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Anyone sold their house themselves?



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amother


 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 8:39 pm
we are planning on moving OOT G-d willing as soon as the school year is over. We have a house in a frum neighborhood in the tristate area that we would like to sell. It's a frum family friendly house in a desirable area so I think it should be easy to sell. It seems like a waste to pay a real estate agent thousands of dollars when it shouldn't take much work. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with this?

So far what I've thought of is....
There are frum real estate agents in the neighborhood who offer a free consultation so I figured that I would sit down with one them to see what they say in terms of price.

I know that we have paint and get a gardener to make the outside look nicer.

I was also thinking about hiring a home inspector to make sure that there's nothing we need to fix first.

we would advertise on the local frum website, through word of mouth, I'm not so concerned about getting the word out.

but would love some more advice, like when to put it up on the market, how much in advance to paint if there are little kids around? How long to give it before hiring a real estate agent....?


Thank you!
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Scrabble123




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 8:47 pm
Speaking to a home inspector is a great idea, but consulting a RE Agent when you have no intentions of listing with them just to hear the value of your home is not so ethical IMO. I would suggest consulting an appraiser and asking what s/he would charge to appraise the home (you don't need a full $350-$500 appraisal.. just a quick walk-through or even BPO). Call one and see what they say. Also, if you choose to meet with the brokers anyways, you could be up front and honest about planning to do it yourself but choosing to speak to a broker anyways (many will meet with you for the 1% chance you'll choose to go with them if, especially if after a few months you need help selling it...)

I also think that word of mouth is important. Word will get around that your home is for sale, and interested buyers will contact you. Sometimes a broker is worth the money because they will work for you, follow up with attorneys, mortgage brokers, etc.; however many people have sold their homes successfully themselves. Good luck!


Last edited by Scrabble123 on Thu, Dec 25 2014, 8:54 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Dolly Welsh




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 8:51 pm
Right away get an engineering inspection.

Decide who your lawyer is. He should be local.

Right away get the yard work and landscaping done. Tell them no herbicides or pesticides, just a lot of trimming and hauling the debris away. Keep the kids well out of the way when that is going on.

The new people will like a paint job. But they might want to paint their way anyhow.

Get in a cleaning service and have the place scrubbed. Keep the kids out of the way. AIR the house very thoroughly.

I am not a fan of For Sale signs one little bit. All agents want them put up. Say no to that.

They also want you to sign things. Say, first get me a buyer, and then I will sign.

If you have somebody change all the doorknobs to brass, it's nice; unless you have interesting antique doorknobs.

People are going to want to know if your roof and your basement are dry. After that, they want to know if you have pests such as mice and termites and other horrors like that.

After that they are going to be interested in the health of your boiler, and whether your windows are good.

Buy new garbage cans.

Buy lots of automatic light-sensitive nightlights especially for the stairs. Some of them stick on. Some run on batteries, some plug in.

After that it's all location

This won't be hard. Don't worry.

Just remember that word of mouth means nothing. Except your words. Be very careful to promise nothing to anybody. They will remember, and they won't forgive or understand. Watch your words. Tell your husband to watch his. The lightest remark can be interpreted as a promise to give someone first refusal. Get everybody else's words written down, through your lawyer.

Be candid about what's wrong with the house. This will sell your house. A buyer buys when he feels he can trust the seller. There is more to it than bricks and mortar.


Last edited by Dolly Welsh on Thu, Dec 25 2014, 8:57 pm; edited 2 times in total
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amother


 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 8:55 pm
Just put it out here, it'll be sold in no time. There is a huge demand.
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Dolly Welsh




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 9:01 pm
It is true that, as an agent gets a percentage of the sale price, the agent will push that price as high as is realistic.

Appraisers sometimes tell a lower price to keep your taxes down.

It is a lot easier to not have to show the house yourself, that is a huge chore and bore. The agent also knows how to present and dress the house; you can't know that.

The agents earn their money.
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amother


 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 9:03 pm
I took a re agent. bec my m-inlaw also sold hers not long ago and before she did she tried on her own. she said it was a nightmare she got like 20-30 calls in one day. and most of them were just curious or couldnt pay that amount or werent really serious. bottom line the headache was worth the price she paid. and I did the same. it was well worth it. I didnt know that the percent I paid was a little on the high side. so definitely dont let them charge you more then 3-4%.
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ruchelbuckle




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 9:21 pm
I did this recently. You can pm me for more info.

There are a lot of books you can get in the local library about For Sale by owner-- I found them to be very helpful. I also read a bunch of books about staging your house.

Amother from 10:03 is right, that you will get lots of calls from people who are "just looking"-- you don't want to scramble to get the house ready for a showing when it's people who are just trying to get a feel what the market is like. A benefit of an agent is that she/he can screen these people for you, so you don't waste your time. My initial plan was to put my house on the market by myself and give it a week. At the end of the week, my plan was to re-evaluate. How many people called? how many people actually came? were they serious? etc..... If I wasn't happy with the results, then I would hire an agent at that time.
However, one thing is that percentage paid to the RE agent varies by region, county, etc. I don't know if I would say flat out " don't pay more than 3-4%"-- totally depends on where you are.

In my particular case, since I wasn't making a huge chunk on my house, plus given other factors (location, relative affordability of my home, etc...) it made sense to try to go without an agent.

