Of course you can sell FSBO. There is also professional help out there so you are not getting that 6% rip off. Contact Tom Demsker @ Demsker Realty. He does everything a broker does except show the place(big deal) He will field calls/emails and send them to you for you to schedule a time to be home. He will set up Gotham Photo/NY Times/SE/Trulia etc. He gets volume discounts. He provides solid... [more]
Of course you can sell FSBO. There is also professional help out there so you are not getting that 6% rip off. Contact Tom Demsker @ Demsker Realty. He does everything a broker does except show the place(big deal) He will field calls/emails and send them to you for you to schedule a time to be home. He will set up Gotham Photo/NY Times/SE/Trulia etc. He gets volume discounts. He provides solid advice and is always available. He charges a flat fee(about $400-$800) for EVERYTHING. He will list @ 2.5% in the broker listing system. But what he really helps you with is getting that DIRECT BUYER(no broker) then you save the 6%. That's BIG money. Otherwise you pay 2.5% if buyer comes w broker.
All brokers do is pressure you to lower the price. I don't need some high school grad to tell me that. I can lower it myself so what am I paying you that 6% for again? DO IT YOURSELF OR AT LEAST GIVE IT A TRY.
So here's the scenario. Buyer sees your ad on the NY Times, emails Tom, Tom emais you and you agree on a time. Buyer shows up, likes the place, emails tom with an offer, you accept or negotiate. Tom or you then say to the buyer "OK great! Now have yur lawyer call my lawyer" You never see the buyer again until closing and save 60,000 on a million sale.
What a no f'n brainer!!!!!!!
I'm sorry brokers but change is inevitable. The more transparent Manhattan becomes the more buyers will realize that using a "free service" broker is not free at all. You the buyer are paying an extra 6% that the seller has to price into his/her apt to pay those commissions. Wake up. Look on your own. Look FSBO and split the 6% savings with the seller. In other words FSBO price 500k w broker 530k buyer/seller deal 515k. Everybody wins except of course the brokers.THEY REALLY JUST GET IN THE WAY.
But we do all that market ing and stuff! What stuff? You just pressure sellers to lower the price that's all!
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Response by Mikev
about 15 years ago
Posts: 431
Member since: Jun 2010
I can not say i disagree. However the issue comes around when the buyer still walks around with a broker. Knowing that they in the end are not going to pay the broker.
I am curious over time though, say you have a buyers broker and they take you to an apartment hoping the FSBO will deal and pay something to them, lets say they say no and the people want to buy, what will happen?
To me it is like car shopping, over time more and more was available online. now you can go onto edmonds and see what people are saying they paid for a car and use that as your price to attempt to get to. Now that you have streeteasy and other sites laying out for you what prior prices were, what other similar apartments sold for or are selling for, there is no real reason to have to pay a middle man. As the car salesman learned that they have to accept less as the price differential between what they were able to get people to overpay has gone away, the real estate brokers will learn over time that either the model changes or they will be phased out.
I just find it amazing that in this day and age people are still so willing to give a person 6% of their proceeds to sell their home. I mean if you were making 30% or more on the sale then sure it would not matter, but brokers are taking advantage of people who have actually lost quite a bit of equty these days.
Sure they will keep telling us they are providing a service, but once again there is no other industry out there, except lawyers on a case where they get paid if it sells, that charge such a high percentage. I wish i could charge people 6% of their income to prepare a tax return or do an audit of their financials.
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Response by sledgehammer
about 15 years ago
Posts: 899
Member since: Mar 2009
That's assuming that the buyer is willing to pay asking price for the property which they probable won't in this environment! If a seller think he's well enough informed about the market using Accris, street easy and other tools on the internet, he has to realize that buyers have also access to these same tools!
FSBO is usefull if you're underwater or shortselling, it gives you more negotiating power but if you're delusional about what you're expecting to get for your property, that won't make any difference.
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Response by KeithB
about 15 years ago
Posts: 976
Member since: Aug 2009
"So here's the scenario. Buyer sees your ad on the NY Times, emails Tom, Tom emais you and you agree on a time. Buyer shows up, likes the place, emails tom with an offer, you accept or negotiate. Tom or you then say to the buyer "OK great! Now have yur lawyer call my lawyer" You never see the buyer again until closing and save 60,000 on a million sale.
What a no f'n brainer!!!!!!!"
SteveF: As a broker who had offered this same service over a year ago and also have a track record with the model, I can tell you your scenario above is overly simplistic, verging on silly. I also rebate 50-60% of the buy-side commission to my buyers, so I'm no stranger to alternative real estate brokerage models.
It does no one any good to pretend that selling your apartment is going to be easy, with or without a broker. Having your home on the market for 4-6 months, showing, fielding offers,qualifying buyers, showing your place to strangers for months on end, though not brain surgery, it can be a very stressful, tiring process; especially if you have a full time stressful job of your own.
The main problem I found with the fsbo/broker hybrid was the confusion that brokers had dealing with the model. They call me only to have me funnel them back to the seller directly for showing.Even when I had the sellers contact info listed, they still called me, so not very seamless. Some felt a bit misled and expressed confusion to the seller when they show up at their door with a customer. I was always upfront with brokers and explained the model.Other problem, especially with buyers in the $1million+ range, they want broker services.The pool of buyers going it alone is quite small.
