In some markets (like Toronto) most homes sell through open houses, so they're not just a marketing tool for realtors.

gbauer- My apologies, as I was definitely commenting US-centric. Frankly, in most US markets, today- if you need an open house, you're either way off-price or trolling for clients/possible buyers. That's marketing at great personal, invasive cost to a client.

If you are "thinking of selling" it sounds like you aren't on a forced schedule. If so, you could first simply try to do it yourself, or use a low cost alternative (like Redfin) and see how it goes, If you are not successful, or find out you don't like what is involved, then switch over to a more conventional (and more expensive) approach.

How will you handle showings to buyers? Will you be there? How about to agents with buyers? Lockbox? Do you know how to sell things (ie prequalifying, identifying buying motives, and selling using feature, advantage, benefits) Are you familiar with disclosure laws in your state? Do you know what the comps are for your area? Do you know which lenders provide good preapproval where they don't get turned down once they go to underwriting? Are you familiar with what homes are on the market in your area and how they compare to your home? Can you be honest about your home's negatives?Are you good at negotiating? Do you know how to overcome objections? Do you know what items in a home sale in your state are negotiable, which the seller pays normally, and what things the seller MUST pay if they are doing a VA loan? Do you know which agents in your area are known for having flake deals where they tend to fall apart? Do you know how to stage your house and take good pictures that show off the house?

If you can answe yes to the above, then definitely list it yourself. If you cant, then you would probably benefit in time and money by having a good agent list it.

Thank you 902juanita. Very useful post and great insight. Thanks to others for your input too. Linda, I can do 90% of what you mentioned but that law and VA stuff is getting too realtor technical for me. I'll have to consider getting a realtor. thanks all.

Don't get too intimidated by potential problems. Lots of people sell their own houses. You can always get a real estate attorney involved if you need to. After being involved with a number of home sales, I've come to the conclusion that the percentages one pays for a full service realtor, particularly on high end homes, is often out of proportion to the value received. I'm not dissing realtors, but I'm not convinced they're needed in many cases.

" was thinking that with everything being so 'internetized' now, I could
just pop it on zillow and other sites and have people or realtors come
find me."

Yes, but it's a LOT of work ... lots of paperwork to make sure you have completed the required disclosures and legal crap correctly, lots of emails and phone calls to answer, lots of scammers to avoid.

How much time do you have to spend on this project?

Just as an aside, there are locations in the United States where houses are sold via open houses. In the Bay Area, two weekends of open houses are held then the sellers accept offers on either the following Tuesday or Wednesday. Real estate is very local, which is one reason I think an agent is nearly always a good idea.

And a further aside, despite conventional wisdom, we sold our first two houses in the DC area off of opens as well. In both cases the buyer came to our open and came back for a follow up showing and put in an offer within four days. So personally I would always be willing to hold an open house if that's what my realtor wanted to do.

Best of luck with your sale.

Agree a lot is local. I'd start looking at FSBO listings near you. Look at the listings, photos, and consider walking through open houses if offered. Keep track of the houses similar to yours and watch the MLS to see if they show up listed by a realtor, how much they sold for and how long they were on the market, were they removed from the listing without selling, or if they are still on the market as FSBO. Also track similar houses listed by realtors. There is data on the internet to help you decide how to proceed and with a few months I think you have time to inform yourself. Sales price is important, but so is time to sell so make sure you are looking at both.

Where I live I've noticed that some FSBO sellers may not be serious (e.g. house is listed higher than comps, house looks lived in and is not prepped for sale, has been on the market for a long time possibly even on and off for years, seller not in a hurry to sell and is waiting for "right" buyer to come along). FSBO buyers here tend to be looking for a bargain. Your city and neighborhood may be different.

Another point: If you were showing the house to someone and they said "wow this is really ugly paint, flooring, furniture" how would you react? If you would feel defensive or get upset then you probably want a realtor.

902, great posting!

OP, I would suggest you to find a trustworthy real estate lawyer regardless if you would use a realtor or FSBO. Having a friendly title company and a mortgage person on your side would be helpful too.

In MHO compiling a listing, marketing, staging, selling are all relatively easy to learn, but conducting a brilliant negotiation and tracking & closing the deal are "meat" of a real estate transaction, you need to be vigilant and knowledgable through out the entire process.

Everything is learnable. You are young and have the time, why not use this opportunity to invest time and energy and thoroughly learn about selling, it would benefit you for the rest of your life.

I sold my first two places many years ago FSBO.

Our second home was a beautiful 1927 bungalow. 2br/2bth with an eat in kitchen. There was a narrow, steep staircase to an attic that could be finished off. The staircase could have been extended into the oversized master bedroom to make the staircase more code compliant. It would have also meant having a slight angle in the hall bath, but since the ceilings were over 9' it wouldn't have been a huge deal.

One time after I was done showing the house, the people who were looking were so excited about the place. They and their parents asked lots of questions and seemed very interested until they asked if we thought it would be doable to put in a code compliant staircase to the attic.

