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It costs tens of thousands in closing costs to sell a house.
If you pay six percent of the sales price in real estate agent commissions, that comes to $25,248 for a median home price of $420,800 in early 2024. And that says nothing of transfer taxes, recording fees, and other seller closing costs.
In an era when home shoppers can hop on Zillow to view all homes listed on the MLS, it makes many sellers wonder — do you really need a Realtor to sell your house?
Hiring a real estate agent to help you sell your home comes with pros and cons. They can help you make decisions about marketing the property and securing the top sales price. All at a cost, of course.
As you explore how to sell your house without a Realtor, keep the following pros, cons, and tips in mind.
You have three options when selling your house without a Realtor.
You could sell your home to a cash buyer: a real estate investor who can close quickly but won’t offer you a top-of-market price. Reach out to Max Properties as a starting place if you’re interested in selling to a cash buyer.
Alternatively, if you have your own home buyer lined up, you could close with a real estate attorney rather than listing the house for sale through a Realtor. Or you could list the house on the MLS as for sale by owner (FBSO).
Consider a few advantages of selling your home without a real estate agent using one of those strategies.
Captain Obvious here: if you skip hiring a Realtor, you also skip expensive Realtor commissions.
You may also avoid paying the buyer’s agent commission as well, given the changes outlined in the National Association of Realtors settlement. Regardless, you save money on commissions by marketing and selling your home by yourself, without the help of a listing agent.
If you sell to a real estate investor, you can avoid having to go through a home inspection — and all the back-and-forth negotiations and concessions that often follow.
Professional investors visit your home, perhaps with their own inspector, and make a cash offer to close fast. Don’t expect top dollar, but what you lose in sales price you gain in skipped hassles and lengthy closing delays. Plus, you get far higher certainty that the buyer can actually close on the house.
You also avoid having to make additional repairs after a home inspection. Cash buyers know exactly what they’re willing to pay before making the offer, and won’t ask you to bring in contractors or oversee repairs yourself. What you see is what you get with a cash offer, with no haggling at a later date.
When you sell to a cash buyer, or to a buyer who you personally know, you skip all the headaches of open houses and home showings.
You don’t have to keep the house in pristine shape for weeks or months on end. You don’t have to worry about dozens of strangers trampling through your home.
It makes for much lower stress when you sell your home.
You don’t need to hire a real estate agent to list your home on the MLS.
If you want to sell your house without a Realtor for sale by owner, you can do so with a flat-fee MLS service. Expect to pay a few hundred dollars rather than tens of thousands.
For a list of reputable options, check out this comparison of flat-fee MLS companies.
When you sell FSBO through a flat-fee MLS service, they often provide legal documents and some degree of support.
Even if you sell to someone you know and never bother to list the property on the MLS, you can still hire a real estate attorney to provide legal documents and conduct the settlement.
In short: you don’t have to go it alone.
When you sell your house without a real estate agent, you save some money on commissions — but it might cost you in other ways.
Watch out for these pitfalls when you sell without a real estate agent.
A 2023 study by the National Association of Realtors found that FSBO homes sold for 23.5% less than homes sold through a Realtor ($310,000 versus $405,000). Consider the source of course, as the NAR has a vested interest in showing off how well their members perform. Even so, that discrepancy should give you pause.
Why do FSBO homes sell for less? In some cases, buyers’ agents could simply out-fox sellers in price negotiations. Or perhaps sellers underpriced their homes, failing to understand the local market pricing. Or in some cases, the sellers could have sold to friends and family, fully understanding that they priced the house at a deep discount.
Seller beware.
Many of us think we’re experts at real estate just because we’ve been living in and around it our entire lives. But that doesn’t mean you know how to sell it well.
For example, professional real estate photographers know how to shoot rooms at the perfect angle to make them look larger. They know how to tweak the lighting to show off the house in the best possible light — literally. Taking a few snaps with your smartphone to upload to the MLS won’t attract showings the same way that professional photography will.
The same goes for the listing language, for communication with prospective buyers, for entering negotiations. You just don’t have the same experience with it as a real estate professional does.
And that says nothing of the time required. You field the phone calls, texts, and emails, rather than delegating communications to a Realtor.
The real estate industry is rife with scams, phishing, fraud, and other nightmares. And when you’re working with assets worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, the stakes are high.
You could find yourself the victim of wire fraud, where a scammer inserts their own wiring instructions rather than the true title company’s account. Or a fake seller could make a deposit then ask for it back, and only after you send them money do you discover that their initial deposit had been clawed back too.
Real estate agents help you avoid the risk of scams.
Now that you’ve decided you want to sell your home without a real estate agent, how do you actually go about it?
