selling house yourself

[bringmagicback]

question, my parents are selling their house to move into a house they already own. How hard is it to sell the house themselves? They know nothing about real estate. Every house they have purchased has been w/ cash, when I bought a house, my bank handled evrything and the agent did nothing. Any insight?

 

[huntt26]

We just sold our house in 8 days using FSBOhomes.com

We had a very good experience. Details on this process is here: http://www.fsbohomes.com/sell-your-home/

I realize this isn't fully selling on your own, but it cuts out the commission.

 

[bringmagicback]

Cool site, but doesnt apply much to them. I was more referring to the actual process as to someone comes and says Ill take that house. THen what? Does the buyers bank just handle all the paperwork and parents just have to sign here and here? They dont need help marketing the house, it should sell in a few days. Multiple people have already called dibs on the home.

 

[IAStubborn]

We just sold our house in 8 days using FSBOhomes.com

We had a very good experience. Details on this process is here: http://www.fsbohomes.com/sell-your-home/

I realize this isn't fully selling on your own, but it cuts out the commission.

Sold mine this way too. Not bad at all. While a pain to shown it isn't tens of thousands of dollars worth of pain.

 

[gardner]

You can get an attorney to handle the docs very reasonably. If the buyer doesn't have an agent/attorney, the lender won't provide the purchase agreement. Plus you won't get guidance on the process or other requirements. (Eg, disclosure forms required by law before accepting offer.) If you need a referral in Iowa ...

 

[keepngoal]

Get an attorney to do the paperwork. Isn't hard for them and it should cost less than $1000.00. Hardest part in the process (IMO) is marketing and selling the house. Sometimes its worth it have an agent, other times it isn't.

 

[Schfinkter]

Cool site, but doesnt apply much to them. I was more referring to the actual process as to someone comes and says Ill take that house. THen what? Does the buyers bank just handle all the paperwork and parents just have to sign here and here? They dont need help marketing the house, it should sell in a few days. Multiple people have already called dibs on the home.

An attorney can handle getting all of the necessary paperwork done. In my parts (North Central Iowa) we are seeing more and more people just selling their houses themselves and having us handle all the paperwork. It saves them thousands in commissions.

 

[ArgentCy]

Cool site, but doesnt apply much to them. I was more referring to the actual process as to someone comes and says Ill take that house. THen what? Does the buyers bank just handle all the paperwork and parents just have to sign here and here? They dont need help marketing the house, it should sell in a few days. Multiple people have already called dibs on the home.

Have them find and hire a good real estate lawyer to handle the transaction. I see lots of FSBO sales in our area and most go through just a couple local lawyers. Guess I was slow on the trigger as already pointed out.

This should scare the realtors (personal note I HATE the NAR) as I have seen lots of people selling their homes just fine through Facebook or other social media connections. I also question the notion that you get higher prices by using a realtor (think its more marketing than reality). Maybe in some markets but not the lower end.

 

[bringmagicback]

THe marketing part is why I want to do it for them. THere are 2 agents in our town. Neither agent updates website, neither agent puts up pictures online other than maybe 1 picture of the outside. Im like I might as well just post to zillow and call it a day

 

[isucy86]

I have just sold my home without using a realtor. So far the process has been pretty painless. As other people have mentioned, it is a good idea to hire a real estate attorney. They can take care of paperwork like the disclosure statement, closing documents, review the buyers purchase offer, provide general advice on process.

From a marketing standpoint, I used FSBO and Zillow websites. I had a lot more views on Zillow than FSBO. Zillow is free, while FSBO's base package is $100. FSBO also has a $300 package which posts your home on MLS. I also created a yard sign, materials can be obtained in the hardware section of a Home Depot, Lowe's or Hardware Store and that cost $30-35.

A big thing to consider when selling, are you willing to pay a buyer's agent commission. Commissions typically range from 2.5%-3.5%, but as the seller you can negotiate what ypu are willing to pay. If you are willing to pay a buyers agent commission, make sure to indicate that in the FSBO/ Zillow ad. I found it beneficial being willing to pay abuyers agent. They aren't going to waste their valuable time, so they will screen buyers on how much they can afford and are likely to have serious buyers. Otherwise be prepared to show your home to people who are "just looking", haven't seriously marketed their current home yet, etc.

I was nervious to sell my home myself, but I would do it again. Pretty easy.

