1) Tell all interested parties that only offers in writing with a preappoval letter from their lender will be accepted.

2)Not sure if this and #4 are the same but some discount broker services and fsbo mls services provide lockboxes so realtors can show the house. Some, for a fee, will provide a showing service to let people view your home.

3)Make a list of all improvements and highlights of your house. Put everything in a binder with flyers and important info. and leave it on a table with candy or cookies. Things to include: survey, any inspections and seller's disclosures any recent repairs new roof, a/c, warrantees, etc.

4) see # 2

5) Don't have much help here, but some fsbo services offer appointment services that may help.

6) Always offer a buyer's realtor of approx. %50 of a normal fee, this gives realtors incentive to show your home. Be prepared for buyers without realtors to negotiate this out of the price. Some of the better discount mls and fsbo services offer help in everything from comps to contracts to closings.

As a side note, FSBO is not that hard, but if you are not the type likes to negotiate for cars, play poker, or generally feel uncomfortable with the all of the banter it may not be for you.

Hope this helps. Good Luck

A true FSBO means you aren't using an agent of any sort. You need to know the pitfalls. You need to conduct showings. You need to complete all the paperwork. You need to research comps for pricing. You need to coordinate closing/lawyers etc. You need to negotiate contracts - and not just price.

1) Most sellers require a pre-approval letter from a lender saying they can get a loan for the sales price. You'll need to let them know you are expecting that as part of any offer.

2) If you can't show your home on short notice, you aren't a good candidate for FSBO in this slow market. The more people who come through the house, the more likely a sale is.

3) If you haven't been through a sale before, you aren't going to be prepared. You'll have to deal with all the issues that you couldn't anticipate. Even people who have sold hundreds of homes still get thrown for a loop once in a while.

4) You have to show your house. Restricting showings to evenings and weekends isn't a good plan.

5) Depending on your price range, you may need to screen callers. Million dollar homes will attract a bunch of lookie-loos. For normal middle-class homes, I'd show it to anyone who says they are looking to buy. It is really hard to tell is a first time buyer is serious because they are likely to be quite confused and anxious.

6) Could be. Most people still use a realtor for the reasons you stated. If you are open to selling to a person using a buyers agent, be prepared to pay about 3% to that agent for bringing in a buyer. They will not be working for you and do not have your best interests in mind, but you pay them anyway.

If all that sounds pretty daunting but you still don't want to pay a realtor, you might consider a flat fee listing. Some companies will put your house on the MLS for a flat fee eg $500. That will make it visible to buyers agents. The general drill is that those agents would call to set up a showing. You can leave your key in a lockbox and then the agents could let themselves in. That can take a lot of work out of the FSBO concept. Remember though, those agents will expect money in any deal AND the represent the buyers. You'll still need to look out for your own interests.

Any suggestions on what to do with my dog? If set up the FSBO with having buyer's agent use the lockbox that provides the freedom for them to show the house but I am not sure what to do with my dog. He is so gentle but I know that means nothing when selling a house.

I don't mind haggling..the uncertainty is making sure that I am informed and "know what I am talking about" as I go through the process. Since this move will be as a result of a relocation the timing is not perfect per se, and I am more motivated to sell myself since $$ is a big factor right now.

It seems that much of the work I will need to do anyway in getting the ppty in shape and keeping it that way for a showing. Although I may feeling differently once I get involved, I am detailed oriented and being involved in the process is what I do anyway so I not as concerned about that with the exception that as of now I have no idea what I am doing. At one time or another everyone who has sold a FSBO has been in this position. I believe my house has many good attributes and we have taken great pride to maintain the home. With that being said, I also realize not everyone is going to love it like I do. I guess what I am saying is that we don't have a fixer upper only getting rid of things and extra cleaning.

"If you can't show your home on short notice, you aren't a good candidate for FSBO in this slow market"
I am sure there are other FSBO that have worked...for those folks how did you handle this?

