Yes, for sure, use http://www.BrokerDirectMLS.com to sell your home. I am an investor and have used 6% agents in the past, and they are a rip off. Anyone that uses a 6% agent is un-informed. A flat fee broker is more knowledgeable than 99% of the 6% agents. 6% agents really need to go away, there is no please for them in the market anymore. I know what I am talking about. When selling your home, use a flat fee broker!

This is like most other endevours. If you do not have a well thought out plan of action to properly market ,negotiate and then close the deal you will probably fail miserably. Most people have "pie-in-the-sky" goals but in reality are not willing to work hard enough to achieve them. After you have read all of these replies, my bet is you won't sell on your own. Hope I'm wrong.

Thank you so much Normandood and Cheryl for your support and info !
I realized that there is no reason to read answers from realtors.
Natalie.

Hi Natalie,

You can try it on your own, or through a limited service or discount broker. If you get a contract, you won't ever really know if that represented highest and best. I have read ads that say a property owner "saved" when they did not pay a commission. The dollars lost in a lower sale price may represent a bigger "cost" than the "savings."

In reality, you can't ever duplicate the process exactly to compare exact results. So, you have no way to know for sure. I certainly understand that the costs to sell a property represents a lot of money and these are tough decisions.

Even if you have a buyer give you full price the first week of being on a limited service site, you won't ever know if that was the "best" price you could have gotten. This can be equally true in a hot market or slow one. In both hot and slow markets, the greater the interest, the greater the potential selling price.

When your property is given broad market exposure and feedback is evaluated, the market provides a response with a buyer at a price that the market set. Realtors do not make the market, they can only bring your property to the marketplace and the market to you.

I am a Broker-Owner and as such, I could set the business model for our brokerage to be discount, limited service, or full service. As a full service brokerage, we provide a lot of support for our agents by producing the brochures, virtual tours, videos, and even single property websites, etc. for the properties that we represent. Be aware that in some brokerages, the responsibility for producing the marketing materials may rest with the agent, and not be provided by the company.

If I believed discount or limited service provided the best results and highest and best price for sellers, I would structure our company to be limited service. As it is, our margins are not high (actually quite low) and we work 7 days a week, and are on call all of the time. I service my own buyers and sellers, as well as need to be available to assist agents. If I chose a limited service route with low fees, we would be paid up front, not put thousands of dollars at risk each time we took on a new listing; we would increase the volume of listings, decrease our expenses and most likely actually increase our profits. I would not have to always be on call and would work less hours. But, I don’t choose the limited service model, because I believe that the highest and best price comes from full service brokerage from the initial marketing through the transaction coordination and closing.

As a full service broker, we have no up front fees to sellers. We bear the expenses and cost of all marketing which can run into the thousands quite quickly. In a slow moving market, it can be months, if ever, that we recoup that investment. Recently we had two of our sellers receive multiple offers (with escalating offer prices) and our market is soft with rising inventories, many expired listings, and lots of price reductions. I don’t believe that we could have achieved these multiple offers if not for the extensive marketing outreach we did. As an aside, we use minimal print ads, but find selective print mediums effective.

When we close a sale for a seller, I am confident that the best price that the market would and could bring has been achieved because we have provided broad market exposure and full service representation. If I thought I could get a seller their highest and best price without putting so much money at risk in the form of marketing, I would. But, I believe in most cases, full service brings a higher net return to the seller. If you sell through a limited service option, you won’t ever know if the number you achieved was truly your best net. Since there is no way to duplicate the process and compare results, you have to evaluate your risks in both directions and choose the path best for you.

If you ever care to share in follow up the decisions you make and the reasons why, I am sure the public and Realtors would be most appreciative and learn from it. Best of luck to you!

Deborah Madey - Broker

Natalie,

You've received several good answers - most from people NOT in Oklahoma. I'm also a licensed Sales Associate, but I'm in Broken Arrow, OK so I can add a local response for your benefit. Here's what I'd suggest. Speak to a local, REPUTABLE, Realtor. Find out their programs, experience level, etc., then make your choice. You can go it alone - 3-4 of 10 FSBO's are successful. If you do, and if you successfully procure a buyer, get a Real Estate attorney to help with the paper work for your protection.