 

[cyson]

Much easier and cheaper than you think. I'm in the process of selling off rental houses I've had for years, (one down, two to go). I've used Craigslist. Can't imagine a scenario where I would ever again use an Agent.

 

[chadly82]

In a market like this FSBO is the way to go to avoid 9-10k minimum commission to a realtor. If youre not using FSBO and its already basically sold just get an attorney and the fees will be minimal for closing.

 

[erikbj]

I used the http://www.iahomes.com/ and sold it in 6 days for full asking price. I had an attorney put all the docs together and do the closing for $1000.

They also have a flat rate deal to use a realtor for $2500 - which i am actually considering to use with my mom's house.

 

[cycloneworld]

The market is right for hit and as others have said, a RE attorney should be able to do your side of the closing for under $1,000. Because most buyers are working with an agent, I'd highly recommend considering paying 3% to the buyer's agent (you can advertise this in your Zillow description) or you'll have a MUCH more difficult time getting people through.

 

[Jambalaya]

Cool site, but doesnt apply much to them. I was more referring to the actual process as to someone comes and says Ill take that house. THen what? Does the buyers bank just handle all the paperwork and parents just have to sign here and here? They dont need help marketing the house, it should sell in a few days. Multiple people have already called dibs on the home.

An escrow/title companies can handle the transaction. Another closing company can also handle the buyer's side

~ Call an escrow company to get information

~ Make sure your parent's representation and their pricing includes the final closing numbers, as well as the deed package, payoffs, etc

~Call FSBOHOMES.com . Their closing department might offer just closing services separately (not listing) . The office in CR area does offer closing-only services

~FSBO closing dept.and a few others will supply:

-Purchase Agreement form
-Seller property disclosure

Non-cash deal? Have your parents get a
1) pre-approval letter from buyer's lender. 2) earnest money check

After these items are signed/initialed/dated, a closing company will:

-Order an abstract continuation
-Abstract goes to buyer's attorney for a title opinion

Typical seller closing costs?
Abstract continuation, Revenue stamps, Closing fee, Tax proration credit to buyers

Typical buyer costs?

Title opinion, closing fee, recording fee

 

[Jambalaya]

The market is right for hit and as others have said, a RE attorney should be able to do your side of the closing for under $1,000. Because most buyers are working with an agent, I'd highly recommend considering paying 3% to the buyer's agent (you can advertise this in your Zillow description) or you'll have a MUCH more difficult time getting people through.

H#ll no. Not necessary. 100% not recommend if they already have a buyer. They just need a closing service

 

[clone52]

Have them find and hire a good real estate lawyer to handle the transaction. I see lots of FSBO sales in our area and most go through just a couple local lawyers. Guess I was slow on the trigger as already pointed out.

This should scare the realtors (personal note I HATE the NAR) as I have seen lots of people selling their homes just fine through Facebook or other social media connections. I also question the notion that you get higher prices by using a realtor (think its more marketing than reality). Maybe in some markets but not the lower end.

We use ia homes for sale. I think for about $1000, they took care of all the paperwork when we sold.

 

[cycloneworld]

H#ll no. Not necessary. 100% not recommend if they already have a buyer. They just need a closing service

Obviously if they have a buyer, then that doesn't apply. But if you are starting from scratch - you'll get 5-10x the traffic than you would without offering 3% to a buyers agent (at least in the DM area).

 

[intrepid27]

We used Iahomesforsale.com. Before if hit their website we already had a buyer. But they were a great resource. They had real estate contracts and other forms we could use. And they have relationships with attorneys, escrow companies, etc. All were very reasonalbe. They helped walk us through the process. I think is cost us $450 (5 years ago) and it was well worth it. Saved us $10K.

Biggest challenge to selling it yourself if picking the price. IMO

 

[chuckd4735]

The market is right for hit and as others have said, a RE attorney should be able to do your side of the closing for under $1,000. Because most buyers are working with an agent, I'd highly recommend considering paying 3% to the buyer's agent (you can advertise this in your Zillow description) or you'll have a MUCH more difficult time getting people through.

Yeah I was going to point this out. When we were looking for our first house, we had found a house that was FSBO, and the people were not willing to give our realtor anything. Our realtor wasn't willing to show it to us if he wasn't going to get paid, so the only option we had was to agree to pay him ourselves if we liked the house. We ended up looking at it, but didnt like it, so it really never became an issue, but our plan was to knock the 3% off our offer if we did like it.