Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Selling house privately vs agent

Has anyone sold/tried selling a house privately without an agent here? I've never sold a house before, but I'm considering selling privately which should save me anywhere up to $25G.

I have a few concerns....1) how to do it, I know there are a number of websites that help you do this including listing on the MLS, total cost is around $5-700 I believe 2) lawyers, legal side of the transaction 3) real estate agents will ignore my listing and won't refer any clients OR steer them away from my home...just because 4) there are agents out there who charge much less than the 5% average rate(here)

Thoughts? advice?

Personally, I wouldn't do it.

One of the other things Realtors do is screen people. You're not likely to have to waste your time on people that are dishonest, unqualified or just curious. Unless you figure out some kind of friendly but reliable way to weed-out the riff-raff, you'll have to show your home to anybody who talks a semi-decent game.

Plus, time is money. I would think that you'd be much more likely to sell quickly with an agent.

I suppose you could give it a go and if it doesn't work out, you could find a Realtor later.

At least here in the states, you would still need an attorney draft up the paperwork. Costs a lot less overall and you don't have to pay commission to agents.

Tks, Tom and Randy. I think the best route might be through an agent, but try to negotiate a more reasonable(than 5%) rate. As I understand it, there are "brokers" and there are "agents" that charge different rates(agent works for broker?).

I have a friend of mine who sold his house privately successfully. He put his house for sale at www.bytheowner.com and put a sign on his front lawn. I think there is a small fee for the website but you can upload pictures, give detailed description and schedule open houses. In his case, his house was worth 300K, the agent wanted 15K (5%). My friend wasn't in a rush and gave himself 3 month to sell the house that way before going with an agent. He sold his house withing 1.5/2 month and him and the buyer met half way at 292.5K so he saved 7.5K and the buyer saved 7.5K.
You will not be able to save your 25K as the people that look for buying a house privately also look to buy it cheaper but could still save maybe 15K. If you're not in a rush, I think it's worth it to give it a shot, if you're in a rush, the agent will sell it faster but you need to pay.

Yah, I bookmarked that site, Bruno. It's called www.comfree.com now.

Adrian, there is also Property Guys. In some areas, you can even upgrade to have a joint MLS listing without hiring an agent.

One dolla and fourty five cents.

I sold my house in CA 5 yrs ago myself. I paid $250 to a broker to have it listed on MLS. Had to sign a contract that I would pay a buyers agent 3% if by agent. Or I could still sell it on my own. The guy that bought it came to me from a sign out front, so I didn't have to pay the 3% to a buyers agent

So I sold it for $250, plus I paid $350 for an appraisel. I was asking 65K more than the comparibles, so lenders wouldn't even send out an appraiser. Having my own certified appraisel did the trick.

It all worked for me. Enjoyed it so much I got my Real Estate Lic when I got to NC just for kicks, I don't use it