How Long does FSBO take?

I keep seeing this being recommended, especially for people where the equity might be tight. If I seriously consider doing this, I want to be honest about my capacity to do so.

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I’ll probably get downvoted for this but just giving my honest opinion - you’re much better off using a discount broker than going FSBO. Buyers oftentimes have a negative perception of FSBO’s & you will almost certainly have less traction / offers. FSBO’s often net less than when they use an agent as well, but I’m sure you’ve heard all of that.

If you’re stubborn and determined to go that route:

Use professional photography. Seriously. It makes a HUGE difference.

Pay a flat fee to put it in the MLS (if this is an option where you are), it will synchronize to all of the other browsing sites. You can also put it on Zillow separately.

Anticipate having to contribute to the buyer agent as most buyers cannot afford to pay theirs out of pocket. Instead of saving 5% to 6%, expect to save 2% to 3% on agent compensation to be on the safe side so you’re prepared for the “worst case scenario” when it comes to your bottom line.

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@BillSmith Fsbo can be just as fast as using agents. I recommend using a real estate lawyer to draft the documents, look for one that has done fsbo transactions and negotiate a fixed fee.

I recommend the Nolo press book about sellng your house. It has template legal documents and walks through the entire process: Sell Your Home FSBO or With a Real Estate Agent? | Nolo

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I have a friend who sold two homes FSBO in balanced markets.

I know for one house he had maybe 15-20 showings over 3 weeks, which meant he basically couldn’t do a lot of work then (his work was seasonal and this was during his slow time); I don’t know as much about the other house he sold.

@HarryJames Can you comment on the time aspect? Like how much time would one reasonably be spending out of their day/week to do it successfully

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@BillSmith The big variable here is your market. If there’s a lot of demand, it might be a few hours of your time to push out the listing and then a few hours doing the transaction with the lawyer. If you have to market hard for months, because demand is weak or price is wrong then you will spend a ton more time and effort finding a buyer.

You can close in 2-3 weeks.

One word of caution is that you might spend time with shoppers but not serious buyers. You will have to sniff out the interested parties to decide if you take want to let them tour the house. You will also want to avoid difficult buyers who cause the close to go of the rails. And you will get outreach from agents that will say almost anything to get a listing.

You can always try selling it yourself and then use a listing agent later if it isn’t working out. Get familiar with the process, then decide what you want to do.

Most of the time is in preparing for showings, and post-contract logistics (inspections, moving, repairs, etc.)–which are basically unchanged with an agent (and oftentimes more complicated with extra people involved). Open houses themselves are pretty easy, you’d be wise to use a pro photographer, and you don’t need much in the way of legal stuff until you have an offer (generally at most a set of disclosures). Once you have an offer you’re serious about accepting or negotiating on, you can typically find a title company’s law office to review/negotiate for flat fee (we didn’t use that service, but would have been $150).

NoRealtorNeeded.Etsy.com

This guide outlines photography, negotiation, paperwork like contract, sellers disclosure, pretty much everything you need to not use an agent