"If you haven't been through a sale before, you aren't going to be prepared. You'll have to deal with all the issues that you couldn't anticipate. Even people who have sold hundreds of homes still get thrown for a loop once in a while"
Normally, I would have become frightened by these statements. I know that you are only telling the truth. And once again I may be singing a different tune after a while but I have to at least try so that we can try and cut our expenses as much as possible. There are many people on this board that have forged ahead even if they are afraid. For those of you, what did you say to yourself about not being prepared and the sidewinders thrown your way?

"Depending on your price range, you may need to screen callers" What types of questions are reasonable to ask?

My inital thought is that we will be selling to someone who already owns a home. The price will be around $400k. There maybe a first time buyer but my thoughts it is someone who needs to sell a home.

I am still puzzled about buyers who would purchase without an agent. In general, realtors have a lot of knowledge about pricing, pitfalls, market, lending, mtgs, and red flags about the house itself.

Buyers don't us an agent for the same reason you don't want to - money. If you can keep agents out of the transaction, that is a savings of about $24,000. You should be able to accept a lower offer from someone without an agent since that money won't be coming out of your bottom line. If you were paying 3% to a buyers agent, a 400,000 bid with no agent would be better than a 410,000 bid with an agent.

I recently sold using a flat fee broker, so I'm not trying to discourage you. I ended up having to take off from work on multiple occasions. At least half of the showings for my house were during normal working hours. The vast majority of showings were people who called and wanted to see the house that day. Almost everyone who called was working with a buyers agent, so that saved me from having to show the place that many times. Still, if you are doing FSBO, you need to be willing to do the work that an agent would normally be doing for you. Most people can do it, but it will require some legwork on your part.

If you aren't familiar with all the forms etc, I would head to the library or an office supply store like staples. They usually have all the standard contracts and disclosure forms. They vary by state, so you need to get local info and not just rely on the internet. Of course, buyers are probably going to add additional terms and clauses that aren't standard and you will have no idea what those are until you get the offer. Some common things would be requesting appliances, furnishing, closing costs, odd closing times, special inspections, appraisals etc. Buyers can ask for just about anything in an offer and then it will be up to you to negotiate from there.

Billl since I am still so new to this apologies for some mundane questions. I gather the flat fee broker was who used to list the house etc. If I am correct, did the person buying our home ultimately use an agent? If so were they asking for the std 3% commission?

Did you have a pet? If so what arrangements did you make?

Aside of the FSBO the mere thought of what needs to be done just to sell is overwhelming and then the thoughts of relocating out of state and buying OMG. I have to laugh when I read about those who move 6,7 and 8 times. I think I would have a heart attack.

If you are going the FSBO route, you must educate yourself to the market dynamics that affect your situation. What are other houses listed for, selling for, days on market, foreclosures, etc. What do these listed and solds have that your house has or does not have. Study MLS, Craiglist, and news ads for your competition. Get and study the comps for your area and study and learn why each house sold for what it sold for.

I have used flat fee brokers many times, as it is the only way in my state for a FSBO to get an MLS listing. Unless you already have a buyer, you must list on MLS for exposure. You must also provide the buyer's agent fee, as a broker participation fee, upfront, on your listing, as no agent will show your house and then ask for a commission. Any adds outside of MLS should state that buyer's agents are welcome.

Again I have sold FSBO to private party and to parties with an agent and each has gone very well.

Start calling discount listing and FSBO services and see what you get for your money. Most offer lock boxes, appointment and showing services, contracts, negotiation help, title company and legal reccomendations,etc. Some charge a flat fee, others charge a la carte.

As far as your dog, we had the same situation and since our large dog was crate trained, we crated the dog in a secondary bedroom, as most people only take a cursory glace at secondary bedrooms. MLS has an area for agent's notes and we noted that we had a large, but nice dog in a crate in a bedroom marked with a postit note. Most people understand, but there are those that are turned off by the fact that an animal lives in the house so it can be a risk.

BTW, the dog issue exists either way FSBO or not. If you think the dog in the house is a big deal, one option, although it can be an expensive one, its to take your dog to doggie daycare.

It sounds like you worked during the selling process, how did you handle showing your house since requests can come at any time?

Also, from your experience what were some things that worked and things you thought were great and bombed?

