, asked for a follow-up visit where they brought a friend/family member/agent, or asked for a pre-offer inspection (request granted). If a seller's agent visits and wants you to sign a contract to show, sign it. There's no downside.

5) Most common FSBO mistakes:
     -Asking price is too high. This runs people off. Study your comps. Price it to sell fast.
     -The place is a cluttered mess with cats/dogs, laundry laying around, dishes in the sink, and a lack of perfect cleanliness.
     -Owner follows people around during viewing, creeping them out.
     -Owner is not cheerful and reasonable-sounding in 100% of interactions.
     -There are less than 20 pictures and they are all grainy, dimly lit, and focused on the owner's furniture. You really should post a video walkthrough.
     -Owner has not fixed very basic things like clogged gutters, ratty paint, or nasty carpets, making the whole place seem like a project.
     -Missing details in the ad, like number of BRs/BAs, age of house, does it need anything like a roof, etc.

[Just Joe]

Not all agents know how to handle a hot sellers' market because, because not all agents have been through one (and some areas rarely experience them). The correct way to do it would have been to set the listing price at slightly below what you think market value is, and after listing it, set a date for receiving offers, between 1 and 2 weeks after the listing date. The agent notifies every buyer's agent that comes through that offers will be reviewed on that day and tells the agents that there is lots of interest in the house (assuming that's true).

Well real estate is a local thing. We don't live in a hot metro market, we live in a smallish town in a red state. I've lived here for 25+ years now and before COVID and recent popularity of this market, this was a quiet LCOL area. A place where a person could buy a nice home for $100K. No, I think our agent did very well.

I think based on being present for several of the buyer visits if we had priced the house low, it would have sold low b/c there weren't a dozen people lining up to buy this house, there were 4-5 and 3 made offers.

After the top offer was made, we sat on it for ~24 hours to see if there were any other counter offers at the suggestion of our agent and there were none.

I think your strategy is the right one in a different city.   

[snic]

2) Photography is THE thing that matters. After de-cluttering and meticulously cleaning, spend a couple hundred bucks and hire a professional to come on a sunny day. People decide they want a house based on the pictures and great pictures usually require a pro!

I totally agree that photography is critical. Your phone is just NOT the same as a good quality camera with an experienced photographer behind it. And it doesn't even have to be a sunny day. I was there when the photographer took pics of the house we sold a few years ago. It was a cloudy, crummy day. Yet the sky in the pictures is bright blue with beautiful streaks of clouds. And both fireplaces had a fire going. Apparently our agent hired a magician, not a photographer.

More extensive "virtual staging" is also a thing now, where you photoshop in desirable furniture etc. Agents put a disclaimer below the picture to say it's been altered. But to me it's jarring when you see lovely pictures online, and you walk in and wonder where that lovely room is.

[bmjohnson35]

Lots of good quality feedback. I really appreciate the input.  I still haven't decided how we will market the house yet, but I'm definitely better informed than before.

BJ

[Dicey]

2) Photography is THE thing that matters. After de-cluttering and meticulously cleaning, spend a couple hundred bucks and hire a professional to come on a sunny day. People decide they want a house based on the pictures and great pictures usually require a pro!

I totally agree that photography is critical. Your phone is just NOT the same as a good quality camera with an experienced photographer behind it. And it doesn't even have to be a sunny day. I was there when the photographer took pics of the house we sold a few years ago. It was a cloudy, crummy day. Yet the sky in the pictures is bright blue with beautiful streaks of clouds. And both fireplaces had a fire going. Apparently our agent hired a magician, not a photographer.

More extensive "virtual staging" is also a thing now, where you photoshop in desirable furniture etc. Agents put a disclaimer below the picture to say it's been altered. But to me it's jarring when you see lovely pictures online, and you walk in and wonder where that lovely room is.

+1 for good photographs and OMG, I despise "virtual staging" with a passion! I think it increases buyer's expectations, causing letdown when they see the actual property. Hard pass.

[RWD]

2) Photography is THE thing that matters. After de-cluttering and meticulously cleaning, spend a couple hundred bucks and hire a professional to come on a sunny day. People decide they want a house based on the pictures and great pictures usually require a pro!