Follow these steps to minimize risk and maximize your sales price and convenience.
Who do you want to sell to?
If you already have a buyer lined up, such as a friend or family member, you can skip the headaches of listing your property for sale on the MLS. The same goes if you want to sell your home as-is to a cash buyer.
Either path can save you headaches and many of the steps to sell your house without a Realtor.
Some seasons truly are better for selling a house than others.
A study by Attom Data Solutions found that homes sell for over 10% above fair market value in April, May, and June. If you don’t mind waiting, consider listing your home for sale in the spring.
Real estate agents use comparable sales or “comps” to determine a home’s value. They look at nearby homes similar to yours which have sold recently.
An identical house right next to yours that sold last week is a perfect comp. A completely different style house a half mile away that sold last year? Not so much.
Visit Zillow to start researching recent home sales in your immediate neighborhood. The closer, more recent, and more similar the home sale, the better.
You don’t need to renovate your home in order to sell it, but spending a weekend repainting it and otherwise making it look fresh can certainly help.
Clean up the clutter, scrub the kitchen and bathrooms to a shine, steam clean the carpets. Keep the lawn and landscaping trimmed and attractive. Plant flowers, mulch the flowerbeds, edge the walkways.
In other words, boost the curb appeal as much as you can with simple fixes.
The more enticing the photos, the more showings your house will see. And the more showings it gets, the more offers you’ll receive — and the better price you’ll be able to negotiate.
It all starts with photos that paint your property in its best light, so don’t skimp.
You can also consider virtual staging, three-dimensional virtual tours, floor plan layouts, video tours, and aerial drone shots or videos. Many real estate photographers offer all of these, so simply decide what you’re willing to pay.
You can even show the photographer comps and ask their thoughts on the right listing price. They can offer excellent and free advice, given their local real estate expertise.
Underprice the home and you’ll walk away with less money than you could. Overprice it and you won’t get any offers.
Aim to price a little above what you believe to be fair market value. Leave some room for buyers to offer less than the listing price and feel like they scored a bargain. When in doubt, ask around for second opinions — preferably among people with real estate experience.
Choose a flat-fee MLS service to list the property for sale, with all the photos and videos you created. Spend some time getting the description right. Do a little internet research on words that attract buyers, such as “natural lighting” and “airy.” You don’t need to wax poetic, but describe the home in flattering terms.
Make sure you disclose any known defects or problems with the property. You must do so by law, and if buyers discover them later in the home inspection, expect either a canceled contract or enormous concession or repair demands.
Go beyond the MLS listing with physical marketing as well. Install an enormous “For Sale” sign in the yard. Hang flyers in local grocery stores and coffee shops. Post about the property on local social media groups such as Facebook groups and Nextdoor.
As phone calls, texts, emails, and social media messages start flowing in, schedule and host showings.
Consider using a calendar scheduling service like Cal.com or Calendly to automate bookings and add them to your calendar. You can also schedule an open house to show the property to many people at once.
As offers come in, look beyond the purchase price. When can the buyer close? How certain does their financing look? Does the contract include countless contingencies to let them pull out of it? Did they ask for a seller concession?
You can and should negotiate based on every component of the contract, including but not just the price.
Review and sign the contract, including all required disclosures about the property condition and fixtures. Make sure to specify details such as which appliances convey with the property and which you’re taking with you.
Finally, don’t hesitate to hire a real estate attorney if you need help with the contract.
If you want the sale to close on time, you need to stay on top of the buyer and their support services.
Schedule the home inspection and appraisal as soon as possible. Ask for frequent updates on their mortgage underwriting and approval status.
Jump on repair or concession negotiations after the home inspection, so that they don’t hold up the settlement. Provide any documentation required by the buyer’s title company.
In short, don’t be the bottleneck. Whenever a service provider asks you for something, give it to them immediately.
If you’ve managed the timeline and all the steps leading to settlement well, the closing should be fast and simple.
Ask for a copy of the settlement statement the day before closing. Review all the numbers and ask questions now, while the title company can still make changes. Confirm that the buyer has reviewed the numbers the day before closing as well.
The settlement itself should not come with any surprises. Show up, sign the documents, and collect your proceeds from the sale.
You can skip many of the headaches of selling a house without a Realtor by selling to a cash buyer, or selling to a friend or family member. But sellers who don’t mind rolling up their sleeves can still score a great price by listing and selling the property FSBO.
Before digging into how to sell your house without a Realtor, weigh the pros and cons. Decide on your personal priorities, such as sales price versus speed and ease of sale. And if you do decide to sell your home without a real estate agent, remember that you may still pay out of pocket for costs like real estate photography or a property attorney.
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8410 Kennedy Avenue, Highland, IN, 46322