For our flat fee listing, we offered 2.7% to buyers agents. This was the recommendation of the flat fee service. They said that in our area at this time, most agents were willing to move down a bit from 3%, but 2.5% starting cutting out business.

Things that worked well - post it notes! Our house had a lot of "hidden" features that wouldn't be obvious to a buyer - eg pull out shelves in kitchen cabinets, a subtly jetted tub, a linen closet in a second bath that you have to shut the door to see. We left little notes on these items.

Things that bombed - an open house. Maybe agents have tricks for generating some traffic, but our newspaper ad and craigslist posting did squat.

Sneaky things - we had several houses in the neighborhood that were also for sale at comparable prices. If I saw anyone going to showing there, I went to say hi and asked if they would like to see another house in the neighborhood while they were there.

Bill gives some great advice.

I addition to the post it notes, produce a flyer with color pictures and notes of these "hidden" features. It will act as a tour map and the viewers can take it home with them for furture reference.

Make a binder with all maintenance records, and warranties, owners manuals, HOA info, surveys, etc.

I'm with Bill, open houses are a waste of time.

One thing that you should definitely do is to limit the "smells" in you house. Do not cook with alot of spices like garlic and currie, do not cook cabbage or broccoli, or with a lot of grease. Do not use heavy perfumes, airfreshers, etc. Smoke is a big turn off.
Have you ever been to someone's house that had a certain smell from cooking, cat box, etc. and it "hits" you as you open the door? You may have the perfect house, but all people will remember is the smell. A good thig to do is invite a very close, trusted friend or family member to come over and "smell" your house and give their honest opinion.

Bill gets an A+ for being sneaky, although it can be risky and turn off some people.

To get ideas on what works for staging and showing, go to a few open houses in your area and see what you like and dislike.

Yes, my wife and I both worked, but we sold during the spring and summer when the daylight hours were the longest(we could show from about 6-8:30 PM).

That maybe a problem for some buyers, but most are working people that must view in the evening and on weekends. You can always try for it a while and if the traffic is not what you expect you can always hire an appointment and showing service. Most FSBO services offer this for an addtional fee. In fact, an appointment service is not a bad idea by on its own. We went this route and sold to a buyer without a realtor and our total cost was about 1% for sales price.

I'd be more likely to BUY a house without an agent before I'd SELL one without an agent. A competent real estate attorney can "guide [you] strategically through the process, and point out aspects of the negotiation/offer that [you] may not be seeing" and you'll want one to review your paperwork anyway. An agent wants to sell you a house and earn a commission, not "point out the pitfalls" of a possible sale.

If I needed to sell my house in a short amount of time I would find a good realtor, bump the price by a couple thousand, and let her do her job.

"I am still puzzled about buyers who would purchase without an agent. In general, realtors have a lot of knowledge about pricing, pitfalls, market, lending, mtgs, and red flags about the house itself."

Realtors may have a lot of knowledge about pricing, etc. but that doesn't mean that an astute buyer can't find plenty of information by themselves.

We tried using a buyers agent. We thought she was supposed to be representing our interests but discovered that she was far more interested in seeing the deal go through ($-commission check) than she was in making sure we weren't making the biggest mistake of our lives. So much for our 'exclusive buyer's representation'. It sure didn't exist for us.

We made an offer on a house that turned out to have defects we couldn't (wouldn't) live with. Our agent told us nothing, we discovered these defects via visits to the building department and talking to the neighbors. Our buyer's agent had promised us legal assistance if there were any problems. There were, the owner tried to force the sale in spite of the failed inspection. She told us we were on our own so we had to hire a lawyer. In spite of this negative turn, she STILL expected us to use her for any future deals!

The real estate attorney we used to help us get out of that mess is perfectly capable of drawing up a contract for any house we are interested in. Plus, we get LEGAL REPRESENTATION!

Some seller's agents don't like it when they hear this. They insist that we must use dual-agency because we are not using an actual 'agent'. They say that they will NOT share a commission with our lawyer, but will with a buyer's agent.

