kryzak wrote:
I do want the diesel cars though, but not sure if I want to buy the first year models (usually it takes 1-2 years before they get all the kinks out).
I'm probably listing in April, since that's probably around the time I'll quit. Hopefully sell it by then, and then travel in May and June. I'll probably try to sell it myself to save the 6% fee (which is upwards of $30K), since that means almost a year's tuition! I heard people have had success selling without agents (a friend of mine did that), so I'll have to call them up.
The VW's are out in Europe, so everything will be worked out over there hopefully.
We thought of trying to sell ourselves but its a huge amount of work at times. I would be far more stressed about selling it that way too. I just want to move it fast and will pay the 5-6% fee. There is room to haggle on that fee too, I know someone who listed their house well below market value...had it appraised and sold it for like 90% of appraised value which made it easier to move because then people have equity and can pay full list price and not have to put money down. Their agent took a lower rate because they knew it was going to be an easy sale relative to most.
Also you need to remember that if you are selling it to someone with a buyers agent then you are going to have to pay their 2.5-3% commission. A lot of buyers agents really dont like showing for sale by owner homes too. I have heard too many horror stories about it for it to be worth while. Even if someone comes to an open house without their agent, and decides to buy without the agent doing work...if they are signed you are going to pay the 3%. So in reality you will only save 15K and think about advertising it, buying signs, wasting time hosting open houses, answering questions, showing it to people that want to see it. Thats also assuming you will get a price as high as you would with an agent, which you may not...especially if they use an agent that thinks they can bully you.
My wife and I are planning on offering 5% vs 6% for the commission since our house is completely renovated, in a very desireable area, has 4beds/3baths, and we plan on pricing it to move. It should be an easier sell than a house with all outdated stuff that is priced high. We also plan on buying the address domain name and putting up a site with a lot more pictures and info than is available on the listing sites. I know when we were house shopping if a house had no pictures or bad pictures we never wanted to even look at them...we were busy and narrowed it down that way. My wife didnt even want to look at the our house cause she thought it looked ugly in the pictures. A $25 site and a few hours of work might make for a huge difference in foot traffic.
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