Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with realtor

No one wants to buy a house next to a burned out property.

leahwrenn — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:08:20 -0800

How can we sell our house, when everyone is scared off by the vacant burned house next door? in May 2008, the house next door to ours had a fire which gutted the second story. It's sat vacant since then and is a teardown at this point, probably, because in addition to the damage upstairs, rain has been pouring in through the tarps on the roof, etc., in the intervening time. There's probably animals in it, too.

The house is in litigation; it's not clear who owns it (there's a lawsuit involved, possible identity theft of a will, or maybe not, very complicated). There has been very little cleanup since the fire. We talked to the township and they sent nasty letters saying come clean up the debris or we'll fine you, and there was a little cleanup, but nothing substantial---and certainly nothing major like removing the plywood and tarps, etc.

Meanwhile, we needed to move across country and have been trying to sell our nice house since this past May. We've been getting a couple three showings a week since then. No luck. Recent reports from our realtor are that people are uncomfortable (understandably) by the situation next door....and as winter approaches, people are likely to be less likely to want to buy a house.

Any ideas about what we can do? The houses in question are in Perkiomen Twp., PA. (We're currently in Alaska.) We can't lower the price much on our house as we're already basically just trying to get enough to cover the mortgage (and the loan my parents made for the downpayment on the house).

This indecision's bugging me....

Anonymous — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 19:58:37 -0800

I've got some doubts about our current SoCal real estate agent. At first, there didn't seem to be a problem. But recent events have made me wonder if we're wasting his time. His typical clientele is in the $600K+ range in Pasadena, but my hubby and I max out at $300k and are looking in Granada Hills, with some fairly stringent square footage requirements. At first it didn't seem to be a problem, but a few things have stood out to me and made me believe he thinks we're wasting his time.

1. He always advises us to offer at asking price or above. This seems like poor negotiation to me, but is that what we have to do in this market? Certainly it makes it easier for him if negotiations are shorter.
2. He tends to disregard our requirements. We've been out to see properties in the wrong neighborhoods, properties that have been stripped of all their copper, and other very distressed or very wrong homes. I feel like he's being dismissive of our concerns. Is he being insensitive, or just a little forgetful of our needs?
3. He keeps bringing up a 203k loan, which is some sort of double-loan thing, one for the property and one for repairs. My husband and I are only interested in 30-year fixed rate loans. Is his tendency to hype certain loan programs a bad sign?

We brought our concerns to him last week. He basically said, "Look, I sell houses that are much more expensive than this all the time. What reason would I have to lie or push you? You can take my advice or not, and in the end I'll do what you want. But I feel like I'm acting in your best interest when I tell you these things." These statements don't sit right with me because his actions don't seem to coincide with his words.

Other than these specific concerns, we work well together, but should we continue? Are we being unreasonable with our requirements? More information available from realtorindecision101@gmail.com. I know you're not my agent.

Need help finding a realtor in Olympia WA

Kat Allison — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:29:48 -0800

Seeking recommendations for realtors in Olympia, WA. Failing that, seeking suggestions for how to find a good realtor if you don't know many people locally to ask. Nervous potential first-time homebuyer seeks knowledgeable, highly competent, non-icky buyer's agent. Anyone out there had good experiences with anyone in particular? And how *does* one go about finding a realtor if you don't know people locally who can provide suggestions?

Take my house. Please!

alopez — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:26:13 -0800

How do we sell a house in the U.S. from abroad ASAP? My partner & I moved overseas late last year. Due to restrictive housing covenants, we cannot rent the house that we own in the U.S. Although we're not in a dire financial situation, we'd like to sell it as quickly as possible. We've been working with an agent since the move, but his recommended strategy so far has been to chase the market by lowering the price in increments to keep it in the lower range of local asking prices. It isn't working, and since the house is in average condition, we're becoming convinced that the only way to sell it in this market is to compete aggressively on price. Ten days ago, we asked our agent to set the price around 10% below the lowest priced house in the neighborhood. He responded that he needed to do some "market research," and we haven't heard from him since, or been able to reach him.

