For Sale By Owner V.S. selling by real estate agent

**AdoreMyDogs** · 07-14-2007, 05:38 PM

What's the pros vs cons to selling by owner vs by real estate agent? We are going to be looking into either renting our house out or selling it (most likely selling it as good renters are so hard to come by) but we need to make at least a little profit. We've only owned the house for just under 2 years so we don't know what is the best thing to do. There's lots of research to do. If anyone can add any tips that might be helpful in selling, please feel free to chime in. Thanks.

**catnapper** · 07-14-2007, 05:42 PM

My brother sold his house himself and had a great profit because he did it that way. I wish I had some real experience myself with realtors and by owner but I don't.

**Lady's Human** · 07-14-2007, 06:01 PM

When we sold our house in MA, we used a real estate agent.

Yes, you have to pay them a commission, but you are paying them for their sales experience and their experience with legal issues regarding the sale.

Unless you have a LOT of time to devote to the sale, I would go with an agent.

**Karen** · 07-14-2007, 06:21 PM

Start doing research now, as to what comparable homes in your area are selling for. You may want to also look into the websites that help you sell the house yourself, and make sure you get an MLS listing. It depends how active your market is, and how much time you are willing to devote to the process, really.

**Freedom** · 07-14-2007, 08:20 PM

Do you have Help U Sell in your area? That may be one way to increase your profit but have a realtor guiding you.

In this area, it is common to have a realtor AND an attorney involved in any real estate sale. So if you did the selling yourself, you would end up with a slightly higher attorney fee as you would be relying on that professional more. I've heard that some areas of the country, you only need a realtor and no attorney at all. I don't know how you would get extra support in such a case.

There are certain things which MUST be disclosed; and if you don't make the proper disclosure, you are potentially liable to the buyer for 3 years (or maybe even longer) after the sale. There are many ways to write up "we had termites." Not all of them sound bold, blunt and ready to sink the sale.

Also, is this the only real estate you have ever purchased? It is a stessful time, selling and /or buying. Taking on the added burden may not be something you eally want to take on?

That's about all I can offer for help just now.

**AdoreMyDogs** · 07-14-2007, 10:11 PM

Originally Posted by Freedom

Do you have Help U Sell in your area? That may be one way to increase your profit but have a realtor guiding you.

In this area, it is common to have a realtor AND an attorney involved in any real estate sale. So if you did the selling yourself, you would end up with a slightly higher attorney fee as you would be relying on that professional more. I've heard that some areas of the country, you only need a realtor and no attorney at all. I don't know how you would get extra support in such a case.

There are certain things which MUST be disclosed; and if you don't make the proper disclosure, you are potentially liable to the buyer for 3 years (or maybe even longer) after the sale. There are many ways to write up "we had termites." Not all of them sound bold, blunt and ready to sink the sale.

Also, is this the only real estate you have ever purchased? It is a stessful time, selling and /or buying. Taking on the added burden may not be something you eally want to take on?

That's about all I can offer for help just now.

I don't know....I am starting to lean more towards letting a real estate agent do the whole thing. The more I've read up on it, the more of a headache it sounds like. I think we might be able to make a bit more $$ if we sold it ourselves, but it's an awful lot of work. I don't know if we'll get much on the house, because this street and area just had a MAJOR flood, thank goodness only 2 houses on the street were destroyed, but our house was so close to being flooded, it might scare off potential buyers. We did have the ugly carpet ripped up and hardwood treated, and we only got around to painting 2 rooms before money ran out, so we might get a small profit...or we might break even since the major flood may have scared sellers. I guess we'll see...we still have some research to do. Monday I'm calling a Real Estate agent just to get the ball rolling and see what they say.

**Karen** · 07-14-2007, 10:29 PM

Call more than one real estate agent. If you have friends who've lived in the area a while, ask for realtor recommendations. It is a lot of work, you are right about that, but hopefully you'll make at least some profit. And you can say that your house was not affected by the flooding, if anyone asks.

**Lady's Human** · 07-14-2007, 10:39 PM

The house not being affected by flooding was one major selling point of our house in MA. The cellar was a little higher than the neighbors houses, which meant that it was the LAST house on the street to flood. (Of course, the next year, northbridge got the proverbial 100 year flood, and everything was under water, but that wasn't our fault)

**CathyBogart** · 07-15-2007, 12:25 AM

I don't have any experience personally, but my parents said they were extremely pleased with their decision to sell their last house themselves. I'll ask my mom if she has any tips next time I see her.