Brutally Critique My FSBO Plan, Website, List Price, etc.

I am going list my 4 story, 3 unit Park Slope brownstone as FSBO in January. I plan on listing on Streeteasy and NY Times, but may consider going through Hauseit.com to get on the MLS as well. I am looking for brutal feedback on my list price, tips on photos and marketing, etc. I have thick skin, so launch away!

I am still working on some exterior shots and shots of the two rental units are challenging but I have a few from prior rental listings, but what I have so far is on a website I created as follows:

http://teepeeteee.wixsite.com/380sixthave

2,752 sf, 4-story brick townhome featuring a newly renovated 2 bedroom / 2.5 bath owner’s duplex, plus a finished basement; and two market rate floor-thru 1 bedroom high income rental apartments.

New hot water heater and boiler
Facade & exterior masonry recently repointed & redone

Taxes = $9,900
Square Footage = 2,752
Lot Size = 16′ x 78.83′
Building Dimensions = 16′ x 45′
Year Built = +/- 1900

[IMG_1396](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s3/:brownstoner:mXQf:img_1396.jpg.jpg) [Floor plans](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s1/:brownstoner:yxOe:floorplans.jpg.jpg)

wonderbread

in General Discussion 8 years and 6 months ago

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decodeddreams | 8 years and 6 months ago

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Gotham Photo Company offers professional quality photos at a very reasonable price: http://www.gothamphotony.com/ Best of Luck! Richard Garey, Manhatta Architecture, P.C. http://www.manhatta.net/

decodeddreams | 8 years and 6 months ago

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Gotham Photo Company offers professional quality photos at a very reasonable price: http://www.gothamphotony.com/ Best of Luck! Richard Garey, Manhatta Architecture, P.C. http://www.manhatta.net/

katdov | 8 years and 6 months ago

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Selling yourself is a huge pain in the butt, but you can always try it and see what happens. Just run your own comps, take better pictures (use a wider angle lens and do more perspective shots or hire a pro), maybe go to a few open houses/pretend to be a buyer and book some viewings in the area to compare. There are a few houses at your price point that have been sitting on the market for some months, try to figure out why. You seem to be priced at around $1100/sq ft, which is about right, but for a more high end finish. Doesn’t look like you’ve changed the plumbing, there is no central air, etc. I do agree with what the others said about staging – either hire a professional or present it empty. You are doing yourself a disservice with the current set up. All in all, you can always give yourself a few months to see if you can do it. Btw, agents do look at “for sale by owner listings”. The larger agencies all have FSBO reports. Good luck.

dharma | 8 years and 6 months ago

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I think you need to improve the photos/stage it better. You might even hire someone to stage it for you. Eg, why are the trash cans in the kitchen pics? Same for the cheap soap in the beautiful bathroom. And there are loose papers/trash in a bunch of the pics. The furniture arrangement is awkward. Less is more. Take out the Ikea TV console and sitting area entirely and have that as open space, with maybe a plant or 2. And why the empty bookshelf in the bedroom? Either stage it, or dont. Right now, it’s a weird half way… Also, I much prefer to see the exterior as the first image.

stickman | 8 years and 6 months ago

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very successful FSBO:
$3.2M sale, $250k above ask. $1280 psf assuming it’s 2500sf.
http://www.brownstoner.com/real-estate-market/house-of-the-day/minimalist-town-house-with-details-central-air-in-park-slope/

lgwlcvqt | 8 years and 6 months ago

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Looks like a staged flip

lgwlcvqt | 8 years and 6 months ago

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Looks like a staged flip

stickman | 8 years and 6 months ago

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Other than going with better photos, I would recommend getting help with the OH and other showings with someone who won’t be emotional about the sale as potential buyers will be critiquing your home/renos/design ideas. Having worked with several brokers before, I can tell you they are not worth what they’re paid. They want to you to sell low (or buy high) just to close a deal as quickly as possible. The incremental amount you earn (or save) is not worth it for them but can mean a lot to the seller/buyer. There really needs to be a change with the RE broker model in NYC as their work is only worth a small fraction of what they charge. I’d be interested to hear how this goes because it’s definitely something I would consider doing. Best of luck!