I totally agree that photography is critical. Your phone is just NOT the same as a good quality camera with an experienced photographer behind it. And it doesn't even have to be a sunny day. I was there when the photographer took pics of the house we sold a few years ago. It was a cloudy, crummy day. Yet the sky in the pictures is bright blue with beautiful streaks of clouds. And both fireplaces had a fire going. Apparently our agent hired a magician, not a photographer.

More extensive "virtual staging" is also a thing now, where you photoshop in desirable furniture etc. Agents put a disclaimer below the picture to say it's been altered. But to me it's jarring when you see lovely pictures online, and you walk in and wonder where that lovely room is.

+1 for good photographs and OMG, I despise "virtual staging" with a passion! I think it increases buyer's expectations, causing letdown when they see the actual property. Hard pass.

I've been seeing quite a few listings with duplicate pictures -- one original (empty room) and a copy with virtual staging. Maybe a decent compromise? It's clear when the pictures are back-to-back that it's just photoshop'd and you can see both exactly what it looks like as well as get a sense of how furniture might fit into the space.

[Dicey]

2) Photography is THE thing that matters. After de-cluttering and meticulously cleaning, spend a couple hundred bucks and hire a professional to come on a sunny day. People decide they want a house based on the pictures and great pictures usually require a pro!

I totally agree that photography is critical. Your phone is just NOT the same as a good quality camera with an experienced photographer behind it. And it doesn't even have to be a sunny day. I was there when the photographer took pics of the house we sold a few years ago. It was a cloudy, crummy day. Yet the sky in the pictures is bright blue with beautiful streaks of clouds. And both fireplaces had a fire going. Apparently our agent hired a magician, not a photographer.

More extensive "virtual staging" is also a thing now, where you photoshop in desirable furniture etc. Agents put a disclaimer below the picture to say it's been altered. But to me it's jarring when you see lovely pictures online, and you walk in and wonder where that lovely room is.

+1 for good photographs and OMG, I despise "virtual staging" with a passion! I think it increases buyer's expectations, causing letdown when they see the actual property. Hard pass.

I've been seeing quite a few listings with duplicate pictures -- one original (empty room) and a copy with virtual staging. Maybe a decent compromise? It's clear when the pictures are back-to-back that it's just photoshop'd and you can see both exactly what it looks like as well as get a sense of how furniture might fit into the space.

Yes, that's the way it's usually done in the markets I follow. I still hate it. However, I do look at a LOT of listings. In one market, I'm looking at houses that I know well. Just knowing the model name and/or square footage tells me what to expect. Beyond that, I'm just looking at condition of the property and the fake furniture is a distraction. Here's an example:

https://www.redfin.com/CA/Palm-Desert/35815-Royal-Sage-Ct-92211/home/6376215

The fake staging camouflages the piece of crap built ins in the living room, which are worthless and will need to be removed.

In the opposite case, that of a first time home buyer, fake furniture is a distraction, IMO.

It does save the agents a lot of time and trouble. Do agents who use fake staging charge less?

[snic]

It does save the agents a lot of time and trouble. Do agents who use fake staging charge less?

Hahaha, of course not. Both times we staged our house to sell, we paid the staging cost, not the agent. In fact, our agent the second time around said there is no point in spending the extra money to stage it because she could just virtually stage it. I insisted on doing it right. She was literally speechless for when she saw the staged house (which had also been freshly painted inside). And I have to say, the transformation in both cases was astonishing.

The agent did redeem herself by hiring the excellent photographer, making an outstanding online listing with full virtual tour (both of which she paid for), and handling the multiple offers very well. Well, almost: with so many offers, in hindsight we could have extracted a faster closing from the buyer than the standard 90 days in our area. She didn't advise us to push for that, I think because she was not used to having such strong demand for a property.

[HalfDollar]

I appreciate your tips!

If a seller's agent visits and wants you to sign a contract to show, sign it. There's no downside.

Did you mean buyer's agent here? If not, can you explain?

[ChpBstrd]

I appreciate your tips!

If a seller's agent visits and wants you to sign a contract to show, sign it. There's no downside.

Did you mean buyer's agent here? If not, can you explain?

Ooops. Yes!