Looking to sell my house...advice

HarryCaray · Mar 15, 2016

I live in Alabama, own a house in Illinois. It has been rented by 1 person (my ex-roommate) since I moved out 4 years ago, and I lived there the 6 years prior. He's having another kid and moving into something bigger.

Do I need a realtor or can I FSBO that shit? It's in a nice neighborhood, 3/2, 1600 sq ft, probably a 125k home. I know the neighbors on both sides. No interest in keeping it as rental property for various reasons.

Thoughts?

festeringZit · Mar 15, 2016

If you are remote, who's going to show the house if you FSBO?

MattyMatt · Mar 15, 2016

HarryCaray said:
I live in Alabama, own a house in Illinois. It has been rented by 1 person (my ex-roommate) since I moved out 4 years ago, and I lived there the 6 years prior. He's having another kid and moving into something bigger.

Do I need a realtor or can I FSBO that shit? It's in a nice neighborhood, 3/2, 1600 sq ft, probably a 125k home. I know the neighbors on both sides. No interest in keeping it as rental property for various reasons.

Thoughts?

A realtor is worth the advertisement and showings alone, unfortunately. Being out of town makes it even more important. My BIL is a realtor and I wanted to sell one of my houses FSBO and do all showings etc, and let him handle the contracts etc for way cheaper, and he even advised against it.

5teamparlay · Mar 15, 2016

Suck it up with the agent. The extra in sales price gotten by the agent will lessen some of the pain of paying their fee. Hopefully you were there long enough to be in a good position and cash out a bit.

HarryCaray · Mar 15, 2016

festeringZit said:
If you are remote, who's going to show the house if you FSBO?

Any one of the 6 chicks I know who still live in that neighborhood (3 on that street)

HarryCaray · Mar 15, 2016

MattyMatt said:
A realtor is worth the advertisement and showings alone, unfortunately. Being out of town makes it even more important. My BIL is a realtor and I wanted to sell one of my houses FSBO and do all showings etc, and let him handle the contracts etc for way cheaper, and he even advised against it.

Kinda what I figured. Hoped I could get away without it given I have a strong base in the neighborhood.

PatsFan1283 · Mar 15, 2016

Seems like a logistical nightmare trying to FSBO a home from out of state. Just pay the realtor.

5teamparlay · Mar 15, 2016

I do see your point if its a multi unit type of place, there is a going rate. I tried doing this with a place in the Chicago burbs and didn't get much traffic many years back.

HarryCaray · Mar 15, 2016

5teamparlay said:
I do see your point if its a multi unit type of place, there is a going rate. I tried doing this with a place in the Chicago burbs and didn't get much traffic many years back.

It's a standalone home, so nothing like that.

But it's a staunch Catholic neighborhood. The neighborhood is tightly knit.

drpugilist · Mar 15, 2016

if no hurry to sell put it fsbo for a bit and see if you get any bites? otherwise realtor is best and fastest way to go. good luck!

Defying · Mar 15, 2016

easy decision, you have to hire a realtor

HarryCaray · Mar 15, 2016

drpugilist said:
if no hurry to sell put it fsbo for a bit and see if you get any bites? otherwise realtor is best and fastest way to go. good luck!

I can only afford so many vacant months...

HarryCaray · Mar 15, 2016

Defying said:
easy decision, you have to hire a realtor

Why

Defying · Mar 15, 2016

HarryCaray said:
Why

average is 5% there..

You're not dodging work.. they are going to be way better at attracting clients. You simply cant' IMO sell your house when youre not there.. you need to have open houses. you need someone there to hand hold potetial buyers, that's not something some girl on your street should do.

Plus, as you mentioned, you don't want it sit empty and have a double mortgage long without rental income. you're taking a ridiculous amount of risk to save a couple thousand, risk isn't worth it. A good realtor will do 10x the job and much faster than you can do it.

$tinky · Mar 15, 2016

I'd hire an agent. I'd also hire one if I lived next door to the house so I may not be the best person for advice. Getting into that is a pain in the ass and I'd much rather pay the fee to the person that does it for a living.

Buster · Mar 15, 2016

Replace front door and pay the realtor with that...

A recent home valuation study shows that a new front entry door can add to home's value and installing a custom entry door can increase your home's value by as much as 6%...

In addition to reducing energy costs and maintenance, today's front entry doors can add substantially to your home's value. In fact, according to the National Home Valuation Study an enhanced entry way, such as one that with a new custom entry door, can lead to as much as a $24,000 increase in a home's perceived value, which can be as much as a five times the cost of installing the new front door system.
If you're looking to enhance the value of your home while improving curb appeal and saving energy, maybe its time to install a custom entry door.

On a side note I will not be using a realtor as the last 4 homes in my neighborhood(just in the last 2 weeks) have had contract offers within 3 hours of being on market...My strategy is going to be not even asking a price...I am going to just entertain offers,and let the people fight it out...

HarryCaray · Mar 15, 2016

Defying said:
average is 5% there..

You're not dodging work.. they are going to be way better at attracting clients. You simply cant' IMO sell your house when youre not there.. you need to have open houses. you need someone there to hand hold potetial buyers, that's not something some girl on your street should do.

Plus, as you mentioned, you don't want it sit empty and have a double mortgage long without rental income. you're taking a ridiculous amount of risk to save a couple thousand, risk isn't worth it. A good realtor will do 10x the job and much faster than you can do it.

7%, seller usually pays (is my understanding).

So tell me why I should pay some fat fuck 10 grand when I could fly my happy ass to Illinois and...wait

mrwho · Mar 15, 2016

hire a realtor hc...i recently sold my home and moved out of the city so couldnt monitor..was on market for 2 weeks and someone put an offer in. took one month for everything to fall through. the realtor will list, handle showings..know where to go for contract..etc. you can negotiate on the commission, i paid 6% but shouldve bargained for 5%. that 1% was a nice amount. takes all the headaches given that you are remote.

Mr_Mark · Mar 15, 2016

In your situation, a Realtor would be the best bet. It could be more of a headache than it is worth trying to do it yourself.

MattyMatt · Mar 15, 2016

HarryCaray said:
7%, seller usually pays (is my understanding).

So tell me why I should pay some fat fuck 10 grand when I could fly my happy ass to Illinois and...wait

Don't pay 7%, you can get less than that...also, look into a flat fee realtor in your area, like redefy, which charges $2500. There's one here that does it for less than that, and they're having great success right now...