Kary L. Krismer's Discussions

For some very high end homes an open house would not be advisable. But for most homes, yes they can be useful. We had a situation a couple of months ago where we set up about 20 minutes early. A couple walked through right away, showed no interest at all, but ended up being the buyers!You only need one person to buy the house, and anything you can do to find that buyer is worthwhile if it is not to expensive or time consuming

I'm not going to argue that having an agent is always better, because obviously some agents are better than others.That said, the average person (buyer or seller) simply doesn't have the same quality of tools that an agent has to find comparables or listings. They also don't have the experience to know what items are important that might limit value.But beyond that, there can be legal issues that come into play. For example, not having a contract and forms that properly deal with lead based paint can lead to legal exposure. In Washington, using an agent provides a partial shield to liability for erroneous representations which you aren't going to get if the seller and buyer deal directly.Even so, I've seen some great FSBO results. I was just going through a house last week were the buyer bought it two years ago in a FSBO transaction. The property had been listed through an agent only a couple of months earlier for over much less than he paid. The house is still barely worth what he paid, even though around here we've had double digit price increases every year since. The seller did very good there without an agent, although the buyer obviously didn't do well!

I'm not that familiar with these plans, but the one I did look into once required a full commission on a purchase and a sale, and also required an appraisal that cost about 2x what it should cost. If you had a house that was unappealing for some reason (e.g. only one bathroom, messy neighbors, etc.) it might be worth it. Otherwise I have my doubts.

I'd second what Marci said, but a lot of it depends on what the listing agent did in advance. If they did nothing to contact the bank prior to listing, you're more likely to end up being disappointed.

Josh,I think what's happening is that your house has the data in slightly different format than other homes in King County, because there are more categories. You have basement, main area and area above third floor, and Zillow is having an issue with that for some reason.As to the Zillow valuations, in general, is the longer the period since a sale, the less likely it is to be accurate. Prior to your recent transaction, the property had not sold for many years (sometime prior to 1993).

How about a forum in the discussion area for each state? Real estate is local for many topics.

I've heard there are fewer agents around here (either Washington as a whole or our local MLS--I don't remember) even though our market remains reasonably strong.I wonder if it has something to do with the employment market in general?

I posted in another thread a situation where I came across where a seller listed with an agent, was unsuccessful, then did a FSBO transaction for over 10% more than the listing price. The seller basically suckered the buyer because the house still isn't worth what he paid even though our prices in Seattle have continued upward ever since (especially in that price range).I also posted about how in Washington there's a partial shield for a seller for misrepresentations. If you do a FSBO, all the contact is through the seller, and the buyer can make up any story to claim a misrepresentation. My understanding is if they try that on a property that was listed, and never saw the seller, the seller would be protected.

I don't deal much in new construction, but I think the condo developers are getting a bit nervous.Our sales overall are only down about 10% in volume, and median prices are actually up in most areas.

I've had a few contacts, but no transactions--yet. There's one hanging out (family situation needs to be resolved first).I like the idea of the "Just Sold" ad.