Selling a House

[KarlaB]

We plan to move this summer and a few people have mentioned that we should try selling our house on our own. My cousin did it and they thought it was relatively easy and saved them $. Has anyone ever done this and would you recommend it?

[angie r]

You can save from 3-7% of the purchase price of your home by selling it yourself. Just remember that even though you are selling it yourself you are still under the sames rules and laws as a broker. Depending on the laws of your state...you must have a seller's disclosure. You will also need to hire an attorney to handle the paperwork for you $500-$1000. Sometime you can get a title company to do it for you but I would still hire an attorney so your interests are protected. As far as finding out what it is worth you can probably get a realtor to do a comparitive market analysis for you for free. If you get an appraisal it can cost $200-$400. The person who buys your house has to get an appraisal anyway if they are getting a mortgage and they pay for it. They can not use the appraisal you had done for finanacing purposes.

Another issue is bringing strangers into your home that are not "qualified buyers." Any kind of person can call and want to stroll through. Using an agent is a big benefit in this area. Be sure you are never home alone when prospective buyers are coming. Don't be afraid to ask them if they are pre-qualified to purchase your home before they see it either. If they say they are, ask them where and call the lending agent.

The big things to look at when you are ready to sell to prepare your home is....get rid of clutter (even if you have to rent a storage unit), take down all personal photo's, remove anything that is "attached" that you don't want to include in the sale of your home. Kitchen and bathrooms are biggest "hot buttons" so concentrate on those areas if any work needs completed.

Ok, I can go on, but do you want me to?? Any questions?

[Melody]

I agree with Angie, never be home alone and let in prospective buyers.
When we tried to sell our house ourselves I had a lot of people wanting to see it 'now' since they were going buy. Sometimes I would but this is a mistake. Ask them to call the number on the sign or to come back at a specific time no matter how bad they want to see it because if it is bad enough, they will come back.
We did up some nice layout sheets like a realtor would have done and we had an open house. If you have an open house, make sure to have a few people on hand to help you incase you have many people show up at a time. You don't want any joe blow to tour your home without someone you trust.
Also, no matter how well intentioned your family is, give them very strict orders on what they can and cannot say to prospective buyers. This sounds off the wall but the way something is phrased can be taken the wrong way. I had that happen with my parents, they could not see anything wrong with 'chatting it up' about the house and I had to get a little strict about it.
Also, I have heard that a yellow door or even a yellow wreath or flowers in the front of your home help. Not sure why but different realtors have told me the same thing. I guess it's cheery.
I'm not sure if this is the kind of thing you were looking for but I hope some of it helped. Good luck.

[Leigh]

I have no idea about selling a home. I just wanted to tell you that I hope that everything turns out okay.:)

[RCT]

I too have never sold a house....but good luck and where are you moving?

[KarlaB]

Thanks for all the input Angie and Melody!! The job ahead seems so overwhelming at times!

Angie - I am sure I will have lots more questions, and I would love more info at any point, if you don't mind. :) I got a few books at the library and just read that about taking down all personal photos. I have tried to start cleaning out and organizing all of our cupboards and closets. We do have a lot of space here, but we have a TON of toys, so I told dh we should rent a storage unit to clean some of this out so it looks more spacious. So much to think about and do! I am open to all advice. Oh, we had an appraisal done in the fall to get rid of our P.M.I. Do we pretty much stick with that number for our asking price?

Leigh and Renee - Thanks for the well wishes. We are staying in town, but just want something newer and with a double garage. Actually, I don't care about the garage, but dh does...imagine that! ;)

Thanks again gals!!! :)

[angie r]

Originally posted by KarlaB
Oh, we had an appraisal done in the fall to get rid of our P.M.I. Do we pretty much stick with that number for our asking price?


The appraisal price is based on the home sales in the same or similar neighborhoods in the last six months. Since it has been a while you may want to check out what new home sales have happened since then. Also, check out your competition and price yourself better than them even if it is by $100. If it were me I would call an agent and get the CMA. Tell them what you are doing and they will usually do one hoping you won't sell it and will call them later. There is no obligation to list with them. If you live in a slow market area you can probably stay with that price though.




[Edited by angie r on 03-21-2001 at 04:15 PM]

[MaryL]

We sold our own home about 2 years ago...stuck a sign out in the front yard...and viola! SOLD!....and in only 2 weeks. We did have an attorney to help with filling out offers to purchase, and the closing, etc. But it was worth the money to pay him...because we saved alot by not using a realtor. BTW...we never had an "open house", and only allowed people into our home by appointment. We walked around with them at all times. Our philosophy was that we'd try it on our own first (for 6 weeks or so) and if there were no "nibbles", we'd go with a realtor. It worked out well for us, and I'd encourage people to give it a try. We rented a storage unit to store a lot of our "junk" while we were showing the house. We were building a new home, so we ended up selling our house quicker than anticipated (but still happily!), and had to live in an apartment for 5 months. That was crazy...2 moves in 5 months. Hope your home sale works out for you.

[Diane]

Were in the process of selling my FIL's house and we were seriously thinking about selling it ourselves because we have a lot of people who has already called us and expressed an interest in it. When we found out all the work involved in doing it on our own we just decided to let a realtor take care of it for us. Maybe if we had more time to deal with it we would but for us, it just wasn't worth it. Good luck in selling your house! I hope it sell's fast. :)

[angie r]

Originally posted by MaryL
BTW...we never had an "open house", and only allowed people into our home by appointment. We walked around with them at all times. Our philosophy was that we'd try it on our own first (for 6 weeks or so) and if there were no "nibbles", we'd go with a realtor.

Ok, I'll let you in on the big "open house" secret. An open house does 2 things....

1. Helps your realtor meet new clients.
2. Puts a pacifier in the mouth of the seller.

Open houses do not sell your house. Unless you are going to bring all your callers in at the same time maybe. It does however let all your nosy neighbors come in and poke around!!

[Diane]

Originally posted by angie r

Open houses do not sell your house. Unless you are going to bring all your callers in at the same time maybe. It does however let all your nosy neighbors come in and poke around!!

[/B]

That is SO true. When one of our neighbors decided to sell their house and the realtor had an open house... I think I saw more neighbors than prospective buyers go through their house. I couldn't believe how nosey they were. One neighbor was terribly embarrassed because they were still in the house looking around when the neighbors returned. LOL Oh well... what did they expect. :) :)

[KarlaB]

Thanks for all the help, everyone! I would like to try it on our own for a while and see what happens. My goal is to have it ready to sell by the end of April. I think dh thinks it could go up for sale tomorrow. Little does he know I have been working on a "honey do" list this morning! LOL!

Angie - I LOVE all of the info!! Thanks! I think I will call the gal that we bought our house from and have her come over. She is wonderful and I would be completely upfront with her about our intentions. If we decide to sell with a realtor we would definitely work with her again. Thanks again! :) :)

[Diane]

Are you planning on staying in the same area you live now or are you moving farther away? I just had a friend who moved a whole block away from her old house. It was actually the house right behind her's. LOL I guess if I were going to make a move I'd want to move a little farther away than that. :) No matter which way you decide to go... I hope you have good luck selling your house.

[KarlaB]

Thanks Diane! We will definitely stay in the same town, but want a newer house. We are going to look at a house tonight that is right outside of town on 1.5 acres. I am scared I am going to fall in love with it! I know the people selling and they are going to build, but they don't even have plans drawn up yet and really are in no hurry. So, I don't know that it could really work for us unless they want to move out early for us. We really want to move this summer while dh is off. I guess we will just have to talk to her tonight and go from there. I had a friend in elementary school and her family moved to the house right NEXT door to theirs! :)