My ex opened his mouth to claim, "no he didn't think it would work very well."

They left soon after, never to be seen again.

We did eventually sell the house, but only after I made sure that the ex was never home when I showed it. But also this was back in the 80's. Times are different now. I don't think I'd sell my own house nowadays and haven't sold our last two by ourselves.

We've sold FSBO, but before we decided to go that route we did some basic calculations: Determine the likely range in sale price of your house. Assume that if you sell it you will get the lowest price, and that if a realtor does it you will get something middle to high end. Then, assume that even if you sell it yourself you will still pay a buyer's commission, or that your buyer will want a discount for not having a realtor. Then figure the net difference between the two sales, the work involved, and determine if the savings (if it exists) is worth the work.

In our case, we had an apartment in an 80 unit building, so it was very easy to figure out a tight price range. We hired a professional real estate photographer. We ended up selling to a buyer who had no agent, so we effectively split the difference on the agent's commission - we ended up with 3% more, he ended up paying 3% less. It also helped that we are in an area where attorneys are more or less required, so that helped ease some minor issues that came up during the process and closing. We were very happy with our outcome.

To Linda's points, I've come across agents that aren't able to do all those things, so please if you decide to list with one, make sure you ask a ton of questions to find out if they have those skills. Just because they're licensed doesn't mean they're any good.

The legal stuff, disclosures, contract prep, etc. are easily handled by a real estate attorney, and for significantly less than a 6% commission (<$1000).

If you FSBO, find a flat fee MLS service in your area. You have to agree to pay a commission to the buyer's agent, but you'll get your house in front of all the agents in your area, and it will look just like any other realtor listing.

lazygardens-

"How much time do you have to spend on this project?"

It may depend on where a person lives. I live in a major metropolitan area on the West Coast where prices have gotten crazy and it's not unusual for a nice home to go for upwards of $800k. When realtor fees amount to 6%, that's in the neighborhood of $50,000. A lot of people in this area think it's worth investing their time in the sales effort in order to substantially reduce that.

In addition, a local startup company in my area is helping sellers market their homes through a new model that eliminates the traditional 6% fee, yet furnishes many of the services that realtors traditionally provide...all for a 0.5% fee. If this model takes off, it's the way I would go. It's pretty fascinating, and it's been successful to date: Faira

Excellent points weedyacres! very useful post. Thank you.

kudzu9, I should have several hours a week to dedicate to this sale. Good to know there may be Realtor services tools out there. I tell ya guys, I work in the face pace IT world and there are things coming up all the time that will disrupt a whole market! Uber, Truecar, etc...now-a-days, you got to move quick and innovate or you'll get left in the dust. No one is truly safe! =O

Duece Lee - have you made any moves toward doing FSBO?

I too am considering this and started a similar thread. Since posting I have found a local lawyer which will likely cost $1000 or less. I also plan to bring two agents by my house, get their opinions, etc. Plus I may need them if FSBO doesn't work out.

I tried taking some pics of my home and they look terrible. I'm going to use another camera and throw them in Photoshop if things don't improve.

Anyway, best of luck.

Featherbee, you need a camera with a wide angle lens. Turn the flash off and set the camera on a tripod. Shoot in Aperture priority mode.

FeatherBee, I'm looking to make some minor fixes to the house next month and will start the FSBO in early April. My market seems to be quite hot right now. I'll check into the lawyer idea. Thanks cpartist for the picture tips!

Featherbee, you need a camera with a wide angle lens. Turn the flash off and set the camera on a tripod. Shoot in Aperture priority mode.

Or bite the bullet and pay someone to do it who has the proper equipment. It will be money well spent and you should be able to get it done for less than buying a new camera or lens.

Thank you cpartist and writersblock! I will definitely hire a pro if I decide to do FSBO. I already found some locally that have excellent pictures and their prices almost seem too cheap.. Maybe I'm reading their sites wrong but it will be well worth the expense I'm sure..

I may need you're guys help though with what to remove or take out before the pro comes to take pictures.

It's pretty competitive, FeatherBee, so the prices may be right. Of course magazine quality photos with all the staging and special lighting are very expensive, but you don't need that, and there are plenty of photographers willing to do small projects at very reasonable prices these days.

Our realtor paid $75 to a pro for a 2+ hour session and fabulous pictures. This was in a pricey area of California a year ago.

In my area I pay $250 or more for professional photos of my listings. Looks like price varies from area to area.

Thanks again writersblock, Denita & sushipup1. The website I found for a local guy shows $150 for homes 1501-2500 sq ft. Then it jumps to $200 for 2501-3500 sq ft. You get about 20-30 photos and his work looks amazing. That just seems so cheap to me. I'd pay that in a heartbeat. I just assumed it was way more $$ like $600-1200... Here I am again catching myself guessing and being WAY OFF :)

I'm in the Midwest.