Selling without a broker

Are you new here? This has been debated to death ... I have done a number of FSBOs so would always suggest that someone try assuming you are willing to do the legwork, host the open houses, etc. But you are going to get a zillion brokers posting why you are crazy to try.

i just completed an FSBO. it went as well as it possibly could have. if you search "sniper" you will probably get a lot of discussions where people gave me tons of help and you will likely get a lot of answers to your questions.

also, if you search OPEN HOUSE 407PAS you will find a blueprint for exactly what NOT to do.

One factor to consider is how patient of a person you are. I tried for about a month but got so annoyed by all the ridiculous questions and semi-brain damaged prospective buyers, I realized that the broker fee was personally worth it for me.
I think it also depends on how aggressively you want to price your property. I think if you price it fairly to the market, you will hopefully not have to market it for too long and will find a buyer reasonbly quickly with less effort and pain (this is obvious I guess).

I sold without a broker. Came out ahead. The barriers of price discovery and getting the word out are easily overcome. The worst part of selling yourself are the brokers who try to make your life miserable by calling you, so I make a game out of telling them no and not respecting my advertisement,"no brokers welcome". How is one supposed to trust a broker who can't read?

Brokers price, brokers do legwork, brokers negotiate, and brokers do co-op packages.

In this market, there is a tremendous amount of "noise" -- traffic that does not result in offers. So in this market, the majority of what a selling broker is doing is showing ... and showing ... and showing.

To give you a rough example, I was trained in the Jersey suburbs that an apartment was mispriced if you didn't get an offer roughly every ten showings. Now I'm getting an offer roughly every 10-25 showings. (Before y'all yell at me that my listings are mispriced, let me point out I had two accepted offers last week).

So it's an OK market to FSBO in, as long as you're REALLY prepared to do a lot of running around.

One more point is that the stuff that is going to contract is in GREAT condition. So be prepared to pay for cosmetic fixes and a paint job, because this year's buyer can't see past dings.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

I have no patience...but I would listen to inane questioning all day long for $50K.
check out www.nbpny.com
i used this and just for the consulting alone it was invaluable...which coincidentally I am quoted on the site as saying.

If you are patient and thick skinned, you can go FSBO route.

If brokers contact you, tell them that you are will to have them as buyer's brokers and pay them X%. You will market yourself and if one of the brokers will bring a qualified buyer who wants to buy your place, and that's a HUGE IF, then you will end up paying 1/2 of the commission.

Don't forget that it will cost you in advertising. NYTimes online is not bad, $140 for 2 weeks I think. You may need to put it in NYT in the paper, that will run a lot more for an add that will be visible. StreetEasy and Craigslists are free.

You have to be really patient at open houses. There will be plenty of people coming in just because they have nothing better to do and ask a lot of really stupid questions. Make sure that you know all info about your coop, from financials to policies to what the board will require of your buyer.

Good Luck

FYI: www.nbpny.com INCLUDES a month of NYT online in your monthly fee along with unlimited consulting on your sale...also, he did my buyer's co-op package for a fee ($350-$400, i think - buyer paid)

StreetEasy is definitely not free! It's ~$400 for a month to advertise on their site as a FSBO. Not a fan of nbpny as it doesn't even include StreetEasy ... you're on their forum which means it's probably quite popular in the city. I used www.hauseit.com ... best package and value for money in NYC. Free open houses and they list you everywhere a high end broker would including OLR, MLS etc. and StreetEasy!

?Free open houses and they list you everywhere a high end broker would including OLR, MLS etc. and StreetEasy!

Are there any examples that we can see on SE?

My company specializes in sellers who want all of the exposure of a brokerage, the expertise of a high volume agent (we've closed hundreds of deals), and the cost savings of a FSBO. If you pay by the month, it's just $395/month - and your listing will be in everywhere buyers and brokers search. And because we are licensed brokers and members of the Real Estate Board of NY (REBNY), you will appear in the broker databases including all the big brokerage databases and OLR, RealPlus, RealtyMX and Nestio. If you are not utilizing a REBNY brokerage, you can't get in there - and in NYC, REBNY is the de facto MLS. From start to finish, we guide you through the entire process. We have full service programs as well, but if you are inclined to do your own showings and some of the leg work, our Owner Managed program is an amazing deal. Check us out at www.realdirect.com. If you have any questions - fire away and I will answer them on the board or email me - doug at realdirect dot com. You can see all of our listings (closed, in contract and available) at realdirect.com/listing/

Are there any examples that we can see on SE?

That may be the case @Douglasternyc but who wants to deal with buyers brokers.....better to just list in StreetEasy directly and maybe NYTimes but I wouldn't bother.

another option is instead of throwing out all brokers, is just put our your requirements and see which agents accept your package. they are not all bad. something like kounter.com or the like, you can test the waters first before you go solo. I agree with others though, your marketing/sales abilities play into the decision more than anything.

A seller has to be nuts to list with broker like Douglas Elliman, Corcoran etc that charge 6%. With Hauseit, Realdirect etc sellers save tens of thousands using their services all the while getting the exact same exposure. Unbelievable. Also if you don't sell to a buyer represented by an agent firms like Corcoran, Douglas Elliman etc. then you can save 60k on a million dollar listing. Why in God's name are people still using old school brokers? So foolish. Throwing money away.

Maybe the new "internet firms" like hauseit, Realdirect after word spreads will finally break the back of the "traditional" broker stranglehold

Please brokers don't talk about negotiation skills. The only negotiation a buyers broker does is to manipulate the buyer into accepting whatever offer comes from the seller...why? quick sale = quick commission. The buyer is actually negotiating "against" his own agent not the seller. Crazy but true.

Well, I'm FSBO to the core, but it takes steely nerves to go FSBO. That's why people are still paying the big bucks, they're scared. Especially with selling a co-op.

Steel core!

I had a good experience with Real Direct. We had to arrange all the showings but definitely came out ahead by not paying a 3% seller's fee. The service did the advertising for us and brought us a buyer in just a few days. Doug and Aimee at Real Direct had a lot of good advice with the listing as well.

We just had a good experience with Hauseit. We were promptly looped in on all inquiries and sold after our first open house. We received 4 offers, 3 of them from direct buyers. We ended up saving even on the greatly reduced broker commission we would have paid to a buyers agent even by going with a direct seller. Would highly recommend to anyone looking to sell.

@DeanC - I hear you. When I started RealDirect 6 + years ago, I too thought it was all about the direct buyer too. But what we found out was that for a seller to get the highest net proceeds, there needs to be a highly competitive process. And since most buyers are still working with buyers brokers, you will disqualify more than half of buyers if you exclude them. Approximately half of our deals are direct. And in those cases, it is because the direct buyer had the highest net proceeds. In some of those cases, that direct buyer paid more because a broker represented seller was competing with them. And if there wasn't that competition, the price may have been lower. Other reasons to work with buyer's brokers is that most foreign buyers - and by foreign, I mean anyone who currently lives out of NYC, including pied a terre buyers from the burbs, Chinese investors, as well as recent NYC transplants - use buyer's brokers. The bottom line is we have found that getting the best possible price means having the largest possible buyer pool, and evaluating offers on a "net proceeds" basis - which is how we optimize our sellers on RealDirect.

I have seen my people selling a house without a broker. I am planning to buy a property in France after consulting the advocate Bechara Tarabay available at http://www.societe.com/societe/monsieur-bechara-tarabay-343059028.html . Having a professional help while buying or selling a house is a good idea. An agent is equally helpful during the real estate process.