How do we sell this house as quickly as possible? Do we need a new agent who is more responsive? How would we find a reliable agent from a distance? What should we expect if we switch? And what should we be doing on our side?

How do we get our realtor to talk?

a22lamia — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:22:57 -0800

In January we moved across the country and put our house on the market. Our realtor is a friend of the family. I had misgivings about using a friend, but, he has helped us a lot in the last few years and I felt we should go with him. Since January he has contacted us twice, once to tell us about an open house and another time to ask a few questions from potential buyers. I email him about once a month and usually have to wait 2 - 3 days for a response. Often the response does not address our questions. Instead we get a brief personal greeting followed by what feels like a form response. I want to address his lack of communication, but, as this is the first time I've sold a house, I don't know what is reasonable to expect from a realtor. What level of communication is reasonable to expect given our location/situation?

Thoughts on REO Offer Situation?

yarrr — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 08:42:44 -0800

We've been waiting a week for a response to our offer on an REO (foreclosure) property. Today we got a bank addendum.. We have an REO property that we made an offer on a short while ago. It's been on and off the market a number of times over the last 4 months, going back to an original list date of about 100 days ago.

Last Friday we made an offer, it has returned to the market for about a week prior to our offer. Ended up in a multiple offer situation.

List price was $175,000, and we wrote at $185,000 with a home inspection contingency.

The following Monday, they came back, had 5 offers on the property, we put in $193,000 as our highest and best. Now, to expand on the highest and best offer - our offer includes 20% down, conventional mortgage, not asking for any repairs or concessions, etc. Pre-approved, proof of funds, and 2% earnest money.

That was this past Monday, and last evening the bank came back to us with an "as-is" addendum. (bank is Sovereign Bank, for reference). Our Realtor was a bit confused, as he stated he has never seen this addendum to be signed prior to a verbal acceptance on an offer (we have no acceptance yet).

He indicated that he thinks it was a ploy on the banks part for another round of bidding on the property, and we did up our offer to $195,100 and the bank accepted in the new offer.

I'm trying my best to be patient with this property, but at the same time, it is draining.

Anyone know what getting the addendum / disclosure about the property being "as-is" prior to having a verbal acceptance? I know it's standard practice for those addendums to be used, but not with this sort of time-line.

Please tell me what that likely means in a 5+ offer situation on a house! Thank you!

How do I bought house?

InsanePenguin — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:57:06 -0800

Help us start to look for a house? My girlfriend and I are taking the bad economy in stride and have decided that it may be time for our first house, rather than continue to throw money down on rent.

Thing is, we have no idea where to start. We're in New Jersey and aware that we get a first-time home buyers grant, but we have questions. Like, do we both get one or just one because we're buying a house together? Also, we've heard that if you buy a house this year, you'll get an $8k credit on your taxes next year. True?

We're not sure if we want to use a realtor, but I think it'd probably be a good idea, right?

I know that we should be asking a professional for help (though I'm hoping one of you is a professional.) Who do we ask these sorts of questions to, besides a nebulous internet?

Help, MeFi, how do I bought house?!

Realtors, who needs 'em?

Bardolph — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 10:18:15 -0800

We're considering purchasing a home by ourselves, without using a buyer's agent. General pros/cons? And if it's possible to save on commissions by doing this, how should we introduce that idea into the process? From what we've read, buyers' real estate agents are useful for:

finding houses to consider, booking appointments
providing advice during the price negotiations
overseeing the paperwork at the end.

all three of which (in this buyer's market) seem completely do-able by ourselves, with the aid of zillow/realtor.com, lots of reading, our shark-like negotiation skillz and a competent lawyer and inspector. Partly, we've been unimpressed by realtors we've seen in the past; but mostly, it doesn't seem worthwhile to pay 3% of the home price (=~$6-9K!) for services we've got pretty much covered already. (I know both commissions are technically paid by the seller... but if nobody needed to pay that 3%, then the home price could be 3% lower, right?)

