Forum
« Tailor ?? biweekly mortgage payment »
January 21, 2009
Tips on FSBO?
I'm looking for some advise from anyone who has done a successful FSBO. I have a wonderful condo in a great building and my husband and I were planning on staying here for a while, but we just seem to have too many children to fit in here and need another bedroom (and/or an office since I work from home as well). Since the real estate market is down at the moment we've decided to try and sell ourselves rather than having to pay a broker fee.
So far I've created a blog for the condo and listed it on nytimes real estate for the open houses. We have a lawyer that can do the contracts and closings for us. Any advise is welcome as we really hope to be able to sell and get a fair price.
Thanks.
Comments
Sorry, I just realized that I wrote "advise" instead of "advice"
Posted by: QS_FSBO at January 21, 2009 10:13 AM
I just sold my apartment (co-op in Park Slope) and advertised in the NYT. I also created a nice looking show sheet with photographs and a floor plan that was printed on cover stock. That was pretty much it in terms of marketing tools. There were other apartments for sale in my building, and since my open house was scheduled at the same time, there was probably some additional traffic, to everyone's advantage. My apartment was the only one of it's kind in terms of layout and size, so that it distinguished itself and justified its higher price. If there are other properties for sale in your condo, try to create some added value for yours. Make sure that you have your visitors sign in, so that you have a record in the event you decide to co-broke. Good luck!
Posted by: diors at January 21, 2009 10:33 AM
what's the listing # in the NYT and/or the blog address?
Posted by: jnjnjn2 at January 21, 2009 10:49 AM
http://realestate.nytimes.com/sales/detail/253-NS90120463
http://23115thstreet.blogspot.com/
Thank you diors for the advice. My apartment is the only one for sale in the building, so unfortunatly, there won't be any crossover traffic.
Posted by: QS_FSBO at January 21, 2009 10:57 AM
Know your comps and the market well. People think they can get a bargain on a FSBO because they think the owner doesn't know the market and they think the owner might be more willing to negotiate down because of the broker fee savings. But you also don't want to miss a reasonably good offer.
We tried to sell our coop FSBO in 2004 and buyers tried to lowball us. We had decent pictures and a good Times ad. We got much higher offers after we listed with brokers. More than made up for the fee. If anything, I imagine buyers are in even more of a bargain hunting mood now.
Posted by: slopefarm at January 21, 2009 10:58 AM
When I sold my place, I extensively researched FSBO vs. broker and was convinced that a broker was worth it. In this market, I think that's even more true since deals are harder and harder to close and you really need someone who can negotiate on your behalf. That said, you really need the RIGHT broker and they vary greatly. Some are ignorant and still living in the bubble, others saavy and understand how to sell at best price (and most realistic one to close sale) in this climate. Perhaps you could negotiate a lower commission? I know this isn't what you're asking but I had several friends start with FSBO only to break down and use a broker later but it would have been better for the property if they'd gone with a broker from the get-go.
Posted by: Miss Muffett at January 21, 2009 11:00 AM
Any idea how low a broker would possibly go on their fee? I certainly believe that a good broker should be able to sell this place, but I do need to have some money in my pocket to be able to move on to somewhere else.
Posted by: QS_FSBO at January 21, 2009 11:15 AM
I sold my coop FSBO but it was in Queens where there is no multiple listing service and the brokers don't add anything. Take good photos, price realistically, make sure you pick a buyer who won't have trouble getting financing or PMI. A broker is helpful for the negotiating part.
Posted by: mopar at January 21, 2009 11:25 AM
I think you did a fantastic job with the staging and photos. The website is nice too. I would double check some of your comps on price, though. It seems a little high to me for the location.
Posted by: fawn at January 21, 2009 11:25 AM
I just saw the apartment listing with photos and description.
It was beautifully done.
I wish you the best of luck.
Posted by: Ysabelle at January 21, 2009 11:33 AM
As a former broker, I have a prejudiced view. You can successfully sell your own property if you're extremely knowledgable about the market, and how to follow through on a real-estate transaction.
There's a lot more to selling a property than advertising. Listing at the right price is key, and this doesn't mean comparing only to existing similar properties on the market, but also looking at the price that similar properties sold at. You can get that information at sites like Propertyshark.com.
The whole process is like Project Management. If you have the knowledge and time, you can do it.
In terms of commissions, it varies. You can expect anywhere from 3 - 6%. Interview a number of Brokers (if you decide to go that route) and ask them to explain the process to you, and what role he/she plays throughout the entire transaction until closing.
At the end of those discussions, you should have a good idea if this is something you feel comfortable doing on your own.
Posted by: rkohlny1 at January 21, 2009 12:01 PM
I think your packaging looks very good. I'm not sure about your asking price, since I don't know your area and what you are using for comps. I priced mine about 3 % lower than what my comps showed and in the end I took an offer about 6% lower than my asking price. But my buyer was all cash, and that was worth it to me to be certain that the deal would fly. Make sure you qualify your buyer; don't be shy about asking about their assets, salaries, etc.
Curiously, the brokers who were interested in listing were recommending that I drop the price to a number 25K lower than what I ultimately sold it for!
Posted by: diors at January 21, 2009 12:10 PM
Photos look good. Your ask seems a bit high though, especially for that area. I have sold 3 apartments FSBO, two in South Slope and one on a PS name street (that was the most recent, sold in August). Make sure you keep all contact info of everyone that comes through, follow-up in a tasteful way, know your building and make showings very easy (hold lots of open houses, even some on weeknights). One thing I realized in our last sale was that a broker seems to smooth over the appraisal process (not sure this is legal or still happening) and when we sold in August low appraisals were coming in and we almost lost our sale a few weeks before closing. I think FSBO is possible still in this climate, but it does take work. I agree it is like project management, but I think you can do it. Good luck!