By the time you do all that has been suggested in these answers, and get your own attorney, you may not be saving as much money as you think - especially when you factor in your time spent. Your time is worth something - correct?

I am a real estate broker and Realtor, and I whole-heartedly believe you can and should sell your house by yourself. I have done so in the past, prior to getting my license, and had much success. My reasoning is this: 1.) the agent doesn't care too much between selling your house for $250k versus $200k. At the margin, the commission to the agent doesn't change too much, so the agent is mostly concerned with selling fast and moving on the next property. Obviously, this is not always the case, and there are a lot of good agents out there. But the reality is that the barriers to entry in becoming a real estate agent are low, and most agents are not as competent as I would personally like. My blog recently had a post on how to sell without an agent - here is an excerpt from the blog post:

Disclosure: I am a licensed real estate broker and Realtor (though that isn't what I do for a living).

In this post, I’m going to tell you how to recoup that wad of cash you spent on fireworks in Chinatown by telling you how to sell your house without a Realtor. There, I said it. Despite what you've read all over the place, you can sell your home without the help of an agent.

Before I moved to California, and before I got my real estate broker's license, I successfully sold a home in St. Louis without the help of a broker. I read plenty of articles telling me that trying to sell a home without professional help is crazy, and that my house would sit on the market indefinitely until I got smart and crawled back to my agent to bail me out. If you feel confident that you can negotiate well, and are reasonably adept with Google searches and the like, there is no reason you shouldn’t give it a go just like I did – at least for the first few weeks on the market. Here are the steps I recommend:

1.) Bite the bullet and get the house listed on your local MLS. You can usually pay a discount service a fee ($500-800) to get the property listed on MLS. Get the property listed on MLS the cheapest way you can find. If you list on MLS, expect to pay 3% to the agent that brings you a buyer. Unfortunately, Realtors are the gatekeepers to buyers in a lot of areas, so you may, at a minimum, have to pay the buyer's agent, but at least you can save 3% on the selling end of the transaction. You are going to have a hard time avoiding this 3% commission if you want any agent to show your house to potential buyers.

2.) Most buyers start their search for a home on-line, so post a listing wherever you can: Zillow.com is the place to start. Then do a Google search for real estate and start checking out the sites and see where you can post an ad. Don't skimp on this step - make sure you get the word out on the web before you waste time anywhere else.

3.) Get a decent looking sign printed for the front yard, and have professional looking flyers available for people driving by to stop and pick one up. Make sure to by a sign rider than mentions OPEN SUNDAY 1-4. You can buy these at your local Realtor association (even without being a member). Obviously, put your cell phone number prominently on the sign.

4.) Ads in the newspaper may be effective where you live, but they are not the best value in Northern California, and are not really effective at driving traffic out here. This may not be the case at all where you live, so if the cost is not prohibitively expensive, then place an ad.

5.) If you do post an ad in the paper, advertise the OPEN HOUSE dates prominently in the ad.

6.) Hold Open Houses often. Open Houses are not the most effective way to sell a home, but this is your best shot since Brokers cannot just stop by with buyers.

7.) This one is obvious, but answer every call and return every message immediately. Be ready to show the house to buys on extremely short notice.

You can sell the home by yourself if you are focused and diligent. But remember, if the house doesn't sell quickly, then get help before the property sits on the market and becomes 'stale' in the eyes of the buyers. Worst case is that you have to bring an agent on board and you are out 2 weeks of debt service. The upside, in my opinion, is worth the risk so give it a shot. Best of luck to you!

depending on the state in which u live, here is a service that allows u to list on the mls and realtor.com for free!

http://www.iggyshouse.com/

and for the states currently active:

http://www.iggyshouse.com/ServiceCoverage.aspx

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as to the 'freakonomics' reference, the studies found that realtors, when selling their own home tend to keep their home on the market for a longer time period in order to get a higher price, than if they are 'representing' someone. basically it is a perverse incentive that encourages a realtor to drop the price of a clients' listing because the loss of potential commission on a 10K price drop is small; however when listing their own home, realtors will wait longer to get close to the listing price because instead of dropping 10K on their own home, they have a greater incentive to hold out for the original price.

oh well, technology, especially the internet will soon make the realtor(R) obsolete! and its good for the consumer!

