Sold Our Home

Situation:

In November 2004, my husband and I decided to sell our dream home in Gig Harbor, WA, and move back to the greater Seattle area to be closer to our jobs since the commute was unbearable (60 miles each way). Knowing homes in and around Seattle were more costly than in Gig Harbor, we wanted to retain as much profit from the sale. So, we decided to try to do the bulk of the sale on our own.

Alix's dream house in Gig Harbor, WA.

What We Did:

In order to avoid paying the full 6% real estate agent fees (3% to seller's agent, plus 3% buyer's agent), we decided to do a FSBO (For Sale by Owner). Since we're not experts in real estate transactions, we searched for a real estate agent that was not tied to the 6% fee and who would be willing to work with us as much or as little as we chose. Luckily, my friend's dad, Rick, is a real estate agent who offers his services in an "a la carte fashion." He was also happy to coach us through the tasks that we felt we could do ourselves. We negotiated his rate at $80/hour and he took on what we didn't want to do (negotiations and paperwork), while we did all the tasks that we were comfortable with tackling, such as staging and showing our home. Rick also listed our home on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) for a small fee ($600 to list for 6 months). He did a Comparative Market Analysis and recommended that we list our home for $489,000, and suggested that we offer a 2% fee to the buyer's agent to attract buyer's agents. The overall experience felt like FSBO, but with extra confidence because we had an expert on our side.

Outcome:

On the day our home was listed on the MLS, Rick received phone calls left and right. A Colorado couple saw the listing and flew out the very next day to see the house. They loved what they saw and made an offer right away. They brought their own buyer's agent and Rick negotiated with them on the price and terms. In the end, we were happy that we sold our home for what we asked for and in a very quick timeframe. Even though we still had to pay 2% to the buyer's agent, it was still not a full 3%. Best of all, the total bill that we got from Rick was only $2,200.

In doing the math, we figured out we saved $17,360 from not going the full-service route:

That's a good chunk of change that we were able to apply to our new home!

- Alix H., Renton, WA