Private Seller approached by real estate agent

teoconca wrote: ↑ Simple, no thanks.

How does the agent obtain the email address?

baillieul wrote: ↑Great responses folks. I think I will go it alone for a week, then open the door to buyers agents.

ZxExN wrote: ↑ Why would you want to cut out the biggest segment of buyers? Not a smart move at all.

Tyler18 wrote: ↑ I don’t see why you wouldn’t want to allow represented buyers purchase the property. You will need to pay a commission to the buyers agent, like others have suggested in the 1-2% range, but many buyers unfortunately have agents and will only look at homes the agent suggests. A couple of things to watch out for…

The agent may just be trolling for business. When I sold my house privately (about 8 years ago), most of the agents that approached “with qualified buyers” were really just trying to get you to sign an agreement to let them sell you house. Some legitimately brought buyers for showings, which was fine, but other would just get you on the phone and then think they were so great at talking there is no way you could possibly not sign with them.

Some agents will not accept your offered commission. I heard from two separate agents that they “do not work for less than 2.5%” despite them not doing anything but giving me a call. I was offering 1.5%, which seemed reasonable when all they had to do was call me to set up a time to view it. We even had a lock box, so it was easy for them too.

So try to avoid the shady agents (which may be impossible), but don’t close the door on the biggest segment of potential buyers.

baillieul wrote: ↑ I will give it a week and then begin to deal with buyers agents. I am kinda curious to see how effective Marketplace will be on its own.

canuckstorm wrote: ↑ No offence to OP and full disclosure that I am a realtor specializing on the buyer side of the equation. Refusing to work with a buyer agent is a very amateur move.
1) You are just cutting out the largest segment of the buying public
2) Without agents on either side of the equation closing could be delayed since neither party knows what paperwork is required.

I just recently got an FSBO property for one of my buyers and the price was a steal considering that the property would have had multiple offers had it gone on MLS. Even with commissions, the guy would have made more money. We gave him his list price.

I had to literally hold this guy's hand on the paperwork side of things. However, I gave him full disclosure upfront that I would be looking out for my buyer's interests only and can not advise him, beyond the paperwork. A bit of work on my end as an agent but getting my buyer a good deal was worth it. The guy also offered me less commission than standard MLS commissions. Not a biggie as I have to put my buyer's interests above mine. Anyway, this guy made a few mistakes and I could not do anything to advise him. For example, the standard real estate contract states that seller will provide a real property report. He had to fork out $1,500 to get one via rush order. A realtor would have advised him to offer a $300 title insurance in lieu of a real property report. Again, it was not my job to advise him on the contract. Just an example of one mistake he made, besides selling for less.

baillieul wrote: ↑ This will be the third FSBO I have done. The last one was during the downturn in 2008. I had it listed for 6 months with a very good realtor, but there were just no buyers. After 6 months I took it on myself ( was carrying a second property by then ) and had it sold and closed in 3 weeks. Very good experience. Took one week to find my buyer. There are some buyers that want to purchase privately, and some that don't. That's why I will give Marketplace a week.

I am very confident that 'my price' will not be leaving money on the table at this point in time. I enjoy figuring things out.

As a point of reference, I had a cold call from a realtor whose firm sold a property 5 doors down. I agreed to a meeting at noon. He arrived late at 12:50 . When he did arrive he brought along his dog and wore no mask. Why would you bring a dog to a business meeting in a potential clients home? Why wouldn't you call and reschedule if you knew you were going to be late? The bar can be pretty low, at least around here.

baillieul wrote: ↑ This will be the third FSBO I have done. The last one was during the downturn in 2008. I had it listed for 6 months with a very good realtor, but there were just no buyers. After 6 months I took it on myself ( was carrying a second property by then ) and had it sold and closed in 3 weeks. Very good experience. Took one week to find my buyer. There are some buyers that want to purchase privately, and some that don't. That's why I will give Marketplace a week.

I am very confident that 'my price' will not be leaving money on the table at this point in time. I enjoy figuring things out.

As a point of reference, I had a cold call from a realtor whose firm sold a property 5 doors down. I agreed to a meeting at noon. He arrived late at 12:50 . When he did arrive he brought along his dog and wore no mask. Why would you bring a dog to a business meeting in a potential clients home? Why wouldn't you call and reschedule if you knew you were going to be late? The bar can be pretty low, at least around here.

baillieul wrote: ↑I am currently selling my property myself in a strong NS market. I have sold my last couple houses privately with no issues. I just received an email from a buyers agent....

" I'm a local realtor and have qualified buyers that are looking in the area. Are you ok to work with a buyers agent?"

Pricing wise, I have chosen to just sell at 'my price', instead of partake in the bidding war process we currently see. I have a close by neighbour who just sold his property thru a realtor at an outstanding price, which I have used to establish my price in a sellers marked.

What is the best way to respond to the realtor, while retaining my ability to deal with other buyers agents, and still get 'my price' plus whatever the realtor wants?

baillieul wrote: ↑ This will be the third FSBO I have done. The last one was during the downturn in 2008. I had it listed for 6 months with a very good realtor, but there were just no buyers. After 6 months I took it on myself ( was carrying a second property by then ) and had it sold and closed in 3 weeks...

As a point of reference, I had a cold call from a realtor whose firm sold a property 5 doors down. I agreed to a meeting at noon. He arrived late at 12:50 . When he did arrive he brought along his dog and wore no mask. Why would you bring a dog to a business meeting in a potential clients home? Why wouldn't you call and reschedule if you knew you were going to be late? The bar can be pretty low, at least around here.

ZxExN wrote: ↑ I hate realtors as much as the next guy but this strategy is unwise. Like others have tried to tell you, just adjust your price based on the amount being paid to the realtor. No loss to you whatsoever. You may think 1 week is not a big deal but I would argue in a hot market, its a HUGE deal. Whether its true or not, when a house remains unsold for over a week, people will naturally ask, what is wrong with this place and starts looking closer and adjusting their price downwards. Anyways your call.