Experiences using Comfree to sell a house?

How much visibility will you get with Comfree? If your target audience is the military (moving from one city to another) will they see your ad? Just asking, I honestly don't know.

comfree includes a listing on MLS for 12 months. One concern is that agents will steer buyers away from our house since it is not listed with an agent. We are thinking of offering a 1.5% or 2% commission in the listing so that agents are more willing to bring their clients. We will do all the marketing, showings, etc.

As a buyer, I expect to pay less for a Com Free house.
Am I out of line? Maybe.
Do others think the same way? Maybe.

I don't think you are out of line. We all want a bargain. I'm hoping if it is priced well, that won't be an issue. Thanks for the observation.

I am thinking of putting one of my properties up for sale in the spring and I am considering this as well.

I am amazed how many homeowners are willing to fork over $30k to $40k to realtors when in a hot market and the house is priced right, the house is sold within 1-2 weeks of listing. How much does that work out to an hr? I guess homeowners don't mind since they are getting a high price for their property and is "only" a small % of the purchase price. What they don't realize is that it's a hot (arguably "crazy") market and their house is priced right so their listing agent really has minimal effect on the sale of their house.

What I am thinking of doing is saving the listing agent's commission while offering an average or higher than average commission to the buyer's agent. Say in a typical listing, the buyer's agent commission is $15k. I would offer a commission ~$15k to $18k to the buyer's agent. I think in most cases paying a respectable commission to the buyer's agent is necessary.

rkjredflag wrote: ↑As a buyer, I expect to pay less for a Com Free house.
Am I out of line? Maybe.
Do others think the same way? Maybe.

I too would expect to pay less for a home listed with ComFree or for any other 'for sale by owner' since I know they are paying less out in commission. I think many others are in the same boat, but I'd be curious myself to see how others feel about this.

momofmen wrote: ↑comfree includes a listing on MLS for 12 months. One concern is that agents will steer buyers away from our house since it is not listed with an agent. We are thinking of offering a 1.5% or 2% commission in the listing so that agents are more willing to bring their clients. We will do all the marketing, showings, etc.

You aren't going to get very much interest from buyers agents if you are only going to offer 1.5 to 2% unless there is not much other inventory in your neighbourhood. If there are other options that fit their clients needs that will pay them full commission those are the homes they will show and try to sell. I wouldn't suggest offering anything under 2.5% to the buyers agent.

Yes, 2.5% makes more sense for sure...thanks!
I would like to put the commission in the MLS listing but will have to figure that out. We aren't signing up until early March.

I used it to sell a house in a small Ontario town. Great experience, listed considerably higher than the realtors we had come in had recommended and sold within days for just less than asking.

I found that comfree attracted like minded buyers who were looking without a realtor, which was also really nice. I had put either 1.5 or 2% in the ad but wasn't needed in the end.

The comfree support was really good, between them and the lawyer I worked with (my own that I had used for another deal) everything was seamless and painless.

Read the guides, use the forums, educate yourself and have your own lawyer, all of that is worth it.

Make good use of their forums.

Clean your house, scale back on stuff, fresh paint and make your ad wording relevant to a few different types of buyers.

momofmen wrote: ↑comfree includes a listing on MLS for 12 months. One concern is that agents will steer buyers away from our house since it is not listed with an agent. We are thinking of offering a 1.5% or 2% commission in the listing so that agents are more willing to bring their clients. We will do all the marketing, showings, etc.

You want to offer the buying agent 2.25%-2.5%, I heard of many agents that won't show the house if it's anything under that figure. And I heard that about the GTA, let a lone a place that is going to be tougher to sell.

You have many options when using a Flat Fee Listing Service. Shop around and learn what you get vs what you need. Other companies like Comfree and Property Guys will sell you a marketing package for several hundred dollars before you even have the option to buy an MLS® listing- and that's the most important component. They have alot of people that have to make money on your listing: Head office, Franchise owner, listing Brokerage....Beware the "upsell",...you can end up paying well into the thousands of dollars.