Some great general advice here and here, but if anyone has firsthand experiences of going buyer's-agent-less, or suggestions on how to navigate the process, let's hear them! More specifically, though, I was wondering-- if we'd like to try to get the unused 2-3% buyer's commission taken off the home price (or refunded us by the seller's agent?), how and at what point in the negotiation process should we bring that up? Are seller's agents likely to be resistant, even though it theoretically doesn't represent any real difference to them, since otherwise we'll just bail or get a buyer's agent anyway? Any suggestions on working this maneuver out to everyone's satisfaction?

Fed up with buying our first house!

ForeverDcember — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 08:38:43 -0800

What are our options in closing on our first home? (Details inside) My husband and I put in an offer on a foreclosed home in December. Our offer was accepted and contracts sent in etc. Our closing date was set for December 29th. Today is January 23rd and we still have not closed on our home. Everything was done on our side, however, the title company that the bank chose (the bank that owns the house) has been dragging their feet.

Finally our realtor hired an attorney on our behalf (and on his dime) January 15th. On January 19th everything was supposed to be completed thanks to his help and we would "most definately be closing" by today, January 23rd. Yesterday my husband got a call from our mortgage company and we found out that our rate expired on Tuesday. Apparently they had been trying to "float" our loan to see if rates would come down this week and it "backfired" so we lost our rate and had to decide on a new one.

If the mortgage company could send out the paperwork that day then we could probably close Monday. I called today and the paperwork did not go out. We are now looking at Tuesday, at least. During this time we have lost our homestead exemption for the year (since we didn't close in 2008), our great mortgage rate (5% with no points), the interest that our closing money was accruing before we pulled it out of savings, and now we are fast approaching the end of our apartment lease.

This is our first home so I am at a loss on where to go from here. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I am at my wits' end!

I'm cute, buy the house

racingjs — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 12:41:04 -0800

Why do realtor often put their picture on "for sale" sign?

Where can I find the best real estate data?

BirdD0g — Thu, 01 May 2008 12:00:22 -0800

I want some serious, hardcore real estate data so that I can analyze what's really happening with the market in my area. Obviously, realtors have access to this local data, but the general public has no way to get at it. Does anyone know of any workarounds or resources that make this info available to the general public? Obviously, I don't want the personal information of homeowners, but I do want very specific information on properties. I'd like to be able to see how long a house has been on the market (especially if it's on its second or third listing renewal). I'd like previous sale prices, recent nearby purchase prices, etc. over certain periods, etc. I just want all the raw data.

Every realtor I talk to says things are going fantastic, and yet the national real estate market (overall) is practically in freefall. I think this is borderline fraud on the part of realtors, considering they've got a near monopoly on the statistical data.

Note: Madison, Wisconsin is a super strong real estate market due to the University of WI and the State Government among other things. This drives me even more crazy because local realtors basically claim our market is unstoppable, even though I know it's slowly receding.

How important is perfect hardwood to selling a house?

AgentRocket — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 11:50:37 -0800

Do we really need to refinish our hardwood floors before we list our condo? We are preparing to list our house, which is a nice 3 bedroom, 2 bath condo in Wrigleyville in Chicago. As part of the process, our Realtor brought in a "stager" this week to tell us all the things we should do to make it ready. One of the first suggestions was to refinish our hardwood floors, which run throughout the house. Our Realtor agreed, and opined that even if we offered a credit to redo the floors, leaving them as they are now would likely lead to lowball offers. Plus, she said that our condo is a vintage rehab but the comparable places for sale are new construction, so people will be used to seeing pretty, sparkling, new floors (and therefore ours should be pretty too).

The floors aren't stained or damaged, they are just worn from 4 years of living in them (2 years with one kid and another 2 with two kids, and with dogs). The worn spots do look pretty worn down.