Natalie, you've received some great information here. I just wanted to touch on an incidental that hasn't been mentioned. A place such as the one you mention may just put the property on the MLS and not let you know the benefits of enhancing a property with extra pictures, descriptions and virtual tours. While all listings on any MLS across the country will end up on Realtor.com by default, they will show up with one picture, no descriptive text and no virtual tour. When buyers search sites such as Realtor.com and trulia, they gravitate to the listings which have more pictures, more data, more details. More views means more exposure, which in turn means more chances of selling in a timeframe you are happy with. I cannot speak for other agents, but I pay for and provide the maximum number of pictures allowed on Realtor.com (presently over 20), a thorough and informative description of the property and virtual tours on all my listings. I'm not trying to solicit your listing. I'm not anywhere near you. But you should make sure you're comparing apples to apples when making all considerations. I love Carol's comment. I fell in love with real estate when I purchased my first home. I knew then I wanted to become and agent and did many years later. Best of luck with the sale of your home!

I love Kaye's answer about the trial period. You might enjoy it so much and want to become a Realtor® yourself. That is part of my life 'story' lol

Hi Natalie- You have received a lot of good information.. You just need to figure out what you want to do.. might not be a bad idea to give yourself a trial period.. two or three weeks. Cheryl asked a question about what else an agent does to market a home.. Carole Cohen gave some great information and I would like to add to her answer.. I have 2 blogs and 2 websites.. I make up special flyers about a property with a number of photos and a a well thought out description of your home.. I also do a web real estate show showing the features of your property in a video. I'm going to leave the link to one of my shows that I sent to a client about Manhattan Beach. My websites feed into about 20 places where my listings link.. including Trulia.. not every agent can get a listing on Trulia. I have a strong web presence and post to activerain, Selsius landbroker, squidoo and othe real estate related sites. Currently I have sold all my listings as I'm getting ready to leave on vacation.. but you can still check out some of these sites

Thanks for keeping things straight Keith - and Natalie I hope this will help you in some way. All the answers are right on all different levels.

Of course you ultimately decide the outcome of your homes sale. Again - good luck and Cheryl : I didn't mean to offend or be "smart" myself. I hope all is well with the world when we can all voice some input on a very broad discussion.

Natalie, wow, are you learning a lot, rig
I feel that Cheryl has brought up some very valid issues that merit a response.
The principle that governs how Realtors work is one called "Fiduciary Responsibility". We owe a level of care to our clients that is above "well-intentioned". Fiduciary means that we are required to put the best interests of our client above our own.

Another principle is "supply and demand". Our primary responsibility to expose the listing to as many people as possible., The public primarily sees listings on line, like on Trulia, also in print advertising, and sometimes on TV/Cable. However, in over 90% of the sales, an agent brings the buyer to the property and closes the sale.

So the only way a Realtor would "hold out for more money" is if we believe it is in the seller's interest. Even if we make a recommendation, it is the seller's decision. There is no rule that the seller has to take the highest price offer, either. We hope that the seller accepts the "best offer", which has many different characteristics that need to be considered.

The primary reason that an owner selling without professional representation usually receives "less" money is because they exclude 90% of the buyers. This is not really a mystery, simply the law of supply and demand. Consider this: if you exclude 90% of the buyers, and you sell the property yourself, you will never really know what you might have received had the property benn properly represented. For some people, that's okay.

As a professional I am not trying to "convert" owners who want to sell without representation to list with me. I do share information when asked and let them come up with their own decision. The last statistic I read was over 85% of owners eventually list with an agent.

