Contents:

Why are you selling?

Why for-sale-by-owner?

Why do you want to sell fast?

What do I need to know to buy without an agent?

Is the house on a busy street?  Is that a problem?  Does it affect the property value?

How did you arrive at your asking price?
 

The reason is financial.  I have been very comfortable here, and I like the house a lot, but I want to put more money in the real estate market.  Buying a new primary residence has big tax advantages over buying an additional home.  So, I have to move out, sell, and buy a more valuable home in order to realize my goals.

Only one reason: a quick sale.  Selling it myself, instead of through an agent, allows me to price below the market.  It is my hope that this will make a good bargain for a buyer, facilitating a quick sale, and we can both be happy and on our way.  I certainly have nothing against real estate agents, and will probably list the house with an agent if I don't find a buyer soon (of course, the asking price will have to increase).

No big reason.  It's just the way I prefer to do things.  I'd rather price to sell fast, keep things moving, and get my new house sooner, than price higher, take longer, and make a few more dollars out of the sale.

I think it's the right approach for the current economy as well.  The best thing we can all do is lower our prices, make some good deals, and keep the wheels turning.

Among other things, living in a house that is 'on the market' and must always be kept in showable condition is a hassle that I'd rather minimize.

Buying without an agent is not as difficult as it may seem.  An agent does some things for you that are helpful, but once you have found a house you want, there is not all that much to do.

Fundamentally, we just need to agree on the price and terms of the sale, and fill out some paperwork.  This goes in about 7 main steps:

1. Buyer meets seller, and they agree that they are both interested in working a deal.
2. Buyer and seller discuss, and agree verbally on the terms under which they would be willing to complete the deal.
3. Buyer writes an offer, usually with the help of a lawyer (at a cost of about $500).  Offer specifies the terms already agreed upon by the buyer and seller.
4. Buyer presents seller with the offer, usually with a sum of money known as earnest money, which is forfeited if the buyer backs out on the deal without a good reason.
5. Seller considers the offer.  If it meets the requirements (which it should, since they agreed verbally earlier), he accepts the earnest money (which is counted toward the price of the home) and signs the deal.
6. From there, the matter is turned over to a title and escrow company.  This company will organize all the paperwork so that everybody gets what they are supposed to get, in the correct order.  They will also deal with your bank and calculate the complicated stuff (such as a half-month of taxes, and things like that).
7. As soon as all the paperwork has made its rounds, you get a key to the house, and a title to prove you own it.

It's really not too complicated, and even if you've never done it before, I am confident that we can work it out.

Q: Is the house on a busy street?  Is that a problem?  Does it affect the property value?

Well, yes and no.  The house is on Garden Home Road, which is certainly some sort of thoroughfare.  It is a two-lane road (one lane going each way) with a 35 mph speed limit.  While it is not a secluded neighborhood street, it is certainly not a freeway.  It tends to be fairly busy during rush hours, and fairly quiet the rest of the time.  Trucks are rare.  It is not used much at night.

It may bother some people, but in the seven years I have lived here, I have never found it to be a problem.  I find it quite peaceful - much more so than many other places.

If you are accustomed to absolute tranquility, I'm not sure I could recommend it.  But for your average city dweller, I doubt it would be a problem.

Also, I would draw attention to the price.  Certainly, the road is a factor in the property price because it discourages some buyers.  But if you are the sort of person that is not bothered by the road - such as myself - you can get a lot of house for your money.  Further from the road, this house would easily fetch $170,000.

Having said that, I would add that this is not a good place for outdoor cats, unless they are very streetwise.

As I explained above, it was my goal to price the house competetively to encourage a quick sale.

The only way to know what a home is worth on the market is to watch the home sales in the market around you.  I have been watching the neighborhood for several years, and several times I have had real estate agents do a CMA, or Competetive Market Analysis, which tallies up statistics on recent sales in the area and recommends a price.  The most recent CMA I received recommended a listing price of $163,200.

The difficulty is always finding comparable homes.  Homes are difficult to compare because there are so many factors - location, size, layout, condition, etc.  Luckily, the house next door sold recently, and I was able to find out the details of that deal.  The house that sold is virtually identical to my house in almost every way: it was built by the same builder the same year, on an adjacent lot the same size, on the same road, with virtually the same floorplan (except flipped end-for-end and arranged the other direction on the lot).  However, there are a few differences:
 

This House	Next-door House
Extra bedroom and extra half bath.  This appears to be an add-on, but I'm not sure whether it was done at the time the house was built, or later.	No extra bedroom or half bath.
1287 square feet total living space	Less than 1,000 square feet total living space
Carport (also may be part of add-on) in addition to single-car garage.	No carport, only single garage.
All hardwood floors.	Wall-to-wall carpeting.
Much better yard.  More trees and vegetation.	Nice yard, same size, but lacking the parklike quality.
Separate side yard.	No separate side yard.
No deck.	Has a deck.
No A/C.	May have A/C.

Their house was listed at $149,000.  Final selling price was $146,000.

Based on these figures, I think the real estate CMA's recommendation of $163,200 was pretty close, maybe just a little high.  The advantages here - especially the extra square footage and the better yard - add a lot of value.  I'd say more like $161,000.

So from there, I took off most of the cost of the real estate agent, because my purpose is to allow the buyer to take most of that savings.  A real estate agent's fee is generally 6% of the home sale price, which comes out to around $9000.

That's how I reached $154,000.  With that price, I believe I am offering the home at around $7000 dollars less than market price, with about $2000 set aside for closing costs.