resident2 | 8 years and 6 months ago

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I have seen many FSBO’s selling way below properly marketed values: 10-30% , and mostly due to exhaustion and ego of not wanting to admit it was a mistake. And they fall into two categories selling to quick or holding out for a better offer, but not knowing how to get it.

glarph | 8 years and 6 months ago

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This is not a critique so much as an opinion, please, go with professional representation in all aspects of NY real estate. I’m not a realtor, I’ve just used real estate to make my life in social services sustainable. I’ve sold with brokers who did a good job, brokers who did a bad job, and gone FSBO as well. I’ve bought from brokers too eager to close their sale and get their money, overlooking opportunities to get the highest price for their seller. One broker had the owner host an open house, which allowed me to meet the seller, find out way more information than I would usually get, suss out the competition, and ultimately make and win a bid below asking. My best advice is to rigorously vet and hire great brokers and lawyers–this deal is too big to go alone!

boredatwork | 8 years and 6 months ago

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Not an expert here by any means, and have only bought one house in the Brooklyn market. But comparable prices for houses in this neighborhood are pretty easy to find, as are the sq ft prices. Assuming the seller creates a much more professional site, markets and prices properly, would working with a broker result in a net higher price of more than $150K (@ 5%) or $180,000 (@ 6%)? Of course, there is a cost to the work the seller is doing, plus the value of his time, but that seems like a big gain to me.

I would never go to closing without a lawyer, but I can totally see selling my place without a broker, and I am at a higher price point than this home.

resident2 | 8 years and 6 months ago

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Why would you even want to be your own Broker? (FSBO) It is a pain in the rear end trying to do this yourself, even if you think you are in the business.
Just as an Attorney representing him/her self or a dentist pulling his/her own kids teeth… why?
The Brokers fee is a business expense and on a 3 +/- million $ property the buyers will be put on notice that you are nuts! You are probably going to have a big capital gain to pay anyway…..
The better question for you is how do I choose the Best Broker to list my property with?

The best Broker is someone that knows your area, has been a broker for at least 10 years and works with townhouses exclusively; not a condo developer sales person, not a rental agent that has rented a few apartments in the area, but someone that sells what you have for sale on a regular basis.
And someone that you can reasonably communicate with; but remember they are not your friend, your therapist or your family. They are an independen t professional.
Interview at least 3-4 after seeing how they run an open house, getting referrals from neighbors that have recently bought/sold etc.

EJR | 8 years and 6 months ago

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I agree with much of the above commentary. The house looks nice, but the pictures, floorplan and website are all quite bad. Hire a professional photographer and a website designer and consider having new floor plans made. Make sure to list on all the real estate websites, and NYTimes. Honestly, though, at this price point, I am not sure you are saving yourself any more trying to sell this yourself and you are certainly creating a lot of hassle. I sold a sub-$1 million apartment myself and it went well, but I would never sell a larger and more expensive house myself, for the following reasons:

1) There is more space to organize, photograph and show; it’s just more work;

2) At a $2 million+ price point, a lot of people will be relying on brokers to find and vet listings for them. They are not going to troll StreetEasy the same way someone at a lower price point might. You may find it hard to generate the same interest as a broker could, which could result in a lower price.

3) At a $2 million+ price point, the differential in selling price that a broker may be abl e to achieve through marketing and negotiation as compared to what you may be able to achieve yourself will likely pay the brokerage fee, or close to it.

All in all, I would suggest hiring a broker. And no, I am not a broker myself. At this price point the big houses will probably also do it for a 5% commission as opposed to the standard 6%.

Good luck!

cordeliamilesx | 8 years and 6 months ago

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Full disclosure up front: I am a Corcoran agent, so I am a bit biased but hopefully my feedback is helpful.

1) The web site as first impression: I recommend investing a significant amount in photography, competitive research, and a more professional web site in order to compete with other listings your buyers are going to see. The most valuable moment in this process will be your first impression upon buyers, which is worth significant investment, and I don’t think Wix offers the best presentation for your property.

