You said you don’t want to pay an agent 3% to sell it. I assume that means you will not be willing to pay an agent if they brought a buyer. It is common for FSBOs to pay a buyer’s agent a commission (usually 3%) if they produce a buyer. If you are not interested in doing that, you will be limiting yourself to buyers that aren’t already working with an agent that want to deal directly with the owner. In my experience, those kinds of buyers want to deal that way so that they can save on the price of the home. They tend to take 6-7% off the list price and use that as a ceiling for the price of the home. As a rule, they know what the house values in the area are and they are looking for a bargain. You may be surprised that you will spend a lot of time, effort and money and you may not net any more than if you had listed with a full service agent.
That’s not to say that you can’t sell it yourself successfully, but since you are asking basic questions about marketing and paperwork, it sounds like you don’t have a lot of experience. Many investors that do well going FSBO are also offering creative financing (lease, land contract, owner fin.).
Since you say this will be your first investment property, you might want to try using an agent on this one. Pay careful attention to what they do, what the procedures are, etc. Once you know more and feel more comfortable, you might want to try it yourself. Good luck.
just to give you something to think about: the first home I bought, I drove past it with a “FSBO” sign in the yard. I was on my way to see a different house with my RE agent. I stopped my car, walked up and talked to the owner who was outside.
He had JUST nailed the sign in the yard 5 (five) minutes before I drove up.
By the way, I got a GREAT deal on the fixer-upper. I ended up making over 25,000 on the home.
Never underestimate FSBO signs my friend. If you are having trouble, then pay the 3-7%. It will cost you much less than losing time on the home and not spending your equity somewhere else.
I sell almost 75% of my homes FSBO on the other hand I have used FSBO.com or byusaowner.com to put it on the MLS for as little as $995.00 and they do the contract work as well! Hope this helps!