Good luck!

professional agents do so much more marketing than just putting it in MLS and putting up a yard sign and doing an open house. Listings require an average of one hour a day for me as far as marketing is concerned. Here in Cleveland, my listing partner and I do target marketing; we network with other agents to promote the house, we do so many more things than put it in the mls. I provide a marketing sheet that describes the marketing plan for each house, and yes each house is different because of where buyers come from, again, target marketing.
Maybe what really needs to happen is for agents to be much more descriptive about what they do - you can't know if we don't tell you! This makes me really glad you asked the question. I have one Minnesoat Realtor® and friend who does a great job on her blog describing what we do. I'm going to link to one of her posts but if you browse you will see more information. Hope this helps a bit.

In response to Jeannette:

By "standard," I did not mean "required." 3% is what all the realtors with the brick and mortar realty companies charge in my area. I have never had a realtor say 3% is "standard" throughout the industry, but every one I have heard of uses 3% as her standard commission. And to be clear, there is a pending case by the U.S. Department of Justice against the National Association of Realtors for federal antitrust violations, so it certainly isn't that far-fetched.

I don't know if you've read the book, Freakanomics, but the authors cite studies by reputable statisticians that refute the conventional wisdom that sellers make more money using realtors. The reason is that it is in the realtor's best interest to make the sale than it is to hold out for the extra $300 (again, generally speaking), he would make by selling the house for $10,000 more.

I am honestly curious what you mean when you say that a realtor "can give you exposure in the right places." What more does the realtor offer in terms of exposure than an MLS listing, a yard sign, and an open house, all of which a seller can get on her own? I am not being a smart aleck. I'd really like to know.

Again, there are times, probably more often than not, when sellers would be happier using a realtor. Many people just don't want to fool with holding their own open house or writing up their own listing. But when you say, "it's really not all about money - time is what you are playing with," you are assuming that is true for everyone. To some people, however, it is not worth thousands of dollars in commissions to save themselves some legwork.

I hope it's clear that I am not saying that realtors do not offer a valuable service. I just get frustrated when I hear realtors trying to make sellers think that they would be fools to try to sell their homes themselves. It's a matter of trade-offs.

Follow-up answer in reference to Cheryl's comments:

The statement regarding realtors selling a home for more is actually statistically based. Furthermore, you hit it on the head when you said "if you're in a hot market". Timing is everything. An agent can give you exposure in the right places to strike where it is hot - they already have the information you need to strike!

Also - just to clarify an important point - there is no "standard" commission. This would be in direct violation of federal anti-trust laws. You will not find any real estate agent or broker - quote you a "standard" price. And If you ever do hear these words from an agent / broker, I would walk away.

Again - just to finalize: Anyone can sell anything given the right place and the right time. Can you sell your home on your own - a resounding yes. Can you do it as well as an agent - most likely no. And the reasons are spelled out for you.

It's what we do.

You must determine your priority and your time line to accomplish your goal - and quantify what the overall costs will be in the end. Remember - it's really not all about money - time is what you are playing with. Statistically speaking the majority of FSBO's on the market, eventually end up with a full service brokerage.

Why waste time? Time; again, is money.

Coincidental that six realtors weigh in against listing on your own? I think not. It is just not true that the only people searching MLS are real estate agents selecting properties to show to clients. Only the most unsophisticated buyers would rely solely on agents' picks. I bought my last house with an agent and still searched MLS every day on my own.

I don't even know that it's true that homes listed by realtors sell for more, but even if it is, the real question is whether the buyer gets a bigger profit after paying the broker's commission. For example, say you sell your house for $500,000. The standard 3% commission to the seller's agent is $15,000. Would an agent have been able to find a buyer willing to pay $15,000 more? Maybe, but probably not.

I agree that selling by yourself is more work, but I think there are situations when it makes a lot of sense. If you're in a hot market where homes tend to sell quickly, is it really worth paying a realtor's commission when the house itself is likely to attract a buyer? In terms of pricing the house, in most cities you can find what other houses in your neighborhood sold for by searching public records on the Internet. You don't always have to be home to show the house if you invest $40 in the same lockboxes that the realtors use, which you can buy on the Internet.

