AT THE SAME TIME, list the property yourself at a website like. FWAAC.com lets you create your own listing and be contacted directly by interested parties. who knows, someone might snatch it up right away.

That leaves only 15% that were sold by unrepresented sellers. And I’d be willing to bet that out of that 15%, most of them got less money than they would have by using the services of a professional.

See, when buyers look at homes “by owner”, they are only looking for one thing: a huge bargain. And the first thing they are going after is the real estate commission. You look at it as your money, buyers look at it as theirs. So what are you really saving?

Then, do you really have the time to sell a home or condo? Buyers want to see homes at their convenience. Are you willing to drop everything to meet that potential buyer?

Lastly, and most importantly, what about safety? Who are these people that you are letting in your home? Is a Realtors commission really worth jeopardizing the safety of you and your family? Realtors qualify and pre-screen EVERYONE that goes through your home. Skip fails to mention this.

In answer to your question, try it for a month, tops. If it doesn’t sell, get a professional to assist you.

Good luck and FIGHT ON

The main thing about selling your home is the maximum exposure through advertisement. This can be done several ways

#1 Advertise in your local newspaper (to include any open houses you schedule)

#2 Flyers on some part of the property or house that is easily accessible to the public and that they can see from the curb

This flyer should give the sale price, have a picture of the property # of bed and bathrooms, perhaps a few inside shots of the house and it should be in color.

Even though you plan to sell the property yourself you might consider interviewing three real estate agents, tell them the truth you are considering selling the home yourself but you wanted to interview a couple of agents to get their ideas. During the interview they should give you some idea as to the sale price of like properties in your neighborhood.

Clean up the property so it will have good curb appeal. When you drive up to the house ask yourself “Would I purchase this house?” Take care of any possible problems that you know are there but you simply over looked them. Paint inside and outside, cost about $3K increase value about 10K. New carpet might also be in order if it is more than 5 years old.

Take away any clutter that might also be there, that lived in look you have might turn some buyers off. So clean up

Now you should also call a mortgage broker to see if he would be interested in assisting you with open houses. Tell him for his expertise you are willing to give him a list of those individuals that looked at your home, but were not pre-approved. You would also want this individual to be there for your open houses so set up a schedule that he is able to attend.

Call until one agrees to assist you, they are listed in your local telephone books

This individual should also assist you in finding an escrow closing agent, an appraiser as well as a title company to assist you in your sale.

Now once you have found a person to purchase your property, draw up a sales contract with the assistance of the mortgage broker. He will get an appraiser to verify the value. He should assist you in opening an escrow closing agent.

If the buyer is not pre-approved your mortgage broker will get the buyer approved and handle the paper work. If he is pre-approved his mortgage person will take care of the rest of the paper work.
Either way the mortgage broker whom ever he might be will take care of the majority of the rest of the transaction.

Don’t fall for the real estate agents that will come by and ask if they find a buyer would you give them a commission. Tell them if they find someone their buyer should pay them.

The reason for this exercise is for you to put the maximum amount of your equity in your pocket as you possible can and not into a real estate agent’s pocket. Keep your eye on the mission.

Now about paying off your mortgage, the escrow closing agent will send a letter to your present mortgage company and request a demand of payment indicating how much you currently owe on your mortgage. Your mortgage company will send them a reply with the amount you owe. This will be done on any mortgage you owe if you owe more than one.

The escrow closing agent will pay off any demands they receive. Anything left after all payoffs a check will be written to you the seller.

I hae yet to see how you can save money by spending money. If you spend 6% commission to a real estate agent how do you save?

An agent can not do any more than you about selling your home. Real estate agents will tell you that adding your property to the Multiple Listings will automatically get you a sale.

A good sale comes from the property being listed at a fair price and being in as good a shape as it can be for showing.

I hope this has been of some use to you, good luck.

“FIGHT ON”

Oh, and going the FSBO route? You will be hounded by every real estate agent desperate for a listing. I would even wager that the majority of calls you get will be from agents trying to get your business.

You will be paying about 6% commission to the agent for their services. You really don’t have that much left in equity? Cutting the price by the commission really isn’t enough to list the property as a FSBO and expect people to stand up and take notice.

Best of luck

If you really think you can do it for less money try it for 4 months, then hire an agent for the last 4. 4 months is plenty of time, even in this market.