welist.com or FSBO

[red sky]

Just wondering if anyone has used welist.com or sold a house without a realtor (i.e. for sale by owner)? Any good or bad experiences? I know that realtors are specialized however it is hard to stomach paying that percentage. What are some key points to keep in mind?

Thanks!

[VladtheImpaler]

I sold a house without a realtor several years back. I think it's doable in a high-traffic desirable area (around DT in other words), or if the market is over-heated. Otherwise...

[WilsonFourTwo]

I used welist.com a couple of years ago, but didn't actually end up selling the place (it was only a half-hearted attempt to sell).

Overall, I'd say the experience was positive-ish. The cost was reasonable and I had 5 or 6 inquiries over a few weeks. If I were to seriously try selling my home, I'd try welist again, but I would also:

1. Host an open house each weekend.
2. Allow realtors to bring clients to me (and pay 2 or 3% commish to them at closing).
3. Be patient.

My advice would be to try it for ~30 days. If you're not getting good bites, stay unlisted for a couple of weeks and then list with an agent.

[red sky]

I have a bit of time before I need to sell and figure that could work in my favour. I guess there isn't much harm in trying, just a bit of cash and time.

[Knut]

We have had our Condo on Welist for awhile now. About 10 showings on it. What we realized is that incoming realtors would steer their clients away from the place because the chance of getting a comission was less. You are going to get people in with Realtors and some without.

From this point on we are using Realtor as we have found the work on our part less and have negotiated a reasonable commission based on the fact that we would use the same realtor to buy a place that is twice in price. That entices them to get yours sold and you into a new place ASAP.

[Nabber]

Welist is your best bet by far if you're going to go the FSBO route. Like others mentioned do open houses, advertise on craigslist, etc as well, but as fotze mentioned price is the most important thing. You'll have a hard time selling if people think your home is overpriced, and many will have a hard time telling that to you in a face to face meeting. You may want to get a realtor to give you a free comparative market analysis. I can sent you all the recent solds in you area if you want, that way you can use those to pick a price.