WHAT difference should it make if our representation is a lawyer OR a buyer's agent? NONE!

He is entitled to be paid for his work regardless of his title, and there is no good reason why this compensation cannot come out of the half of the commission the seller's agents want to keep ALL of.

I hope you can see why we prefer to use a lawyer over an agent.

Open Houses are a waste of time

I'm going to disagree. Because a FSBO is a homeowner and usually a hovering-homeowner at they, we would ONLY view FSBOs the first time through an open house. I love open houses because they don't put out anyone like a scheduled viewing does. In my area, open houses do sell houses so that may be why I am biased towards them.

Definitely get yourself a good real estate attorney if you plan on the FSBO route, regardless of what is customary in your area.

I would also suggest a professional real estate photographer to shoot your pictures. Real Estate agents can take bad pictures but some of the photos I've seen on FSBO sites have been downright scary. A professional photographer specializing in real estate will cost you a few hundred dollars and will be worth every penny.

I sold FSBO more than once. Here are some tips.

1) figure out what your state requires as far as who does closing. Some states require an attorney and others allow title companies as well.

2)if title companies are allowed, contact one or two and ask about what they do for FSBO closing/contracts. I found one that gave me a free package with blank contracts and bullet points on steps to take. I didn't use them for that closing because the buyer chose another title agency. But the info was helpful.

3) call an attorney or two and ask what they do as far as contracts for FSBOs (cost, procedure,etc). You could send the buyer to the attorney's office when they are ready to offer. You pay the up front fee with attorney for filling out contract with buyers.

4) The dog: I would arrange for showings when I could be home to remove the dog from the home prior to showing. if agent shows you don't want to be there. In my case, we had one spouse take the dog out and the other spouse be show the home...or sometimes both spouses went to the patio with the dog and allowed buyers full access to the home.

5) work schedule: We found most buyers looked during weekends and a few on weekdays after work. However, we did have maybe 10% of buyers looking on weekdays. If you talk to them on phone, you try to schedule them after work or weekends when they tell you they want to look. NEVER tell them you are working...just go forward with setting the schdule as if you are booked during the week. If they must see during weekday, then you schedule this with time off from work. Be available Sat and Sun from 10AM-5PM. this is when most buyers are looking around for homes and calling as well.

6) get a custom sign. Get it larger than standard by a bit. Maybe 3'x4' or 2'x3'. most sign companies will make one for under $100. You can pick what goes on sign and pick the colors and even can put icons and such on the sign. You want to put the biggest draw to the home on the sign - such as "on golf course", or "lakefront" or "finished basement".

7) create a web site with several pix of home. put reference to this web site in bold, on the flyers. Get a flyer box for the sign. Realize many neighbors will get these flyers, especially first week. This is normal.

8) I offered a set fee to realtors and if buyer did not have realtor, offered this amt off the price of the home. This worked well. I put this on the flyer so buyers could choose if they want to get a realtor, that the realtor gets the "discount" as commission.

9) many buyers are happy to look and buy FSBO. Be professional at all times. This will be time consuming and you must work hard. Return all calls asap, don't be rude.

10) lookie loos usually give you the line that they are looking at homes for their brother or mother or whatever. These are usually folks that live in a comparable home and they are usually fibbing to come see your place. The web site pix help weed most of these out..but you will find some of these folks trying to see the home. I weeded them out. I would say when your sister or mother is in town, we will set up a showing. Also you can ask the callers if they have a home to sell, when they need to move. This weeds out looky loos and also it helps you realtize the buyer's motive. I knew we would not allow a contingency for them to sell their home, so would let them know up front.

I have to say I just sold my house FSBO. It was helpful that the buyers used a realtor as he had all the "official" forms, etc. I had a friend who was a realtor so I was able to ask her advice on things as well. I was fortunate that I sold to the first couple that came through at almost my exact asking price (which I thought was a little high). I agreed to pay their realtor 2%.

In the province where I live what helped was there is a company that has a website for FSBO. I signed up at 11pm the one night and when I got up in the morning they'd already put the sign on my front lawn personalized with my home number. They also give you sell sheets with the details of your home and pictures just like a realtor does as well as the necessary sheets to walk your through the steps. The entire cost was $300 and that would allow your home to stay listed for 6 months.