We were inclined to redo the floors, but after talking to flooring people we learned that we would need to move all the furniture out of our house, stay out for at least 3-5 days, then move it all back in. This includes some heavy stuff like a giant dining room table and a piano and big solid bookshelves, so we would need professional movers and a storage space. Total cost for everything would likely be about $5,000.

One flooring guy, to his credit, said "if you are just doing this to list your house I think you're crazy. You'll have to move all your furniture three times (out, back in, and out when we sell). And you'll have to live somewhere else for a week which will be a big hassle. If the floors aren't damaged, just offer a credit. Buyers are more worried about structural issues; they'll be able to see past worn floors."

After all that, here's my question: should we pay the expense and endure the hassle to refinish the floors before we list? Realtors or home lookers: does it really make that much of a difference? Would a credit of $3,000-$5,000 make you change your mind if it does? I think we would prefer to do nothing and offer some money if we could feel reasonably sure that it would not alienate potential buyers.

Searching for a realtor south of Boston

UMDirector — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 09:49:26 -0800

Looking for a realtor in Weymouth/Hanover/Pembroke/Southfield MA... My wife and I are ready to buy our first house and start our family. We are looking in Weymouth, Hanover, Pembroke and possibly Milton. None of our friends have suggestions for a realtor who knows these areas, so we're hoping for some recommendations.

We have also just discovered Southfield in Weymouth and wondered if anyone has heard anything about this planned community at the old South Shore Naval base. We've been through the website, but haven't gone to the Welcome Center yet. Just wondering if anyone's heard anything that might be of interest.

Rental negotiation

tellurian — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 07:58:08 -0800

I am looking for advice on forming a direct relationship with my landlord. He lives in my street and owns several properties in the street already. I have rented the house for over 3 years now. They bought the house last year. I had an acquaintance with him when he got a relative of his to install the compulsory smoke alarms and he supervised. He seemed like a nice bloke but was all over the operation, (that might be a little bit because he is a medical surgeon and likes to be in charge [totally my take on the interaction, discard if you feel it isn't relevant]).

Today I received this letter from the my estate agent:

Due to the current rental market conditions and increased costs to the landlord, we wish to advise that the rent of the abovementioned property is to increase by $20.00 to $500.00 per week commencing on 25/08/07.
Should you wish to enter into a new Tenancy Agreement, please notify our office and we will confirm instructions with your landlord.

I think that my landlord is fair. He is charging less than the CPI and has given me fair notice. BUT I also think that if I entered into a relationship/contract directly with my landlord that we could both benefit by cutting out the middleman (the real estate agent).
I would like to hear about other peoples experiences regarding: negotiating directly with the owner of the property they rent - mistakes; pitfalls; strategies; successes; did it all go right/wrong?

Realtor Home Invasion

srboisvert — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 06:40:50 -0800

I caught the estate agent, who is handling the sale of the apartment I have just been evicted from, snooping through my stuff. I have been making a point of going out since I find sitting there while people look at our place awkward. Today I came home while the guy was still there and he was rifling through some of my work papers that I had been working on. Nothing critical but still I won't be doing that anymore. However, this man has keys to our place and no respect for our privacy. I'll be away for 2 weeks soon. What can I do about it?

Can any recommend a good realtor for Central/North Jersey?

narebuc — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 14:07:47 -0800

(Realtor filter) Can anyone recommend a realtor for New Jersey (Central-to North Central Jersey that is)? We're buying our first (and, so, a starter) home!
And, well, I guess a realtor would help. (Even though their reputation as a profession is much worse than I ever thought it was!).

I appreciate any help.

Realtor Woes

GIRLesq — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 15:49:30 -0800

Help me find a good real estate agent in Los Angeles (the Valley). I wanted to write an offer to buy a house where I paid commissions and escrow fees separately from the purchase price. This way, the tax basis in the house would be lower because it would be based on the true purchase price (i.e. it would not include all the transaction fees).