Other things to compare:
- How long is the listing period and how much does it cost to extend it?
- Can you list on your local real estate board to expose the property to local agents if you are willing to pay a commission (not an available option for some)
- Fee for early cancellation? ( A recent customer complained comfree charges $600 to cancel before 6 months)
- Are you paying for products and services you don't need when you only want the MLS® and Realtor.ca listing?
- How does your listing look when linked to realtor.ca, is it easy for buyers to contact you directly or is your landing page littered with advertising and confusing?

flafson wrote: ↑You want to offer the buying agent 2.25%-2.5%, I heard of many agents that won't show the house if it's anything under that figure. And I heard that about the GTA, let a lone a place that is going to be tougher to sell.

I don't know where this is even coming from. The way things work now is the buyer looks on MLS and tells the realtor what houses they want to look at.

expatflame wrote: ↑I don't know where this is even coming from. The way things work now is the buyer looks on MLS and tells the realtor what houses they want to look at.

Not all agents see it that way.
A good friend of mine who's an agent and the one me and my family been using for the past number of year admitted to me that unless he's showing the house to people he knows well, he is not going to show a place for anything under 2.25-2.5%. He told me for 2% maybe he would maybe he wouldn't.
The guy sells quite a bit and I can promise you he didn't invent the wheel, so it means you are hurting your pool of buyers by offering anything below that.
By the way, that same agent would be willing to take 1% as a selling agent, so doing it yourself and offering 2.25% vs going with an agent for everything is only going to save you 1%.

Just curious if the price of the home matters when determining buying agent commission. For example a 2% commission on a 800k home is much more than a 2.5 on a 400k home for the same amount of work

Offer 1% to buyer agent works fine for me....

flafson wrote: ↑You want to offer the buying agent 2.25%-2.5%, I heard of many agents that won't show the house if it's anything under that figure. And I heard that about the GTA, let a lone a place that is going to be tougher to sell.

Based on personal experience using comfree means you are reaching a lot of buyers who have no interest in using a realtor. Particularly outside the GTA.

In a non red hot market when a realtor is used they are happy to show houses in a limited market and take 1.5%.

PaulMeredith wrote: ↑I too would expect to pay less for a home listed with ComFree or for any other 'for sale by owner' since I know they are paying less out in commission. I think many others are in the same boat, but I'd be curious myself to see how others feel about this.

Maybe, maybe not. In a hot area subject to bidding wars a buyer who has missed out on other properties knows the price they have to pay. They aren't looking for a deal anymore, they just want a house and don't want the empty feeling of losing another war. People are writing bloody letters to sellers along with their offer "this house would be so good for our family" blah blah blah.

The caveat to a seller in this situation will be - can the bidding war process get them more overall than the commission saved by FSBO? Buyers will do some crazy things in a competitive situation and could easily get you more. In a balanced market it would be a whole different situation.

A hybrid solution in the GTA is this one. I think they are on RFD also.
http://www.homes4less.ca/4a_custpage_83425.html

I am probably biased, but wouldn't using COMFREE negate any savings of not using a realtor? If the buyer is expecting to pay less, then what is the point?

cartfan123 wrote: ↑Maybe, maybe not. In a hot area subject to bidding wars a buyer who has missed out on other properties knows the price they have to pay. They aren't looking for a deal anymore, they just want a house and don't want the empty feeling of losing another war. People are writing bloody letters to sellers along with their offer "this house would be so good for our family" blah blah blah.

The caveat to a seller in this situation will be - can the bidding war process get them more overall than the commission saved by FSBO? Buyers will do some crazy things in a competitive situation and could easily get you more. In a balanced market it would be a whole different situation.

A hybrid solution in the GTA is this one. I think they are on RFD also.
http://www.homes4less.ca/4a_custpage_83425.html

Couldn't there be a bidding war under FSBO as well?

Does comfree have errors and omissions insurance like agents do? How does the negotiation work? Do they help you structure a deal with clauses that protect you in case it is a condo, or a home with a pool, etc? I think you need to offer at a minimum 2% to get buyer agents to show it. Buying/Selling a house is not a simple task and you want to make sure you are protected legally in case there are any issues at close.
Just be careful!