My experience has been it can work, but it is far from easy unless perhaps you have a truly ideal home and you have the discipline to price it correctly. Perhaps sometime in the future things will change, but for now the vast majority of buyers have a broker helping them. I can only speak for myself, but my clients all seem to appreciate my help/guidance/opinion during the process of looking for and bidding on a home. And they know that if at anytime right up to signing a contract if they feel I did not add value, assistance to their transaction, I will walk away from the deal no questions asked.
I like what Tom is doing, I think choice in the market provides better overall service to everyone and contributes to a better environment for the consumer.But it is not as easy as op suggests.
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Response by steveF
about 15 years ago
Posts: 2319
Member since: Mar 2008
Keith, excellent comments but selling an apt is simple silly b/c as we all know it's about PRICE. Price is what it's all about. So it is simple. Price it right and they will come, why throw another 6% into the mix? Why throw another $60,000 onto the price when u don't have to?
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Response by steveF
about 15 years ago
Posts: 2319
Member since: Mar 2008
>I can not say i disagree. However the issue comes around when the buyer still walks around with a broker. Knowing that they in the end are not going to pay the broker.<
Mikev, but they are paying the broker. The seller HAS to add that 6% cost into the price. No broker no 6%.
I can not say i disagree. However the issue comes around when the buyer still walks around with a broker. Knowing that they in the end are not going to pay the broker.
I am curious over time though, say you have a buyers broker and they take you to an apartment hoping the FSBO will deal and pay something to them, lets say they say no and the people want to buy, what will happen?
To me it is like car shopping, over time more and more was available online. now you can go onto edmonds and see what people are saying they paid for a car and use that as your price to attempt to get to. Now that you have streeteasy and other sites laying out for you what prior prices were, what other similar apartments sold for or are selling for, there is no real reason to have to pay a middle man. As the car salesman learned that they have to accept less as the price differential between what they were able to get people to overpay has gone away, the real estate brokers will learn over time that either the model changes or they will be phased out.
I just find it amazing that in this day and age people are still so willing to give a person 6% of their proceeds to sell their home. I mean if you were making 30% or more on the sale then sure it would not matter, but brokers are taking advantage of people who have actually lost quite a bit of equty these days.
Sure they will keep telling us they are providing a service, but once again there is no other industry out there, except lawyers on a case where they get paid if it sells, that charge such a high percentage. I wish i could charge people 6% of their income to prepare a tax return or do an audit of their financials.
That's assuming that the buyer is willing to pay asking price for the property which they probable won't in this environment! If a seller think he's well enough informed about the market using Accris, street easy and other tools on the internet, he has to realize that buyers have also access to these same tools!
FSBO is usefull if you're underwater or shortselling, it gives you more negotiating power but if you're delusional about what you're expecting to get for your property, that won't make any difference.
"So here's the scenario. Buyer sees your ad on the NY Times, emails Tom, Tom emais you and you agree on a time. Buyer shows up, likes the place, emails tom with an offer, you accept or negotiate. Tom or you then say to the buyer "OK great! Now have yur lawyer call my lawyer" You never see the buyer again until closing and save 60,000 on a million sale.
What a no f'n brainer!!!!!!!"
SteveF: As a broker who had offered this same service over a year ago and also have a track record with the model, I can tell you your scenario above is overly simplistic, verging on silly. I also rebate 50-60% of the buy-side commission to my buyers, so I'm no stranger to alternative real estate brokerage models.
It does no one any good to pretend that selling your apartment is going to be easy, with or without a broker. Having your home on the market for 4-6 months, showing, fielding offers,qualifying buyers, showing your place to strangers for months on end, though not brain surgery, it can be a very stressful, tiring process; especially if you have a full time stressful job of your own.
The main problem I found with the fsbo/broker hybrid was the confusion that brokers had dealing with the model. They call me only to have me funnel them back to the seller directly for showing.Even when I had the sellers contact info listed, they still called me, so not very seamless. Some felt a bit misled and expressed confusion to the seller when they show up at their door with a customer. I was always upfront with brokers and explained the model.Other problem, especially with buyers in the $1million+ range, they want broker services.The pool of buyers going it alone is quite small.
My experience has been it can work, but it is far from easy unless perhaps you have a truly ideal home and you have the discipline to price it correctly. Perhaps sometime in the future things will change, but for now the vast majority of buyers have a broker helping them. I can only speak for myself, but my clients all seem to appreciate my help/guidance/opinion during the process of looking for and bidding on a home. And they know that if at anytime right up to signing a contract if they feel I did not add value, assistance to their transaction, I will walk away from the deal no questions asked.
I like what Tom is doing, I think choice in the market provides better overall service to everyone and contributes to a better environment for the consumer.But it is not as easy as op suggests.
Keith, excellent comments but selling an apt is simple silly b/c as we all know it's about PRICE. Price is what it's all about. So it is simple. Price it right and they will come, why throw another 6% into the mix? Why throw another $60,000 onto the price when u don't have to?
>I can not say i disagree. However the issue comes around when the buyer still walks around with a broker. Knowing that they in the end are not going to pay the broker.<
Mikev, but they are paying the broker. The seller HAS to add that 6% cost into the price. No broker no 6%.