My (ex) agent totally flipped out and all but refused to write the offer (apparently because her commission was based on the reduced purchase price and instead of earning about $18,000 she would only earn $17,000). She wrote the offer incorrectly (on purpose) three times and argued with me for thirty minutes and then she said that she would never write such an offer again because "it only muddies the waters" and she "is worried about her reputation."

I think sellers would be willing to accept a full price offer structured this way (over a lower offer structured the traditional way). And I also think there are real estate agents out there who would write this offer and happily accept their $17,000. Do you know one? Do you think I would have better luck just using the seller's agent as a dual agent?

Do I really have to give my speakers back?

NailsTheCat — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 11:11:45 -0800

We just sold our house and moved out. I dismounted my front and rear surround speakers from the ceiling and packed them up. The realtor called to apologise for not going through this properly but I have to give them back. Recourse? Note that my speakers are part of a Sony system comprising a DVD / Surround Sound unit with 5 speakers and one sub woofer. Only the 4 front and rear speakers were mounted so I only have to give those to the buyer -- but that means breaking up the system. (I could, of course, buy new speakers for the buyer but he remembered them being Bose(!) so that would probably be more expensive and lead to confrontation.)

I had no idea that the speakers would have to go with the house otherwise I would have taken them down before we showed -- there's no markings or holes where they were. What irks me is that our realtor should have mentioned this - they have apologised and admitted they should have been more thorough in going over exclusions with us.

Our realtor's slice of the sale was 10k - so they haven't done that badly from us. (The buyer's realtor got 13k.) Do I have any recourse with them -- or should I stop whining. (I'm just a bit pissed right now.)

Do we really need a realtor in this situation?

arco — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 08:07:35 -0800

Do we really need to use a realtor to buy this condo? (Sorry this is so long, but the details of the situation are important to the question.)

My wife and I decided a few months ago that we would start looking to buy a place (our first home purchase) in early 2007, and that we would save money for a down payment in the meantime. About three weeks ago, we decided (more or less on a lark) to visit a soon-to-be completed condo conversion building right across the street from our apartment, and we were very impressed. After looking at the numbers, we realized that we are in a much better position to buy than we had originally thought, and that the very generous offers from the agency selling the condos would make a huge difference in our decision: $15,000 toward closing costs and one year paid HOA dues. We love just about everything about the condo (location, amenities, etc) and the price seems as reasonable as we are going to find in this market. We've been pre-approved for a mortgage and are comfortable with the financial aspect of the transaction.

The agent at the condo said that if we aren't using a realtor, she could get us even more in terms of special offers. Specifically, she mentioned an extra year of paid HOA fees on top of the one year she already offered (around a $5,000 benefit). We would of course get these offers in writing before starting the buying process, but this could be a very good benefit that we would lose if we used a realtor.

So, here's our question: given our situation, what specific benefits would we receive by working with a realtor?

When we mention to people that we might not use a realtor, they wig out and start listing off all these reasons why realtors are essential. However, most of the reasons they give (they give you access to more listings, they help you find a mortgage vendor, etc) do not apply to our situation. Moreover, because the unit is being sold by an agent for the entire building and not an individual seller, I wonder if there is much negotiation room for a realtor to make a difference with the price. We will, of course, have a lawyer look over any and all paperwork before signing, and I understand that having a lawyer look at documents is different from having an experienced realtor look over them and point out potential problems, so there is that concern. But my main concern is that the benefits of using a realtor in this specific situation do not outweigh the offers from the seller that we would lose by not using a realtor.

Should we decide not to buy this place and to a "traditional" house hunt, we will definitely use a realtor. So, I'm not asking about the usefulness of realtors in general, only about our specific situation as outlined above.

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated!

Should we accept an offer with a contingency?