I would suggest that if you sell on your own that you hire a settlement attorney to take care of paperwork, but most people, even those with realtors, end up doing that anyway.

I agree with Keith, you could be lucky; but it's a safe bet that there are a lot of homes on the market and since most brokerages don't get paid upfront, but only when your home sells, why not consider hiring a company and especially a Realtor® who truly knows their neighborhoods. And who, as Keith said, can negotiative for you when you get to the contract stage of the listing process. I wish you much success on the sale of your home!

realtors and brokers are afraid of losing their grip on the MLS. commissions are negotiable. if u list FSBO, most likely u will get a bunch of realtors trying to get u to list with them. i encourage to try it on your own. I bought my first home without an agent, and it was listed for sale by owner.

Natalie,

Statistically FSBOs (for sale by owners) do not bring in top dollar or sell quickly. That doesn't mean there aren't individuals out there that aren't successful at it. Please consider this: a site such as brokerdirectmls.com is simply going to place your home on the MLS for a flat fee. End of story. Who searches the MLS? Realtors who are working with Buyers. Wouldn't it be nice to have someone representing you as well - someone who will go to bat for you? A good listing agent will be honest and give you smart opinions on pricing your home and things you may or may not need to do to prepare it for sell to maximize your net. At minimum you should speak to a professional about the fair market value of your home. Good luck and don't ever hesitate to call!

Anthony

Natalie,
I think you should use EVERY avenue available to market your home when it's on the market.
You goal is to sell your home for top dollar in the least amount of time with the least inconvenience, right?
Let me ask you one question: would you hire YOU to represent you in the the sale of your home based on YOUR track record?
Being straight with you, in over 90% of the cases a buyer is introduced to the home they buy online, however the buyer actually SEES the property with an agent who is representing them. Most buyers are "under contract" with an agent, so they cannot just go buy on their own.

The advantages to the buyer:
1. The Realtor works for "free" (in most cases the buyer is not paying a fee, the seller pays)
2. The Realtor has a fiduciary responsibility to watch out for the buyer's best interests
3. The Realtor will negotiate to help the buyer "obtain the best deal".

So if the Realtor represents the buyer, who is representing you? When you sell "on your own", the truth is you are selling without representation. In the long run you will net more money, it will take less time, and you'll be happier.

Good luck~!

Natalie,
I would like to add that without using a full service broker, you will be responsible for your own advertising costs, holding open houses, and being available to show your home to potential buyers at their convenience. Additionally, after you receive an offer on your home, a full service broker will negotiate the terms, attend inspections, and coordinate the closing. A full service broker will provide all of these services and extensive market knowledge to assist you with getting the most from your home selling experience.

Wow Natalie:
Nate really put the answer in perspective to your question. I agree wholeheartedly. If you are looking for validation in your decision - Nate hit it on the head. If you enter into a transaction where one side is represented and you are not - there is an obvious imbalance.

Besides purchasing a home, selling is the single largest transaction of your lifetime - do you really want to go it alone? At the very least you should have legal representation and in the end - it could cost you so much more than money.

Sure, Natalie, if all you want is to be on the MLS. This is what is called a limited representation listing and basically means that you get no representation whatsoever. Furthermore, you will still be paying the buyer's agent (most ofter) and therefore will have a pro representing the other side.

I love this:

A man sees a doctor and is told, "Your appendix has ruptured. I will need to remove it immediately and it will cost $4,000."

The man replies, "Will you take $1,700?"

My point is that if you are comfortable enough with the details of a transaction that you feel you can hold your own against someone that does this day in and day out then this may work for you. Please understand that when I say that there are many non-agents who have enough experience to pull this off. In that case a limited representation listing may be appropriate. But remember, when you are represented your overall liability is significantly reduced and the headaches are minimized.

Best of luck with your sale,

Nate