To sell or not to sell, that is the question....
We are finally finished with all the little projects in the house. Which means, we are finally ready to put the house up for sale! Yay!! It looks good, now that we've cleared away the junk, taken away the unused clothes for donation, etc, etc..
So, we are unsure whether to use a realtor or sell it ourselves. Now, it's not like the States... well, California anyhow, where 6 percent is a standard rate for agents to sell. When I sold my condo, which really sold itself, we had to pay my realtor 6 percent (and we didnt even like him at the end, so you can imagine how I felt giving him $17k for one weekend's work..). Here, the standard rate is 1 1/2 percent. Yep, one and a half percent. Same as California, the realtor doesn't really have to do any work - pop the property up on the website, a few flyers and a sign. The place will sell itself in two weeks... But the seller doesn't get raped. (BTW, there's no buyer's agent here either)
M wants to try and sell it himself. The thing we need the most is to get it on the property listing - like the MLS, which you can't get on unless a realtor sells your place. So, that leaves ads in the paper, ads up in the shops, a sign in the yard. We live in a cul-de-sac, which makes it hard for traffic 'going by'. You can't put signs out on the main road, indicating the house for sale in the estate, you get fined. Our biggest concern is just getting traffic, people coming in. That's what the agents here do for you.
That's where we're at. Trying to make a decision. It shouldn't take too long. We'll probably go with trying to do it ourselves fora few weeks, then engage a realtor if it doesn't happen for us.
Wish us luck!
So, we are unsure whether to use a realtor or sell it ourselves. Now, it's not like the States... well, California anyhow, where 6 percent is a standard rate for agents to sell. When I sold my condo, which really sold itself, we had to pay my realtor 6 percent (and we didnt even like him at the end, so you can imagine how I felt giving him $17k for one weekend's work..). Here, the standard rate is 1 1/2 percent. Yep, one and a half percent. Same as California, the realtor doesn't really have to do any work - pop the property up on the website, a few flyers and a sign. The place will sell itself in two weeks... But the seller doesn't get raped. (BTW, there's no buyer's agent here either)
M wants to try and sell it himself. The thing we need the most is to get it on the property listing - like the MLS, which you can't get on unless a realtor sells your place. So, that leaves ads in the paper, ads up in the shops, a sign in the yard. We live in a cul-de-sac, which makes it hard for traffic 'going by'. You can't put signs out on the main road, indicating the house for sale in the estate, you get fined. Our biggest concern is just getting traffic, people coming in. That's what the agents here do for you.
That's where we're at. Trying to make a decision. It shouldn't take too long. We'll probably go with trying to do it ourselves fora few weeks, then engage a realtor if it doesn't happen for us.
Wish us luck!
posted by grrltraveler at Monday, August 29, 2005
6 Comments:
A measley 1.5 percent? WOW. Make the Realtor do the work.
I was a Realtor many moons ago, and I'll tell ya, even in a market like we have today (houses practically sell themselves right now in WA), I'd still pay a Realtor 7% GLADLY.
So? When's the big move?
tap... tap... tap...
Man, life sure has been busy for you lately! Best of luck with all of the upcoming transitions, and hope ya make a bundle on the house :) I wish I could buy it!!
For all the trouble that may or may not happen, is 1.5% worth investing to let someone else do all the work/worry for you?
Just a thought. :-)
1.5? Wow. Personally, I'd go with the realtor. (Most realtors in HI ask for 10% with condos. Sick, huh?)
But for 1.5%, it's probably not worth the worry.
Good luck.
I'd probably go with your plan. Try it yourselves for a few weeks and then go to a realtor.
You also might want to try negotiating the rate with the realtor. I've done it here and you can usually get them to drop it by a percentage point or two.
It's funny, I feel the same way about 1.5%, I'd probably pay it, since it's nothing compared to CA. But I understand why M wants to do it. He's going to try it a couple weeks and see what happens...
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