Self selling our property.

[walleyes]

My wife and I are looking to make a move, so its time to sell our property. This property was set up in a certain location with the intent of one day selling. Having a good portion of our retirement fund into this place we are looking to sell privately to avoid paying large fees to a real estate agent. We are in no rush to sell and can sit and wait for our price to come in. Real estate is once again doing well and expected to do even better over the next couple years in our area, so now is the time.

I am looking for any info or experiences some may have had with using any of the self sale sites and opportunities there are out there these days. The “ for sale by owner “ by what I see seems to be one of the better options out there. Or if anyone has other sites or tools to suggest it would be appreciated.

We have spoken with our lawyer and know what we need on our part to make the sale go smooth. What I am looking for is any negative or positive info on using the self sale options out there.

Thanks.

I might add we are not inexperienced in buying and selling a property as we have been down this road a couple times in our life so far.

 

[vike47]

Consider a mere listing: https://soldmyhome.ca/how-to-list-your-home-on-mls-without-a-realtor/

Property gets listed on MLS with no commission. You might want to offer a buyers' agent commission of 2.5% and take offers without a buyers' agent 2.5% lower. (In other words bake that 2.5% into the price and negotiate lower if they don't use one.)

 

[Foxsea]

I am a retired builder/developer and I used great (not the typical mediocre) realtors throughout my career. It was just good business. FSBO's are amateurs who miss most prospective buyers in the market and rarely get the most money for their properties. Buyers expect they will save the commission - not you - and negotiate accordingly. You take on all the aggravation and risk of selling your own property for nothing. Even in this once-in-a-lifetime hot market, you will get a solid sale, quickly and for more money with a great realtor.

 

[walleyes]

At this point I am not interested in using an agent. If in 2 or 3 years it doesn’t sell I may look at it. Like I say we are in no rush. We are not even listing the place during the winter months as we are not into moving in the winter. We have purchased our next piece of land already and will be setting it up somewhat over time.

Between ourselves and our children we have been involved in between 7 or 8 properties selling and or purchasing using agents and for the most part they did nothing besides unlock a couple doors and collect a fee. Not sure what their involvement in your areas are like but out here believe me it’s minimal. Handing over $30,000 + to them of money we have worked for and accumulated doesn’t interest me, like I say not at this time. We may even just list on local selling sites and Kijiji, we will see.

With that said if an agent were to bring someone out and ask a reasonable minimal fee I may be interested, but I doubt that would happen.

 

[kaelc]

Well position properties are getting lots of offers but a realtor only needs 2. The market in Victoria is supposedly slowing but lots of people still looking for their ”dream” home.

A friend just had to out bid 14 other offers and paid a couple hundred thousand over ask to buy a place. They will do fine as their townhouse will have more bidders if priced right being under the 1M mortgage threshold. I can't see selling privately getting competing offers or as many bully offers.

They don't earn all of the commission and often work hard to sell and help client's buy. Right now it seems easy to walk a house but selling for a top dollar I can't see a better way than using a realtor. As much as I think I could sell a place easily a professional will do it better than me.

If you want to save money a 1% realtor might be another option.

 

[Thunder21]

I hear what you are saying about realtors and I agree for the most part. I’m not in the industry but know a couple realtors and I’ve been told by the fall to expect the market to be different in BC. Not sure what is happening in Alberta these days but BC was. smoking hot and slowing a little bit from what I’ve been told. I’ve also been told to unload by the end of summer for top dollar. So if what they are saying is true, and if Alberta is similar, you may want to get it sold sooner rather than later and paying a realtor may be worth it in order to get it done before it drops. One thing for sure, rates are climbing pretty fast. I’ve missed a peak before and trying to sell on the way down is never fun.

 

[seahorse]

I sold my first house using a Realtor 30 years ago and decided never again will I hand over my hard earned money for minimal work, I’m from BC by the way. So I sold 2 houses and 1 city lot myself, it’s very easy. I paid to get an appraisal on my houses and had that on the table when people came to view the houses. I’m a logging engineer and if I can do, then anyone can do it. I have friends that got screwed using a Realtor as there were issues with the disclosure statement and the Realtors just washed their hands, makes you wonder what they actually do in the transaction.

 

[walleyes]

I hear what you are saying about realtors and I agree for the most part. I’m not in the industry but know a couple realtors and I’ve been told by the fall to expect the market to be different in BC. Not sure what is happening in Alberta these days but BC was. smoking hot and slowing a little bit from what I’ve been told. I’ve also been told to unload by the end of summer for top dollar. So if what they are saying is true, and if Alberta is similar, you may want to get it sold sooner rather than later and paying a realtor may be worth it in order to get it done before it drops. One thing for sure, rates are climbing pretty fast. I’ve missed a peak before and trying to sell on the way down is never fun.

Thanks. Yah our particular area is doing quite well and should for the next while. Couple big plant expansions coming in, huge carbon capture facilities being brought in. With the change in employment scenario due to the Flu a lot of high end office positions are being moved to the rural areas and base operations for a lot of the major companies so the market for higher end properties is looking good.

