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.....hires Real Estate Broker, August 4, 2011 AgentGenius.com
Former FSBO CEO sells home the traditional way
[SIZE=2]Founder and former CEO of ForSalebyOwner.com, Colby Sambrotto listed his 2,000 square foot New York condominium on his own through online classified ads and FSBO sites, but after six months, he opted to hire New York broker Jesse Buckler who immediately advised a price change as the listing was not attracting the right buyer.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]After giving up on the DIY route, Sambrotto’s decision to hire a broker led to attracting multiple offers, closing for $150,000 over the original asking price. The Wall Street Journal reports the listing sold for $2.15 million including a 6% commission.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Many FSBOs turn to Realtors[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]The news stands as an enormous validation of the real estate profession and while some may tease, it is no laughing matter and the former FSBO CEO made a good financial decision.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]AGBeat columnist Herman Chan said, “If people want to take a stab at For Sale By Owner (ie FSBO), go for it. But well over 80% of FSBO’s eventually have to list with an real estate agent to get their house sold. It’s harder than it looks!”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Not a new dilemma[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Marlow Harris, Seattle Residential and Investment Consultant at Coldwell Banker Bain Associates told AGBeat, “The ForSaleByOwner.com founder’s dilemma is one we see quite often and is not unusual. Trying to sell your own property yourself or using a discount brokerage, is not the solution for everyone. Unusual properties, properties in the higher price range, these are more difficult to sell and often require specialization.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Harris continues, “We see these choices across the board, from single family homes to huge housing developments. For instance, Vulcan, one of Paul Allen’s companies which has invested heavily in Redfin, does not use Redfin to market their many condominium projects. They use traditional real estate firms such as John L. Scott, Williams Marketing and Matrix Real Estate, finding that the do-it-yourself approach to real estate just doesn’t work for these types of sales.”[/SIZE]
FSBO is fine when coupled with a MLS listing. Without MLS, no one will ever see it.
The problem with just an MLS listing is that the seller has no representation and many agents will not work with an unrepresented seller. The reason is:
The buyers agent will end up having to do the work that a listing agent should be doing.
S/he cannot provide the seller with any advice or counsel because that could be legally construed as the buyers agent now having an Agency agreement with the seller.
Even with a signed Unrepresented Seller Disclosure, the seller could later decide to sue the buyers agent for taking unfair advantage of an unrepresented seller.
So the exposure will be there, but there will be a smaller number of agents who will be willing to work the transaction.
Many agents who charge for only listing on the MLS charge more than I consider the value of that activity.
It seems to me that if one wants to save money that they would be better off if they find an agent who will work on Activity based Pricing.
For a FSBO, the agent could place the property on the MLS, then
work the transaction from Offer to signing of Contract, , or
from Offer to Close of Escrow
The seller would be responsible for all marketing, market analysis, sign, lockbox, showings, inspections, and anything else that is not specifically agreed to in a list of activities the sellers agent will perform.
This IS a goofy business. There is a local agent, very successful, who jumped into the auction process of sellling homes. He had (Has?) a great presentation of why an auction is so much better than a regular sale because it is the only way to establish true market value. He had quite a few listings.
Anyway, I was very curious how successful this was for him so watched his listings and sales for about a year. Almost every listing he had was an auction. The traditional sales were his own homes!
many agents will not work with an unrepresented seller.
Wow, your market must be doing very well for them to pick and choose. Realtors in my market will do anything to make a dollar. I know one realtor who only made $200 last month.
Ha! Entertaining. Our house has been on the market since October of last year We had it sold, then the day of closing our buyer backed out. Since then we have lost the house we were going to buy. We actually considered taking it off the market and listing it ourselves as a for sale by owner, but we just received another offer that is accepted and in process so we hope these people actually go through with the deal. In the mean time we are trying to find another house that fits our needs.
I started a blog about our experience... I am only a few days into it, but if anyone has any advice on it or cares to follow our story the address is [url=http://buyandsellourhouse.blogspot.com/]House Hunt[/url] I think I rambled through the first few posts, but I don't know I'm trying. Like I said new at this.
We just listed our home in the central Florida a month ago, and we're going to get our first offer today!
We have it listed for $5,000 more than we paid for it only 1 year ago, because we put $6,450 of improvements into the property (new gutters, drainfield, and custom built storage building).
Showings have been pretty slow, but all it takes is one buyer!
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