Now although I said I accepted an offer from the first people who came through I did continue to show the house. Why? Because the offer was conditional on their house selling. My realtor friend told me about a 48 Hour Clause that would allow me to still show my house and if I received an offer with less/no conditions then the original buyers had 48 hours to remove their conditions or I could accept the 2nd offer. I guess this is one reason that having a lawyer working with you (or in my case a friend who is a realtor) is a good thing!

I have a German Shepherd who doesn't like strangers and I had to get him out of the house each time someone came. Just a fact and would have been the same if I'd used a realtor.

In the end the deal with this couple went through and possession is Aug 14th. My FSBO was painless for the most part but I could see some being more of a problem. I had sold 2 other homes before so had an idea of the process and also had all the paperwork from the "offers", "counter offers", etc to reflect on. When I accepted their initial offer, for instance, I counter offered with the 48 Hour Clause. I was able to get a general copy off the internet after searching a bit but in the end the buyer's agent provided me with one of his official ones. It also helped that I had a fax machine at home. Realtors like to fax or hand deliver offers. For my counter offer since I had a deadline to get it to the agent I faxed it to him late at night.

My best advice would be to say in your advertising that people are welcome to bring their agents. Why? Because years ago when I was buying I called a FSBO and asked if I could. I would have been paying her fee not the sellers and they were so rude. Absolutely forbidding an agent to set foot on their property. Of all the people who came through my house or called only 1 couple didn't have an agent (and the girl's father was a home inspector so that's probably why). Most people are afraid to look w/o an agent and an agent isn't going to be willing to show your home if they aren't getting paid anything at all.

Good luck!

More and more great info...keep it coming...

On pricing... there is a home in our community that is comparable in size etc however the ammenities are so different such as we have granite, stainless steel etc and they are asking $399,900 with a selling agent, how would I price my property with a FSBO? Our ppty also backs to a natural preserve and we had to pay a $20k premium for that lot...does that translate into passing along the $20k to the buyer?

In addition to pay the buyers agent the customary 3% (from everything I have read, offering anything less would significantly reduce agent willing to bring a buyer) would it be customary for the seller to also pay the buyer's closing costs? I am in shock of all the costs that are involved....when we buy we will have another set of costs. I have to chuckle when I think of the folks that move and move and move.

Would it make sense to say if you want to use a buyer agent then the cost would be added onto the price of the house or is it expected that the price of the house will be reduce if the agent isn't used.
Sweet tea, you would not sell to owners that were contingent on selling their home? Wouldn't that be most of the market excluding 1st time buyers?

Does gardenweb allow you to reveal which FSBO service you used? If so please share the information.

Getting back to the pricing, I am thinking that with all of our upgrades, granite, SS appliance, natural preserve, custom window treatments, hardwood floors, pellet stove, etc (which the 399K house did not have) that should translate into at least 409K? anyone agree?

Pricing a home is tricky, so I'm not sure you will get great guidance for an actual value from a website. However, keep in mind that the price is generally set by houses that have recently sold, not what other houses are currently listed at. Anybody can say they want $399k as a sales price, but doesn't matter if nobody is willing to buy it at that price. It is good to look at you immediate competition, but don't blindly follow them. The people you want to follow are the ones who actually SOLD their homes.

Also, don't fall into the trap of thinking your house is worth X + a bunch for upgrades. People have a tendency to overlook the positives of the other house they are comparing to. This may not be the case with you, but many people think "I have so much nicer of a kitchen" but don't acknowledge that the competition has a bigger master suite with all the bells and whistles. It is very hard to be objective about your own house, so if you have any brutally honest friends, now would be a good time to rely on them.

In terms of buyers agent vs no agent, many people without agents expect to get a bit of a "deal." You may or may not want to spell that out. Beware though, people with agents will see that too and aren't going to want to pay more just because they have an agent. The vast majority of potential buyers will have agents, so you don't want to alienate them. Anyway, the price of the house is the price of the house. All fees are separate. If you get a 400k offer, you get 400k minus agent fees minus any other fees minus the amount left on your old mortgage.