2) What other marketing are you connecting to this web site to generate attention, get buyers to your open houses, and keep them excited afterward? If you really want to compete with comparable options, you’ll want to reach a far wider audience than you can with the MLS and web sites you mentioned. Your competition is doing a lot more than web advertising, and you need to do the same if you want to get true market value for your home.

If this were April, you could easily compare open houses for two similar properties — one for sale by owner, and one liste d with a top brokerage firm. I’m sure you’ve witnessed the differences we usually see in turnout, enthusiasm, and eventually in sale price. There are exceptions, but only with significant investment in marketing, market research, home improvement details, presentation, and a host of other things.

3) Offering a commission to buyers’ brokers can help, but many agents won’t ever see this or care. Some agents simply won’t consider anything for sale by owner unless their buyer points it out — they shouldn’t ignore these out of hand, but many do. To be fair, there is a risk to their buyers as well, because it is less likely they will be working with professionals on both sides, which makes a closing less certain and that of course would cost them plenty of time and money in the end.

One more thought on paying only the buyer’s agent: The small percentage you save doing all this yourself is immediately at risk when you negotiate a deal against a skilled negotiator without anyone representing you. If the buyer has professionals representing them, you should too.

5) I can’t suggest a price without taking a closer look, but I do recommend getting expert opinions. You may want to hire an appraiser if you aren’t working with an agent. There are also some details in your property records that you’ll need to clarify, and you may or may not want to clear those up before setting a price. (Feel free to email me directly about this if you like, and I can share some of the other market data that buyers’ agents will see too: rob.millis@corcoran.com)

Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that I hire real estate agents to sell my own properties, always at a good commission. A good real estate agent from a top firm will act as your negotiator, advisor, and market specialist. Let them make the investments in marketing and spend hundreds of hours working to bring you buyers. Require that they lay out a marketing strategy, incentivize them with a good commission, and don’t hesitate to prod them if you feel they are not getting results.

I hope this helps!

cmu | 8 years and 6 months ago

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“These rentals will allow a buyer to see income from immediately to defray the cost of a mortgage.”
I’d correct that.

Agree about photos. Too many…the two bath photos are almost indentical, for instance. Remove the stark white sitting things, they distract horribly. Close the frij door unless you’re showcasing food.

wonderbread | 8 years and 6 months ago

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Thanks everyone for the feedback. Will definitely get some better photos!

chemosphere | 8 years and 6 months ago

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For a $3m deal you should spend $500 on a real-estate photographer. And consider shelling out for staging too. Or at least a temporarily empty house.
It’s not just a wide-angle lens that will help, it’s also that they’ll adjust exposure to get decent light inside without blown-out windows. Might have to combine several shots. Photographing interiors is actually tricky to get right.
I agree about only including several shots of each apt. Lead with the living room of the owner’s unit.
Some of this is NYC specific. If you look at a listing in SF, it’s always staged and always about 30 shots!
The info that listings never include but should is: when was the electric last done, or if it was only done for certain floors, which ones. And when was the roof redone or recovered. Those are the $20,000 questions.
But who knows, in this market, maybe none of it matters!

slopefarm | 8 years and 6 months ago

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I hope you do well doing this on your own.

The photos all look like they are of walls, not rooms. I don’t get an overall sense of the space. You also could have half as many photos, just good ones. the backyard photos are not inviting at all.

housepoor | 8 years and 6 months ago

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The reno looks contemporary and clean. I like the layout of the owners duplex. I can never understand why people keep the LR and Kitchen on the garden level if they don’t have to. 16′ is narrow and the lot is pretty short. That will hurt. Taxes are a touch high. Your photos are — sorry — horrible. They all look like you were looking down. Buy a wide angle and include the ceiling. Or pay for a pro to take some pictures. It will be worth it. Can you put some text in saying which apartment you are photographing? As far as price, its hard to say. I’ve been seeing multi-families closer to $950 per sq foot, but those require a fair amount of work and don’t necessarily have your location…but they were 18 and 20 footers. For a single family buyer, they will have to spend a lot of money and won’t care as much about what you’ve done. They are not your buyer. Good luck!