 Posted 6/29/2007 10:57:01 PM
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Hello,
I am considering giving up being FSBO. My home has been on owners.com since February. I have had no legitimate buyers, only people who were not prequalified. I put ads in the paper, I listed on other FSBO sites, I bought and put up lots of FSBO signs. I had two open houses. I listed on the MLS through a flat fee listing. My flat fee agent sent flyers to some local agencies, and still.... NOTHING!! Now I have been told that it is not uncommon for Buyers Agents to completely by pass listings in the MLS if they were a FSBO. I was told that it is because I stepped on thier turf so to speak. Since state law prohibits the agents from speaking to me (the owner) I am appealing to the realtors who come here to enlighten me. My neighbor a former realtor suggested I offer a $500 gas card to any realtor who brings me an acceptable offer. Tons of flyers have been taken. I am getting lots of veiwings on here, but no one who contacts me follows through. If I need to do something different, I want to be decisive and not keep changing things. I could: lower my price and still be FSBO, I could stay as I am but offer the buyers agents the $500 gas card, I could list with a selling agent and take the chance that agents still wouldn't show my house since it used to be a FSBO. I am in no hurry to sell, but the stress has finally gotten to me. All I wanted was to sell my house . I had the time to put into marketing it so I decided to do it myself. I wasn't trying to offend any realtors or step on their turf!
Noele
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Posted 6/30/2007 5:18:22 AM
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As one Realtor told us, it's more about luck than anything. If you've done your comparative market analysis and priced it just below, and you've cleaned up, decluttered (including removing some furniture) and painted in neutral colors, then it may just be the market. Try to get an objective opinion about how your house looks inside and out. Also landscaping is important. But again it may be the market.
Best wishes
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Posted 6/30/2007 11:47:23 AM
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Okay, our user name says it all here! We are in the same boat, although we have only been using FSBO labelling online for 90 days now.....however, it is obvious in talking with some of our local realty offices that we are considered lepers as FSBO.....they want no part of it, even with the incentive we are offering! I think the tide is changing in real estate FOR SURE and the real estate companies need to get on board with the program.....they need to train the prospective realtors going into the business to look at properties differently.....I mean in any other business, ANY money is GOOD money and the buyers' agents could easily build themselves a great reputation as agents that ONLY work with FSBO......time will tell, but we are feeling your frustrations!
Life is a highway........try to avoid gridlock!
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Posted 7/1/2007 12:43:50 AM
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In my opinion it is definitely the market, but its also some of the Agents working against you. I had a situation where a Buyers agent actually steered the interested Buyers away from my property.
I am also on multiple FSBO sites, took my own photographs, created a nice Flyer and duplicate it regularly, keep my property in turnkey condition, have the appropriate signs in the front of my property and always return phone calls promptly. Recently, I received a call from actual Buyers (imagine that!?) who drove by my property and were interested. When I contacted the parties they informed me that they had a Buyers agent, but still really wanted to see my property. We scheduled an appointment, I was at my property early, the Interested parties arrived early, but guess who didn’t show up? No problem, I showed my property and they really liked it, but guess who subsequently made sure that they didn’t buy my property? The challenges for Sellers right now is the amount of inventory on the market with existing homes, increasing inventory with new home developments, a flood of foreclosures, the difficulty with Buyers getting pre-qualified, a lack of overall Buyer confidence and some Agents who will go out of their way to work against FSBOs. So, I would never consider pulling out now and signing with an Agent, because they aren’t going to do anything for me in this market but recommend “lower the price, lower the price and lower the price”. You then lose money due to lowering your price and still have to pay the Commission. If the only incentive in this market is to lower the price, then I can do that myself. With the market being so poor for Sellers, I am considering lowering the price to be more competitive with the Comps for my area, then continue to advertise and distribute more Flyers. Also find out where and who in your areas might be giving “First Time HomeBuyer Seminars”, then get approval to attend and pass out your Flyer (if its allowed), sometimes the City or local Community groups will provide this kind of seminar. If agents are conducting it, don't waste your time. I think the key is for an FSBO to locate independent “Buyers” by any means necessary and subsequenty we can be more successful. In this market, nothing will be easy as an FSBO or an Agent.
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Posted 10/13/2007 2:55:38 PM
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As a Realtor I can say that I don't know of any Realtors that would not nor would I not show a home if it is on the MLS because they were once a For Sale By Owner. In most cases we don't know that was the case and it wouldn't be something we would want to find out. We show what is out there to be shown, that fits what our buyers want to see.
Scott Shadrick
Keller Williams
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Posted 10/13/2007 3:17:01 PM
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| Hi Vince, I'm sorry about your experience with the Realtor that you used. I know that that happens and have run acrossed my share of those types of Realtors myself. It is unfortunate that they find a way into this business and once in, do the damage that they do before they are made to leave. The answer to your question depends on the listing contract. In the contracts that I use, I have a 90 day clause that states that if I precur a buyer during the term of my listing contract and they choose to buy the house within 90 days after the listing has expired or been withdrawn I am still owed my commission. In my personal experience I have never had to try to enforce this provision of the contract, but here is the thing that will probably work against the agent that you had. For that provision in the contract to be enforcable, there has to be documented evidence that the buyer was procurred during the term of the listing by the listing agent specificly for that property. If the agent never had a showing appointment with that buyer, it is unlikely that any court, nor the agents broker would support the agent getting his commission. Without any meaningful and constructive effort on the part of your agent to sell your house to a specific buyer, his claim to the commission will not be recognised as valid. Especially if there is no documented evidence of it. One last thing. If he is like most of the agents that I have run acrossed that are like that, he will probably never even realize that you sold your house, let alone try and get a commission from you.