Closing cost - Unless negotiated otherwise, the buyer will pay all the closing costs associated with inspections, loans etc. However, most buyers are probably going to ask you to pay some or all of them as part of their offer. That comes out of your bottom line, so you obviously need to consider what the total impact of their offer will be to you. A 400k offer with a 3% commission and 5k in closing fees is only actually 383k.

..."Sweet tea, you would not sell to owners that were contingent on selling their home? Wouldn't that be most of the market excluding 1st time buyers? "...

ANSWER: Most buyers/lookers that I have dealt with did NOT need or care about a home sale contingency. They either had a home to sell but they were able and willing to buy my home while whether or not their home sold or they already sold their home. I sold 2 FSBOs where the buyers were able to qualify to buy my place as well as keep their other place while they were sellin it. Also many of the lookers for my home were relocating for work and their corporations would buy their old home if they didn't sell in a certain amt of time.

I did not want a home sale contingency because I did not want to take my home off the market for 3 or 4 months and then if their home doesn't sell,then what, put my home back on market, having lost 3-4 months? I was ready to sell, not wait for someone else to sell. Others can take 6 months to sell. Who wants to wait that long...and even if you only wait 2 months and then pull out due to expiration in the contract, you are back to square one if they don't sell. No thanks.

CLOSING COSTS: When you talk to the title agency or the lawyer that will do closing....ask what closing fees typically go to the buyer and the seller (if nobody negoationed anyone else pay their fees.). This depends on the state/location.

But I don't think there are any trends as to seller typically paying buyer's closing costs...but ask the title agency or lawyer about the local trend - they will know. Actually, I think this might be more common in first time homes, since often buyers are tight for cash and ask for closing costs more.

PRICE: This is very, very, very important that you price correctly. Pay $300 or so and hire an appraiser. It will be the best $300 you will spend. Tell them the reason for the appraisal is you are preparing to sell and need to know what the house is worth so you can set your price. This is common. I cannot tell you how important this appraisal is. If you price too high you can sit on the market for a long time,then finally lower the home and possibly end up selling for cheaper than if you priced correctly in the beginning. You don't tell buyers that you got the appraisal - keep that info for you to know.

PRICING FOR COMMISISON: I had one asking price for home. And then I had a set amt (3% in one case, a lump sum amt in another) for commission to agent that brings the buyer. I noted in flyer and web site that asking price would be reduced by X if buyer did not have an agent. X was the same as the commission.

I did not use a FSBO service but for one home I listed in MLS via a flat fee broker and had agents bring lookers but ended up selling to someone without an agent. Other home I did not list in MLS.

I thought most if not all sales were contingency unless it was a 1st time buyer, for living arrangements as well as cost. Sweet Tea, when you sold was it a tremendous sellers market? Perhaps an affluent area? Just trying to understand the process.

Regarding pricing. If say the appraisal was for 300k would you price the house at 312k to cover the commission or 300k IS the price and any costs beyond that are off the top?

One of my FSBO sales was in a very depressed, stagnant buyers market where priced were dropping and most homes were not selling. Another sale was awhile back in an average market...slightly leaning toward sellers market.

PRICING: If your appraisal says $300k. You would want to price the home with the goal of coming to final agreement right around $300k as the contracted sales price.(assume offer, counter, etc).

If you price trying to sell to add the commission to the price, you might blow the sale(either nobody will pay that much because it is higher than market price, or, if they do agree on this "above market" price, then it might not appraise for their loan and you either lower the price or lose the sale).

Your assumption is very wrong about most all sales using a home sale contingency.

Sweet Tea glad to hear my assumption is wrong. It make the buying/selling process so much easier for both parties.

Don't mean to be so densed about the pricing issue but still a little muddy for me. If I understand what you are saying....If the house was appraised at 300K then the selling price should be ~310K to allow room for negotiation but not necessarily for buyer agent commission.
If this is correct then how would an seller's agent price the same house?