Real Estate Question

I am going to put my home on the market to sell within 2 weeks. I got to thinking about it today and am SICK at having to pay 6% commission. Has anyone ever sold their home "By Owner"? I have no clue what all legally would be involved and how knowledgeable a person would have to be to get this done. Sue

My suggestion is to try Foxtons. I think they only take 3%. But if your not in a real hurry, try to advertise yourself. Put an ad in the paper, or one of those free home shopper magazines. I feel the same away about giving those agents 6%. That comes out to a whole crap load of money! And for what? They dont do all that much. I work for an attorney whose practice is about 90% real estate. I dont know if your able to, but you can see if there's any way that you can get your home listed in the MLS services without having a realtor. I did recently see a commercial for "BuyOwner.com" Try checking that out. There's somethign out there that will take less than 6%. Even if you do the foxtons, at least thats only 3%. Good Luck!!

Sue, I have never done it but a good friend of mine sold her home by owner and she said that the title company who handles the paper work can walk you through it and they do everything anyway. She got the buyer to pay the fee to the title company and since there was no real estate commision, it was a win win. Good luck with the sale.

Yep! I did and it sold in 5 days! I even sold it to a lawyer...HA! Call a title company...tell them you want to sell "by owner" and ask if they will work with you when you acquire a buyer. Have lots of open houses. It's the best way for "by owner" sellers to show their house. I tried the news paper.....it was very expensive and I got 2 or 3 calls....so I would skip that. It's really much easier to do than it sounds. Just get EVERYTHING in your contract. Put a time limit on a home inspection as well and make SURE you collect earnest money from your prospective buyer. Good luck darlin! Malibu

It is very possible to sell without an agent. Working with a title company is good. If you don't get step by step advice from a title company, start with an internet search to get such a list. By the way, many buyers cut their offers since they know the agent won't get a cut, so expect to split the difference. I cut my offer, for example, on property we are offering on. However, using an agent to buy, so I only cut the offer by the selling agent's portion. The agent has been the one hassling the sellers with all of my questions, so I don't have to. -Pam