SheIsMighty — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 14:58:32 -0800

OK, we FINALLY got an offer on our house (after 4 months on the market) and we can't decide if we should accept. The house is now listed at $385k and the offer came in today for $325k. We countered with $370k and they countered with $345k. We counter-countered with $362k and they say they want to stay at $345. The issue is that the offer is contingent on them selling their house (the realtor called it a "hubbard clause" and the offer paperwork he sent me calls it "sale of buyer's property contingency".

As I understand the legal mumbo-jumbo, he has until Sept 17 to have a signed contract on his house for selling it and if he doesn't, we will cancel his offer. I also understand that we can continue to keep our house listed on the market and if we get a better offer, he has 2 days to prove to us he can buy our house or we cancel his offer and take the other offer. Am I understanding this all correctly?

I'm not entirely comfortable asking my realtor since he's representing both of us (and the sale of the buyer's other house).

I am inclined to accept the offer since it's been on the market for 4 months, and the market is tanking and that it's the end of the summer and things are about the slow way down anyway. I just want to make sure I'm understanding the contingency correctly. I don't know any realtors, so I turn to the brilliant hive mind.

I am totally green about all this and I'm really nervous. In fact, I've decided I'm never buying or selling real estate again!!! Ugh!!

Thanks everyone!

FSBO

sohcahtoa — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 18:41:05 -0800

Is it always a bad idea to sell a house to a friend? My wife and I are moving out of the state in June. We planned to begin to put our house on the market in late March (after the residency match). We've lived here 3 years.

Our house is in good shape in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. It's probably below the mean in value for the city because it's on a busy road, but it's an attractive home. A quick glance at listings leads me to believe it might've gone up in value about 10% in the last 3 years.

Moving, selling the house, and everything else is hugely stressful for us. A friend, who is a classmate of my wife, has asked me about our plans for selling it -- she's starting a 7 year residency in Cleveland the same time we move away.

To me, not having to deal with giving tours, creepy realtors (we had a great one buying the house and would use her again, but that's only half the equation), and everything else is worth not getting top dollar. If we did the transaction ourselves we could save the realtor fees. Selling the house for about 7% more than we paid seems fair and would cover our costs.

Our friend is easygoing. We've known her as long as we've lived here, and hang out from time to time, but not often more than once a month. I have no desire to rip her off or create hard feelings. On the other hand, we're moving to the east coast, she's staying in Cleveland, so if the roof did cave in after a month (it won't!) it wouldn't rip apart our peer group or anything.

Anyway, if she does end up being serious about this (which remains to be seen, we're meeting on Friday), am I setting myself up for 1) high drama 2) legal liability?

Specific: Good Chicago apartment. General: Avoiding dumps when working kinda blind?

WCityMike — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 12:42:53 -0800

I'm looking for a good Chicago apartment and landlord ... and also, thoughts on how to practically avoid stinkers when you can't talk to and/or don't know the tenants. To break down the question to both a specific-to-Chicago aspect, and a wider generality for everybody ...

Specifically for Chicagoans, I'm in the search for a Chicago studio or one-bedroom in the $550-800 range, in a well-developed area preferably on the North Side (but I'm open to elsewhere). I'm able to move out of my apartment at the end of October or the end of November (but preferably October). The last time I looked, my credit rating was in good shape and I have a solid eight-year history at my old building. So, if you're a Chicagoan who is happy living in a building with good, solid infrastructure and believes their landlord/management company to be responsible, responsive, and professional, I would very much appreciate your recommendation!

In a more general sense, for anybody, I am wondering how one can be alerted to bad conditions in a potential apartment, or bad behavior in a potential landlord, without personally knowing the tenants. The story that prompts this question ...

When my supervisor learned of my search, he suggested I inquire with a colleague's client, a certain Chicago apartment management company. Their website looked quite professional, and as I skimmed through their availability, I began to think of this entity as a concrete possibility.

