YouSell.com

[Topaz]

Is anyone familiar with YouSellcom?  Do they make low ball offers or fair market value offers?

I have a house to sell that needs painting, landscaping, new flooring, cleaning, and staging.  It is very tempting to call up these folks and see what offer they will make for the house "as is," but I suspect that the only way they make money is to offer a very low price - true?

[Rich_in_CT]

Why not do the work yourself and sell it retail and make that money yourself?

[Topaz]

Great question.  I was feeling overwhelmed at the thought of doing all that work and living in a staged house with my two young children (the house in question is our personal residence) while my husband would move out-of-state to a new job.  But then I realized that if I want a real estate investment career, I don't have the luxury of feeling overwhelmed by large projects.  I made a detailed "To Do" list and just vowed to make daily progress.  Also, even though I live in a very slow housing market, the newspaper said today that houses are selling only 10-17 days later than they sold 1-2 years ago, and the average sale is taking 70 days.  That includes all the houses that are overpriced, dirty, in need of repair, etc.  I definitely know how to prepare a house for sale so hopefully mine will sell quicker if I do all the necessary work to make it show well.

[reiauctions]

Just for some clarification on YouSell.com  I believe they sell their marketing services by county.  Any investor can buy a county and then you get leads.  It's not so much as a company and a bunch of individual investors who are buying a system to get leads.  That being said, the offer you would get depends on the individual investor buying in your area.

[TMCG]

if an investor is buying your property - you're going to get a very poor price for your property.

and as for doing the work, you have to do it.  period. 

there's NO reason you can't do it, unless you're physically handicapped and you have NO family, no friends and no money to pay anyone to do it...and i'm sure that's not the case.

it's AMAZING what some simple cleaning up, painting, spending like $200 on some drapes, new switch plates for outdated ones, basic electrical fixtures and a nice new lock and knocker on the front door will do for the appearance/appeal.  the more money you have, the more you can easily spruce up your property.

if the house doesn't have any external problems like a utterly poor location, like on a MAJOR HIGHWAY or something - fix it up, make no excuses - only efforts.  and list it with a GOOD agent.

done.

[Topaz]

No family or friends in this town and money is a bit tight but I do plan to do the work and get it done.  TMCG, I noticed you recommended listing the house with a good agent.  That's what I'm inclined to do but my family members (none of whom live anywhere close to me) are pushing me to do a FSBO as they seem to think hiring an agent will just eat into my equity and do nothing to increase the possibility of a sale.  Any feedback about how an agent can be helpful in a down market?  How do they market the house?  I know they help with comps, get it listed in the MLS, and host the Open House.  Does the agent do anything else?  (I'm asking because the last time I sold a house, it was in a hot, hot market and the house sold in a matter of minutes during a bidding war...a very different situation!).

[Rich_in_CT]

Agents will usually sell a house faster and for a higher price, this should hopefully offset what they get in commission and get the house moved asap.

[LoriK]

Once you get it fixed up and ready to sell, just pay a service to list your property on the MLS and offer a buyer's agent commission.  It will save you half the commission costs of a normal transaction.
That's what we did when we sold our house, saved a lot of money - and we had a lot of showings, since buyer's agents brought people to the house.

[Topaz]

Rich_in_CT, I'm going to look for some stats on the effectiveness of hiring a sales agent but if you have a reference handy, I'd love to see it.  My family members are extremist "do-it-yourself" types (even when it doesn't make sense) and I'd like to show them some data.

[Rich_in_CT]

FSBO's never seem to be marketed properly and only seem to do well in hot markets.  I like LoriK's idea, kind of a hybrid FSBO solution to save a little cash.  Realize this, most buyers use a realtor to find them a home and most realtors do not look beyond the MLS.  At least if you are on there and willing to offer the buyer's agent commission they will see and show your house.  If you want to move it quick do this-  If the general commission is 3% to the buyers agent and 3% to the seller's agent use that MLS listing service to list it and save yourself that seller's agent fee.  Then mention in the listing that you will pay the buyers agent 4%.  You will be +2% net on this and agents will be much more apt to steer their clients towards your property.