@ArrowFlyer86
If you do FSBO, perhaps have open houses every weekend to get some traffic through, have great photos, hide your valuables, get a sign in sheet and make an email list and you can email the group in BCC with future updates on the listing.
Agents search FSBO’s online as it’s easy so they will be calling you to say they have a buyer or they can do this and that blah, just tell them to bring their buyer thru the open house and that you will offer a 2.5% buyer agent commission if they are successful, do not sign any forms. The buyer signs an exclusive buyer agency agreement with their agent to protect the agents commission. In the offer it will say 2.5%, and of course the agent will probably try to sneak in a document fee of $300-700, you can absolutely say no to this. They will play games, you can walk, the agent won’t lose a deal for $300-700 and it doesn’t come from the agents pocket under any circumstance.
I find most agents only bargain against the weaker person, they will size up the buyer and seller, and attack the one they think is weaker by blaming interest rates, slow market, bad inspection report etc. It’s all not relevant, you want the agent to beat down the other person, not you. You can tell them to hit the road if they cannot pretend to be on your side at least. Or if you are feeling generous and want to give a donation then fall in.
To proceed, use a template purchase agreement. You can get one online, you can ask the agents you interviewed to email you a blank one, whatever. Read it, if anything doesn’t make sense then highlight it and come back to it. Remove any extra fees or personalized sections (to the broker). Really it isn’t difficult but for people who cannot sit down and read a document, then you can hire a lawyer and pay them $500-1000+. But I read contracts regularly so I wouldn’t use a lawyer, it’s all basic stuff. For Illinois, you have to agree on the taxes you’ll reimburse to the buyer since taxes are paid in arrears. Since we don’t know what the bill will be, usually the contract calls for an “agreed” refund of 110-130% of the previous years tax bill. You can try to save a few bucks by just saying 100% of last year or just inputting last years tax amount. The assumption is that property taxes always increase.
Once you have a signed agreement, you send it to a title agency. A lot of deals fall through due to the buyer not qualifying, appraisal, whatever. So keep your hot leads active. Try to play it as long as you can, once you lose the hot leads and your signed buyer falls thru, then you have to start over. Yet this time with it being “previously” listed according to Zillow, the house is now stigmatized in the eyes of most buyers. They (the title agency) actually does all of the work, pay off mortgages, taxes, any liens, collecting money from buyers mortgage and distributing to you. Sending you a tax form etc. Now everyone is talking about agents charging a lot, yes. But you can find an agent who charges 1% and offers a 2.5% buyer agent commission for a total cost of 3.5%, easily and in most markets, you can bargain for a bigger discount too! I bet the agents you met want 5-6%. Some are bold and will ask for more. Some sellers will just pay it so why not ask for it? It’s up to you to negotiate. Now look at the title closing statement, you’ll see a bunch of new fees, mortgage broker fee, etc. I’ve seen people pay 8-10% loan initiation fee, some people are just stupid. It all adds up to quite a bit. You can skip the title company, actually it’s very easy to get a deed notarized and file it with the county. But if the buyer is getting a mortgage they will want title insurance. So then it would be difficult to skip the title agency.