Posted by: WTbound at January 21, 2009 12:22 PM
My experience with brokers in Brooklyn has been uniformly negative [Corchoran]. I ended up doing all the work in terms of staging, photography, and coming-up with the terms of the listing.
What's worse, all of the brokers I've used responded by bumps-in-the-road by insisting I shave off a few thousand here, a few thousand there... in other words, they had no interest in delivering the highest price - only the sale [their % of those few thousand is so low as to be irrelevant to them - even though it was very costly to me]. And to make matters worse, one of the reasons I had to drop my price by $5K was because the broker had made an inaccurate statement in the listing without consulting me [the said we had dedicated storage space in the basement rather than shared space].
If you can create a good ad, do good staging, set a realistic price, and do some very basic due-diligence on prospective buyers, your real estate lawyer will do all the rest. In fact, that's the real nut of my argument: a good real estate lawyer is far more valuable and important than any broker.
So I say go for it! And yes, if it doesn't work out, you can always go pick up a broker - and make sure to interview plenty & negotiate their fee!
Posted by: parkedslope at January 21, 2009 12:24 PM
The traditional commission is 6%. In today's climate most brokerage firms will accept a 5% commission if there is a co-broke (the buyer has a broker representing him) and 4% if it's a direct.
If you go with a too low commission on a co-broke deal you run the risk of buyer agents not bringing their customers, hence I don't recommend going below 5% on the co-brokes.
My suggestion is to try to nagotiate a 3% or even 2.5% on a direct.
If you go with a broker please view the process as a job interview. There are so many professional, ethical agents out there, and they are all dying to work for you.
PS: I sold my condo as a FSBO this summer.
Posted by: kdabrowski at January 21, 2009 1:18 PM
We sold our condo in park slope last year. Agreed with thoughts of prior posters, if you price correctly this should be straightforward. We were fortunate with excellent comps as two units had sold recently in the same block.
Agree with your posting on NY Times - felt like the vast majority of buyers look in there. We did post on Craigslist also but only a handful of folks spotted our posting.
As for pictures, these look good to me. You only need to get folks interested from NYT and certainly these should do the trick.
Some other things I'd mention.
When conducting the open house don't forget to sell the place. Even if your hand out mentions all the good aspects of the place go through with as many people as much detail. Remember, you're trying to sell so to a degree act as a sales person. A little bit sales 101 but you get my drift, don't be passive and engage buyers.
Definitely take email contacts and reach out post open house. You may get some helpful feedback....
Don't be intimidated by this process. It's very doable. At this price range you'll need to be off by many 000's of dollars to be worse off financially than going with a broker. Good luck.
Posted by: 10thStreetReno at January 21, 2009 1:50 PM
It all looks good! You can still work with a buyer's broker. Just let them know that you're firm on your decision not to list it with them. Offer them 1-2% and you act as the listing agent. Can't hurt.
Posted by: rh at January 21, 2009 2:16 PM
Thank you so much for all of the useful feedback. A few of you mentioned my asking price and said it was a bit high. I did have a few realtors come by to see the place (I was inquiring about listings they had for us to move TO). They all offered to come and give their opinions with no commitments. We got a wide range of suggestions from the high 800's, to the low 800's, so we chose what we felt comfortable with based on why they thought we could get a certain number, plus there's our bottom line of what we put in and what we need to get out.
I'm aware that there are a lot of 2BR/2BA apartments on the market in my area, but the one comment that all the brokers gave was that we have a very unique space (high ceilings, balcony not on the street, a lot of SF etc) and they thought it was worth more than the regular new construction places. I tend to agree with them as I'm a bit of an open house junkie and I rarely see anything I like better than this place.
I'll be sad to move, but I'm crossing my fingers (and doing a lot of hard work) that it will sell!
Thanks again everyone.
Posted by: QS_FSBO at January 21, 2009 2:44 PM
I really like your blogspot. Looks better than the times ad. Also, a broker that accepts this listing for less than a 4% commission is not going to do a good job. As you know, advertising can be costly especially if you advertise in the actual NYTimes newspaper on Sunday and not just online. A broker that says they will do it for less than 4% is just trying to get the listing and not really thinking about what it will take to sell your apartment, which is what you need. It has been my experience, that when the market slows, it takes a lot longer to sell properties and the good brokers cannot afford to take less than 4% to really give it their all, since they will be advertising and working that much longer and harder on your property. Just something to keep in mind.
Posted by: broker at January 21, 2009 3:23 PM
I'm sorry but you are only going to get the most entry level or desperate realtor offering 1% or 2%. I'm not trying to be snarky but it's laughable to even suggest that.
You get what you pay for and now is definetly not the time to skimp.
My 2 cents
Posted by: Adam Dahill at January 21, 2009 7:27 PM
I think there are two primary groups that people who sell FSBOs fall into: those who price too high, and those who price too low. The group that prices too high is probably larger than the other group, and it may in part be due to their emotional investment in the property. A number of posters have likened the process to project management, and I agree, but you also have to consider the opportunity costs.
If you have priced it too high (and I'm not saying you are), and aren't seriously considering reasonable offers when there are ones, if prices continue to flatten, you'll be worse off the longer you wait, and still have to pay the monthly costs to keep it.
I'm jealous: you say you work from home, but I see no trace of that! My work from home means my home is my office...with all the requisite paperwork and other detritus.
Posted by: Minmin at January 23, 2009 12:22 PM
Open House today from 1-4 in case anyone is interested!
http://23115thstreet.blogspot.com
Posted by: QS_FSBO at January 25, 2009 8:24 AM
Post a comment
Please be patient while your comment is published. It may take a moment.