Getting an inspector ahead of time is a great idea. However, be aware that in many states, once you know of a problem, you will be required to disclose it...even if its small. On the flip side, this can help you to make sure there are no "big ticket" items that will make your potential buyer run. This is the type of thing you'll want to discuss with a competent attorney IN YOUR STATE, who specializes in real estate. So your Uncle Steve in Miami is not a good person to get advice from in the particulars.

Painting should be the last thing you do. Once the paint job was finished, I put it up on the market.

Laws vary from state-to-state regarding real estate transactions. I hired a real estate attorney to write up a contract for me, etc.... I paid a $500 flat fee.

Also, I had a few buyers agents call me asking me if they could bring me potential buyers, and following that line, would I be willing to pay the buyer's agent fee (usually around 2-3%)? I always, always said "Everything is negotiable." Meaning, if someone brings me a strong, full price contract with minimal contingencies, I would have been willing to pay the buyers agent fee.

You will get tons of calls from real estate agents asking if they can bring you a client-- they are looking to get the listing. Be nice to them, even though they can be VERY annoying!

I don't agree with Dolly's statement about not using a For Sale sign. It was helpful in my case.

Also, one of the principles I learned from the real estate books I read is that "The first offer is usually the best offer"-- BH, I had a great offer very quickly, but a friend who was selling a little bit before me found that out the hard way. She felt the first offer she got was too low. She didn't get another offer for another month or two, and it was for 30K less!!!!

My house went under contract very, very quickly. I attribute that to:

1) zillow
2) local email groups
3) local facebook group
4) lots of time and money I spent on getting my house ready for sale (paint job, new bedspreads, decluttering, new towels in the bathrooms, small accent pieces, etc.., etc).
5)TEFILLOS!!!!! lots of them!

hope this was helpful to you! again, feel free to PM me. lots of hatzlacha in your new city!!!


Last edited by ruchelbuckle on Thu, Dec 25 2014, 9:30 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Dolly Welsh




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 9:28 pm
I concede that a For Sale sign might be good sometimes. A house should never be on the market a long time or people shun it, thinking there is something wrong with it, even thought there is not. A For Sale sign lets people see that it is still on the market and time is passing. But this house will sell very fast.

So ok, in some circumstances a For Sale sign might be useful.


Last edited by Dolly Welsh on Sat, Dec 27 2014, 10:04 pm; edited 1 time in total
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MaBelleVie




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 9:35 pm
Definitely do not do a free consultation with an agent you don't plan on using. Besides for being unethical, it's a halachic problem as well.
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amother


 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 9:36 pm
op here- I plan to tell the agent up front that I plan to first attempt to do it by owner but if I can't hack it then I'll get an agent. Its the type of neighborhood that while I don't approve, real estate agents knock on people's doors asking if they plan on selling to give you an idea.

I mentioned using an appraisal to my husband but the "problem" is that there actually NO houses that have sold like ours on our block because we put on addition. Our block without going in to detail is "different" then other blocks. Our neighbors houses are all significantly smaller. Others have put additions as well but haven't sold since then. A frum real estate agent will therefore have a better idea of what people will pay.

We've refinanced since the addtion so we do have idea of what amount we would be told but we had to tell the inspector about owner sold homes because it seems they aren't always on the "lists".

we are located in NJ- does anyone know of a good lawyer?

To the person who sold their house themselves- how quickly did your house go under contract?
Did you get your asking price?
How longer after it went under contract did it get sold?
Did it end up going through a buyers agent?


Thanks so much!
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MaBelleVie




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 9:38 pm
Tell that to the agent before you set up a meeting.
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sky




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 10:01 pm
A neighbor of ours (not Jewish) just tried posting his house in a desirable Jewish area himself.
He did some things good:
- Hung up lots of signs
- Created a dedicated phone number with all the details - lot size, house size, year built, bedrooms, price, etc.
- Advertised twice weekly open houses
- Showed the house looking clean and fresh (we looked because we were truly interested, not because we were nosy).

One bad thing:
- Way over priced his house. He went base don what other homes were going for. but his house was ancient. And the master bedroom couldn't even fit 2 beds at all. The house wasn't fitting the market that is willing to spend the money, but he posting the price as such. When we heard the price (which he said was negotiable) we didn't even bother countering it because it is so out of the ballpark.

He just gave it to an agent with the price about 10K less then he was asking. (Its still out of our realm of possibility to buy a house that really must be knocked down at that price)
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amother


 

Post Thu, Dec 25 2014, 10:29 pm
op here- mi k'amcha yisroel! yes we plan to tell the agent on the phone BEFORE we meet that we want to try to do it ourselves. I'm just pretty sure that an agent will agree to meet us even on the 1% chance based on how aggressive I've seen agents be. don't worry, I don't plan on doing anything unethical.
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ruchelbuckle




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Dec 27 2014, 9:47 pm
amother wrote:


To the person who sold their house themselves- how quickly did your house go under contract?
Did you get your asking price?
How longer after it went under contract did it get sold?
Did it end up going through a buyers agent?


Thanks so much!


Went under contract within a few days
Yes, got asking price
House sold about 6 weeks later
No buyers agent
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amother


 

Post Sun, Dec 28 2014, 8:32 am
op here- wow! That's very encouraging thank you!
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amother


 

Post Sun, Dec 28 2014, 10:58 am
I did, I lived in Flatbush.

I spoke to my cousin who is a Real Estate Agent what to expect in Price.

I put an ad in the Jewish Press Classified. I sold my house by word of mouth, a relative told a friend of their that was looking for a house about my house. My house was on the market for three days and it went into contract. I did not overprice my house though.
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