About to sell a house (St. Louis, Columbia: for sale by owner, rental, houses)

[Jeepin79]

I recently accepted a job offer in the Dayton, OH area and will be reluctantly leaving the St. Louis area. My wife and I moved here in the summer of 2007 and have really enjoyed our time here. I'm sad to be leaving but I've been looking for a job for quite some time and could not pass this opportunity up. Unfortunately the job does not come with relocation assistance so we are trying to save costs where we can. We're thinking of trying our luck in selling our house 'by owner' vs. through a Realtor. Even though we got a good deal on it at the time, thanks to the economy the house is worth much less than we paid for it. Realtor fees in selling it would leave us with nothing, so its either sell it by owner or rent it out.

Anyway, sorry for the long explanation. Now to the question. For those of you familiar with either selling or buying houses that are 'for sale by owner,' is there a particular website that you listed with? I've done some research and forsalebyowner.com does not seem to be widely used in this area. I'm wondering if there is another similar to it that is more popular for this region? I'm still in the early stages of doing my research, but I wanted to come on here and ask for some useful information from others who may have some good experience in the area.

We're located in Columbia, IL which is about 15 to 20 minutes south of downtown. Its the first exit into IL off of the I-255. We really liked the location because Columbia has the small town, rural feel to it while it is extremely close to South County with all the shopping and restaurants you could possibly need or want. Anyway, if anyone has some useful information or tips that would help us I would greatly appreciate it. I'm also a little leery about having to sell during the winter when its a much tougher market typically. Thanks again.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by Jeepin79

Anyway, sorry for the long explanation. Now to the question. For those of you familiar with either selling or buying houses that are 'for sale by owner,' is there a particular website that you listed with?

Personally, I avoid FSBOs like the plague. Most FSBOs, especially in a down market, are priced way over market and the people are generally not willing to budge on price. Also, you rarely get to see the house without them tagging along.

Your best bet is to find a good agent who can help you price the house properly so that you can get to Dayton sooner without having to pay teh costs of two places.

For the record, I lost 25% on the house that I owned in St. Louis. Sometimes, you need to cut your losses and run.

[Jeepin79]

I will agree that some FSBOs can be overpriced, but so can homes for sale by realtor. The FSBOs are generally ill informed about the nature of the market they are trying to sell in. I think many tend to try to sell their house for what they want vs. what the market dictates. Realtor.com has a feature on their website where you can look up what recent homes have sold for which gives you some insight for the average price per square foot of similar homes in your area. I have already begun calculating what a reasonable price to ask would be and have already accepted the fact that I will be losing money.

Generally realtors provide guidance on pricing competitively and market the house. I'm confident I have the objectivity, resources and ability to price my home competitively. Selling my home FSBO gives me an advantage in a way because I do have a certain price I need to achieve. Not having to pay a 6% commission (over 15k in my case) off the sale of the home to 2 realtors gives me a huge advantage in wiggle room. I can afford to sell it much cheaper and still beat my target, in a sense sharing that saved commission with the buyer.

Anyway, the marketing of my home is my main concern. I did notice that Forsalebyowner.com allows you to purchase an option get an MLS id and a featured spot on realtor.com. I was looking for advice and pointers from anyone who might have some good info to share. I do know that there are certain people who avoid FSBOs for various reasons. I appreciate your view points. Hopefully that isn't the majority of the population. If it is, then I'd like to be able to market it to stand out from the crowd. Thank you and keep the opinions coming!

[rachelleatlantahomes]

Especially in this market, I do agree that sometimes you just have to lose some and move on. I am a Realtor myself and has a rental in Villa Prk,IL., if I have a willing buyer, I would see and take that opportunity to sell it by losing some of the money. I am located in Atlanta, some of the FSBOs may not have that much exposure as being listed with an agent who lists a property to 35plus websites aside from MLS. You may want to interview and do some more research if you are selling so you can move. It is better to pay an agent and sell it, than trying to save money and the house sits for a year with no traffic. Just a thought.... think about it. Thanks

[Jeepin79]

As I stated in my previous posts I already acknowledge that I am going to take a loss. My objection to using a realtor is to minimize that loss. I'm pretty committed to giving FSBO a shot. I have given it much thought and have made my mind up. I'm just looking for tips from those who have bought and sold FSBO. I'm not looking to debate the pros and cons of FSBO.

[IDASpaceman]

Best of luck to you and yours!!

[rmc01]

One thing to keep in mind is that while you may not be using a seller's agent, but your buyers will likely have an agent, because it benefits them as the sellers usually pay both agents. You may be asked to pay the buyer's agent's portion of the commission. If it is up to the buyer to pay the commission, this will likely be taken into account in the offer you receive. It still might be worth it (3% is better than the full 6%), but something to consider.

As for marketing sites, whatever you choose to do, make sure you put it out there on Craigslist as well. We are just entering the housing market, and my wife looked at a FSBO (along with our agent) that was advertised on Craigslist.

Best of luck. You seem to have a good sense of the market, so hopefully you will be able to sell quickly. The house we were interested in turned out to need major renovation and was probably 30-40% overpriced, based on other sales in the area. The owner told us it was a good deal--three years ago it appraised for $150,000 over the current asking price. hmm.

[cnult]

go to this website: www.lauralei.net/

My wife and I sold our home by owner and used her. I think our total cost was $200 to list it on MLS and $40 to use a lockbox. She helps a little along the way as well with the contract although you will do most of this yourself. You still will have to pay the buying agent but it will save you 3%. I referred a friend to her as well and he had the same experience.

[SouthCityGal]

I can't offer advice about FSBO, but I wouldn't get a discount realtor if I were you, at least not in this market. Go to a full agent if FSBO doesn't work out. By discount I mean someone who takes a small fee upfront for a lower commission down the road and seems to offer all the services of a regular realtor. I did this 2.5 years ago, and couldn't sell my house for anything. I had to switch to a full agent. By then the market price of the home had declined more, but at least the new agent sold my house fast. It was on the market quite a while with the first realtor.

[Jeepin79]

This is all excellent info. Thank you all. Please feel free to keep it coming. This is exactly the type of knowledge I was looking for.

I was also thinking of starting a web page blog where I could post high quality photos of the home and maybe even a brief video tour (much better than those crazy virtual tours that you see on realtor.com sometimes). I could post the link on any fliers or web listings so that people could get a much better idea of the floor plan and condition of the home. What are your thoughts on this? Any additional info you would like to see included if you were looking? Thanks again.