As I read through it, though, I recognized my best friend's address as one of the properties. When I inquired with him about his experience as a tenant, he shared with me experiences of significant problems with the building's pipes and wiring, and also how both the response quality and response time for needed repairs was pretty poor.

However, the physical appearance of the apartment is nice and new — if I hadn't known someone living there, I probably would have thought very well of this building and would have rated it highly on an initial survey. (Believe it or not, I'm still halfway considering this particular company for other reasons, but they're going to be very low on my list, unless I find a lot of other stinkers out there.)

How can someone avoid similar pitfalls? Where can people, essentially, find "reviews" of landlords — or at least get fair warning to such situations? When you're being shown about, you're usually in the presence of the landlord or their representatives, and tenants probably aren't going to give you the unvarnished truth in the landlords' presence. Also, tenants might not be objective, either, and I imagine with every landlord you could find someone willing to diss them.

I've also considered using an apartment finding service, but since they are free to the tenant, they must be paid by the landlord. That doesn't necessarily mean they're going to be dishonest, but it does mean they are motivated to "make the sale," so to speak. Still, I used an excellent job placement service to find my current position, and although she was of no cost to me, she was excellent in taking to account my preferences and desires in a potential employer — so I imagine I might be able to find a similar apartment finding service who wants its clients to be reputable ones.

Any thoughts about the above requests would be quite sincerely appreciated. I imagine there have been other AskMeFi threads about apartment-hunting and even Chicago apartment-hunting, but I'm not sure how specific to this query they've been; if I've been entirely duplicative, please feel free to show me the light.

Selling a home without Agent

curiousleo — Wed, 08 Jun 2005 18:24:26 -0800

I am trying to sell my very inexpensive condo. What is required for me to do sell it without an agent? Going price for my 1 bedroom condo is around $59000. There are 4 same type of units are on sale from same condo for many month... (According to Realtor.com)

Since I bought this for $50000 six years ago and I've already moved out to new place, I want to sell this place asap. (was not a good investment)

Since current sales units agents don't seem to sell this places, I thought may be I can save on commision by selling it myself. (ads, websites, etc..)

What is required for me to sell a condo like this? I need exact steps etc. Do I just wait for a check from a buyer and payoff my loan and give him/her keys and condo manual? Do I need to draft a serious contract or receipt? I really have NO idea on these type of transaction.

Any suggestions or detailed "how to" will be helpful.
Also IS MY IDEA GOOD IDEA in first place. Should I just save my time and frustration by turning it over to an agent? What would be the fees out of my pocket?

Since I have moved to another new condo, this old place has been draining my money. I really need some good advice. I would rather sell it now instead of renting out because of other debts I need to pay now.

Apartments via Realtor in Boston

ThePants — Fri, 20 May 2005 05:36:02 -0800

BostonRealty: My lease ends in September and a friend and I are planning on moving in together. We need a new place. We both work full time (and then some) and have some pretty specific requirements. Should we be having a realtor help us look? We're in Lower Allston now, and don't want to wander too far from there, as it's a convenient place for both of us to get to work from.

I'm wondering:

Will our limited area of search affect the effectiveness of a realtor looking for a place for us? (for better or worse?)

In your experience, have realtors been worth the expense? Have you found a better place, faster, than you think you would have if you were searching in your free time after work and on weekends? Was the realtor's fee worth keeping your nights and weekends more free to do other things?

Which realtors have you had good/bad experiences with?

New windows before house sale?

clever sheep — Sun, 10 Apr 2005 13:53:37 -0800

I'm fixing up my house to sell mid- to late summer; refinishing wood floors, etc. It's gotten so that I've realized that the one huge detractor that could quash buyers' interest in the house is the windows. Should I replace before sale? The windows in question are peeling down to bare wood in many (!) noticeable (!) places; many are missing their 'matching' screen windows. They're an eyesore, really. However, replacing with halfway decent stuff would be very spendy. We don't want to ask a real estate agent because then they'd pester us until we were finally ready to sell, and that's still months away. Advice?