Scott Shadrick
Keller Williams
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Posted 10/15/2007 9:00:03 PM
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| HelloEveryone, I am a realtor and I work with alot of FSBO's I am not trying to defend or not defend realtors or FSBO's but I can give my 2 cents with years of working with both sides. To answer a few questions, It's not just the market, more people to the tune of about 100,000 have become realtors and that increase increases competition for realtors and fsbos. There is also more FSBO's this year than last but less are selling according to national statistics. One factor is there are more overall people realtor and fsbo in the pool for the same buyers. It's like everyone coming to your favorite fishing hole. As far as Realtors not wanting to show your home after you list. It depends. Most won't have a problem if they are getting paid but many discount brokerages and flat fee services make the other agent work directly with the seller and agents either won't or don't want to do this. It makes them work double explaining and working out issues for only half the pay. They feel like they are twice as likely to get sued if something goes wrong, the direct communication with sellers puts them in very touchy position with their own buyers. It's a bad idea. If they don't have to deal with the seller direct it may be that they just don't like the discount brokers so they won't show their listings. It's not because you were a FSBO it's because they don't want to support discount brokers who undercut their full service listings. It's good old politics. I usually tell people set a time frame, if your home is going to sell FSBO it will happen fairly soon depending on your market. But it's usually if the home is in a desirable location, priced well, or has features people can't get elsewhere for the same price. Remember selling your home FSBO is about net numbers, sometimes you sell it and get more, and sometimes you don't and you list it, and if you hire a bad realtor you could be out the commission and get less than it's worth, and some realtors actually add value to the home by marketing it better than the competition. Remember when it comes to sales it's competitive and your all competing for the same buyers and for the highest price but not all can get it done. Homes do not sell themselves. The same car doesn't sell for the same price at all dealers. Your marketing falls somewhere on the scale of how good it is compared to your competition. If it was just about putting a sign in the yard and having a website wouldn't all realtors sell the same amount of homes. I have seen homes that sold way over priced and I have seen some that should have sold but you almost had to give it away. Don't be so focussed on going FSBO that you don't look at all options. The problem is everyone will tell you what you want to hear so you have to sift through the sales talk and get good information. Good Luck
Don't shoot the Messenger!
ross@teamquintana.com
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Posted 12/28/2007 1:27:17 PM
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As a former Realtor, I used to avoid FSBO's. Not that I didn't want to sell them, most of the time I felt that dealing direct with the seller is a lot more work and more difficult. Usually they lack the experience and are too emotional. Listed properties are easier to sell in general. There are exceptions however. I did sell one that went ok.
DebtFreeDave
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Posted 1/7/2008 3:22:05 PM
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| 1. While you're FSBO'd...Ask people to bring a copy of their pre-approval with them. And for security sake, ask them to bring a Photo ID. If you were looking at an Apartment, they take your ID and lock it in their desk so if you knock them in the head, your ID is there. Ask anyone who has called you for their phone number so you can call 1 hour ahead and confirm they are still coming. If you are no longer FSBO'd, any realtor with a grain of sense won't put anyone in their car w/o a pre-approval letter. 2. I would not necessarily fail to show a FSBO property. 3. If you've been FSBO'd and now your listed I couldn't care less. I'm happy you're in the MLS. 4. Personally, even if you're listed, my BUYER's BROKER AGREEMENT with my buyer will likely have the little box checked which tells me to EXCLUDE all houses that don't pay 3% or more to the Buyer's Agent. 5. If you're going to bail on your FSBO, and list with an agent... make sure you get one with a WRITTEN marketing plan, which should include a COMMUNICATION schedule. Unwritten marketing plans would be.... mmm.. ALL TALK?? How about an EASY OUT agreement (if I do not follow my own 30-60-90 marketing plan, you get to fire me)? How about TONS of web exposure (32 or more sites)? How about a Virtual Tour with the address on all of those sites? And how about a 1-800 24-hour recorded message on your home (with applicable sign rider)that CAPTURES any prospects phone numbers and NOT a bunch a flyers sitting on the sign that tell you no more than the neighborhood kids took them all? (The 800 number also appears in all advertising and website ads.) Assuming you're gonna bail on being a FSBO, make sure you find a realtor that does this stuff. 6. Get ahold of David Knox's "Pricing Your Home To Sell" (20 min DVD). Lots of "ahaa!!" moments. The longer your home stays on the market the less you NET. But you still want to price it as high as the market will allow. The greatest flood of showings will occur in the 1st 3 weeks. Do you want to be priced most attractively AFTER 3 weeks? Some people say they do. (??!!??) I just saw a listing on the MLS... been for sale for 2 years, through 3 agents... they've cut the price a lot, but NEVER cut it AHEAD of the market. If they had chosen their latest expired price 2 years ago, they'd be long gone, money in hand. 7. Watch all episodes of Secrets That Sell on HGTV. TIVO or VCR all of them. Make CERTAIN you do what those 2 ladies tell you. A WORD to the WISE is sufficient, "others" need EXPERIENCE. 8. Try making a potential buyer an offer, as opposed to waiting for them. (assuming you've got their ph number)
Jonathan O'Connor
GSH Real Estate
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Posted 1/20/2008 9:54:24 AM
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Hi
At the present time and I speak for Florida, sales are so slloooww, that it behhoves any agent to show a FSBO. They are all starving bad with hundreds leaving the business to do something else. The problem being the tax and homeowner insurance ripoff.
Many renters know this and even rents are way down. I'm lucky to even get $750/mo when in a good market i would be getting almost $1000.
We are at the point where walking away from the house and giving it back to the mortgage company would save me about $10,000/year in mortgage payments and taxes.
Just in my county there are over a thousand foreclosures.
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