We are in the midst of a big decision...

General Real Estate Investing
1

My wife and I finally have the ancestral home ready for sale. It is in a great location in NW Washington, DC and she has done an amazing job of upgrading. Our decision is whether to market this property ourselves (i am a former realtor in FL) or go FSBO. If we choose the latter route how do I get the max internet visibility ASAP? Thanks in advance for any wisdom you experienced folks can bring to bear. :help

2

When you say “market this property ourselves” do you mean that you still have MLS access and you’re just going to list it yourselves through MLS? What is your time horizon, how fast do you have to/want to be out of your house?

3

thanks for your response. i apologize for delay,web access has been a bit problematic. i no longer have MLS access. it is my understanding that this can be obtained for 300. we want to sell home asap. liquidity will help us move forward with business plans. thanks

4

If you have the time,sure you could save$$.I would definitely put on mls,&list that you welcome realtors(you may or may not want to print how you’ll compensate,just have them call you for details.Best of luck with it & make sure your pics are good,virtual tour even better.Take care.

5

Is your RE license still active? if not, you most likely won’t be able to get MLS access, unless you’ve still got friends in the biz that would let you use their login or something like that…

6

There are flat fee MLS services out there that you can use. check Craigslist, or online for your city. Most houses sell through realtors, but using the flat fee listing, you can only pay the 3% buyer agent. However, buyer agents are more likely to give you lower offers plus request closing costs contribution. This is more of a negotiation thing between you and them, and how well your house shows and priced.

As far as other websites go, there are plenty of FSBO websites, plus running ads in the paper. The quesiton becomes, will the multiple smaller costs plus the holding costs plus the risk of buyers not qualifying (you were an agent, you can deal with this last one though) outweigh paying an agent a 3% commission.

If you’re owner financing it, that is a different story of course. When it comes to FSBO, there are more buyers for owner financing type transactions.