Nothing's Happening From The Agents

12 years ago

I'm a FSBO but I recently listed my property with a flat fee agency to get it on the MLS. I've "sold" my property three times in six months, once for the full asking price, the others pretty close, but the deals kept falling through because of loan problems. Everyone was telling me that AGENTS would have buyers who could actually perform. So I bit the bullet and paid to have it put on the MLS. I am offering a 3% commission, the same as an agent would get if they brought a client to any listing other than their own. I thought for sure the phone was going to ring off the hook, at least with agents trying to get my listing. But I've gotten nothing. Nada. Not one call. Not one inquiry. By the way, I've also sent out about fifty information packets to local agents letting them know I'm offering them 3%, it's priced under appraisal, it sold a number of times already, etc. Granted, it's only been a couple of weeks. But in the same time period I've gotten six inquiries from my own advertisements. Two are hot, two are serious, one would love to have my place, can't sell her own house yet but is hoping mine is still available when she does, and I'm unsure of the last one. My point of writing this is I've sometimes felt attacked by some real estate agents trying to blame me for my house not being sold yet. Some even said my website is crappy and it drives me crazy because I get nothing but compliments on it. I know there are good agents out there. I love my buyer's agent. I think NCRealEstateGuy is great. But sometimes FSBO's do a fine job.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

redcurls
12 years ago
What worked for us was paying MORE than normal. Add a thousand bucks to that 3%.
cattyles
12 years ago
I've been researching FSBO in preparation for selling my house, too. I wish I had something helpful to offer. I think the right buyer is out there. They just haven't made their way to their new home yet to fall in love with it at a time that all the planets align in a way that will be helpful with their financing!
Related Professionals
Carney Architects & Building Designers · Middle River Architects & Building Designers · Oak Hill Architects & Building Designers · Universal City Architects & Building Designers · Bloomington General Contractors · Casas Adobes General Contractors · Coatesville General Contractors · Conway General Contractors · ‘Ewa Beach General Contractors · Gainesville General Contractors · Greensburg General Contractors · Milford General Contractors · Mira Loma General Contractors · Reisterstown General Contractors · West New York Home Stagers
ncrealestateguy
12 years ago
LITH,
I remember you saying that there were two local MLS's in your area. Are you in both of them?
Have you actually seen the MLS listing? If not, you need to.
Agents will not be trying to get your listing, because once it is in the MLS as Active, it is highly against the regs to go after another agent's active listing.
Another thought love... agents are going to bring you ready, able and willing buyers... not peospects that have to sell their home first, not unemployed people, not lookie loos. (Hopefully) There are a lot less of these type of prospects out there than the former.
One more thing... once it gets into the MLS, it sometimes takes two weeks for all of the third party vendors to index the listing and for the listing to start showing up on their sites.
Whatever you do, get proof that it is in the correct MLS.
Billl
12 years ago
"But sometimes FSBO's do a fine job."

Yep, they do. However, about 80% of potential buyers go through an agent. If you don't pay to get on the MLS (flat fee or full service) you'll have a much harder time reaching that 80%. All things being equal, you have a much better chance finding a good buyer in 80% of the pool than you do in 20%. Of course that is just an average. You don't want to be 80% sold with all buyers, you just need to be 100% sold to 1.
sweet_tea
12 years ago
I also did FSBO and listed the home in MLS via a discount broker. At first, I wasn't getting action from the MLS. I was priced similar or better to the other comps 'for sale'. The only 2-3 recent sales sold as-is and needed fixing up/updates, but recently sold for cheaper. Nothing else was selling.

Then I lowered my asking price 10% to be in line with the sold comps sales price (even though my place was newly remodeled, new roof, etc). The market was falling and buyers wanted value. My new price made the property a good deal. The new price brought showings from agents immediately, and also got a pretty quick offer from an agent's buyer.

At the same time, I was doing my own FSBO marketing via several different channels. Ended up selling pure FSBO and was juggling that offer at same time as the offer from the agent and then even got another FSBO offer while the home was under contract.

The home sold with no issues. Other homes that were For Sale at same time stayed on the market for over a year or two, chasing the market down and down and down.
LoveInTheHouse
Original Author
12 years ago
All of you guys made great points! Every comment and suggestion was excellent. I have a new development though. I'll start a new post. Wait'll you hear this one...