 

[Stosh]

Walleyes
There is no reason you can’t try to sell on your own. I‘ve done it once and it worked out great. We sat down with the buyer, filled out the paper work together and then took the completed documents to our lawyers.
Give it a try, if you can’t find a buyer on your own, then you can seek professional help.
my 2 cents
Stosh

 

[Foxsea]

I sold my first house using a Realtor 30 years ago and decided never again will I hand over my hard earned money for minimal work, I’m from BC by the way. So I sold 2 houses and 1 city lot myself, it’s very easy. I paid to get an appraisal on my houses and had that on the table when people came to view the houses. I’m a logging engineer and if I can do, then anyone can do it. I have friends that got screwed using a Realtor as there were issues with the disclosure statement and the Realtors just washed their hands, makes you wonder what they actually do in the transaction.

Appraisals are historical and conservative. In this market, when you put an appraisal on the table it's guaranteed there's at least a $100,000 you've left laying on the table.

You're right: anyone can do that!

 

[Aquaholic]

Preface. Licensed Realtor in BC.

Be aware, and hopefully your lawyer counselled you, that if you sell by yourself, you do not have any errors and omissions insurance.

 

[wildmanyeah]

Real state agents have a bias to make the deal happen. When I bought the place I currently live in the sellers could of easily waited to the weekend and got a 100k or more for it.

whethe seller agent says “ I think I can talk then into accepting the offer if you offer this below list”

been here for 18 months and place has doubled.

can understand not wanting to pay tho think it’s cost me about 40k in fees to move from a 550k townhouse to 830k house.

real-estate agent fees, land transfer tax and lawyers

 

[MikePA]

Real state agents have a bias to make the deal happen. When I bought the place I currently live in the sellers could of easily waited to the weekend and got a 100k or more for it.

whethe seller agent says “ I think I can talk then into accepting the offer if you offer this below list”

been here for 18 months and place has doubled.

can understand not wanting to pay tho think it’s cost me about 40k in fees to move from a 550k townhouse to 830k house.

I think real estate agents have a important role in the process, but I just don't understand why the fee structure is the way it is. When housing prices were "normal", the fees made more sense.. but with the current prices, and how quickly things sell, with multiple offers most times, it just doesn't make sense to me. And I'm sympathetic to Realtors as I have friends and family in the industry. But making $40,000 in a couple days for a house with 30 offers on it?

 

[noluck]

i had a great experience with our house no realtor, was a super easy transaction

 

[wildmanyeah]

I think real estate agents have a important role in the process, but I just don't understand why the fee structure is the way it is. When housing prices were "normal", the fees made more sense.. but with the current prices, and how quickly things sell, with multiple offers most times, it just doesn't make sense to me. And I'm sympathetic to Realtors as I have friends and family in the industry. But making $40,000 in a couple days for a house with 30 offers on it?

As I understand some of there fees thst they pay have significantly gone up. Just getting the strata minuets has become significantly more expensive.

Hour’s before is was set to move in my agent and the seller agent also cleaned out a couple trucks loads of garbage that the sellers left behind and I thought was above and beyond,

there was a few things I was annoyed about like the vice being remove that was bolted to the built in work Bence. But I dident make a fuss about it as they left some bolts and nails, and greeze guns, booms, rakes, lawn roller ect and some lawn equipment so that kinda made up for it.

 

[walleyes]

I have nothing against agents at all and certainly if we were in a rush to sell I would use one, but like I say we are not. If it takes a couple 3 years it’s no biggy to us. On top of that the sale of this place means a lot to us as we put a good portion of our retirement fund into setting it up. The property was bought in a strategic spot poisoned quite evenly between the two bigger centres in the area. Also sitting with in close distance to all the major SAGD operations in the area. The property is within 45 mins of 6 major plants and 1 hr from 4 others. It’s 70 acres which in the area is getting hard to come by unless you want to spend huge dollars on a quarter section.

If we have to give an agent $40,000 that’s $40,000 out of our pocket. Put that over 15 years interest on a good earner and it means a lot. Like I say it may come to that, but just not ready for it.

I really thought about putting this post up as I was worried it would turn into a **** show as it kind of has, thanks to the usuals. All I was was looking for was some experiences people may of had with using any of the self sale options there are out there. It wasn’t meant to be a lesson in life in general.

 

[tubber]

Good luck with the sale, but how are you going to move your dream shop to the new property?

 

[walleyes]

Good luck with the sale, but how are you going to move your dream shop to the new property?

Lol I know.

But don’t worry I’ll have another certainly a little smaller but I’ll have one. The place we are looking at setting up is a little smaller scale, easier to maintain. The new shop will be probably a 32 x 40 with 12’ walls just one overhead, maybe a small 6’ overhead not sure. But yah I can’t live without a shop. It’s going to be our grow old and retirement place. We have purchased a small property (12 acres ) near the home town the wife and I grew up in and moved away from 15 years ago. Just looking to get back closer to family and old friends.

 

[wildmanyeah]

I have a funny story, a friend of the family brought a piece of property that was subdivided into 2 pieces. A small one and one huge one. They bought the small one.

they went to sell there property couple years later turned out they dident own the small property and owned the other huge one lol.

They were nice they just simple redid the paper work with the original owner.

 

[RiverBoy]

ok i’ll bite.

i went the fsbo route on my investment property. this was 13 years ago now. i had lots of initial interest including a few serious offers. i also had a ton of agents that drove me nuts and promised me a sale. we tried it for about six months but i feel that this platform only attracted flaky people that were , like me, super cheap.

i finally caved and listed it thru mls and it sold the first day.

the house was super super clean, nice location; i thought it would have been a slam dunk to sell on it’s own, but it didn’t. until it hit mls.

not really sure what went wrong i just wanted to give you my story.

now stop being such an albertan. ( kidding)