Listing a house

[isabel]

Did you pay to list your house initially? What kind of agreement did you have with your realtor?

DH and I bought our home last year at what we thought was the top of the market. Well, things have kept going up and we're now thinking we may be able to build our long term home much sooner than anticipated. A house up the street that has one less garage, bedroom, and bathroom and half the square footage just sold for $15k over list and $10k more than we paid last year for our nicer home.

We are casually thinking about throwing it on the market and seeing what happens. Anyone have stories or info they want to share?

[Balki.Bartokomous]

You mean pay the REA to put it on the MLS? No. The REA got commission when our home sold.

Next time I'm tempted to sell FSBO, in which case I would expect to pay a fee to list it on the MLS.

[isabel]

Jun 21, 2015 10:56:25 GMT -5 Balki.Bartokomous said:

You mean pay the REA to put it on the MLS? No. The REA got commission when our home sold.

Next time I'm tempted to sell FSBO, in which case I would expect to pay a fee to list it on the MLS.

I guess I could talk to our agent about it. I'm hesitant to bring him into this since we're kind of just doing it to test the waters and I don't want him to waste a bunch of time if we decide not to sell. On the other hand, if we list FSBO, I would feel bad about him missing out on commission. He deserves to make some money on selling our home. The process of buying it sucked for him because of the seller.

[devonpow]

You don't pay to list your house.

Don't forget about CapitalGains tax if you make a profit in your house since you have owned less than 2 years.

[nsl]

Considering how much you pay in agent fees when you sell (6% of the purchase price, plus anything you have to fix after the inspection, closing costs, etc...) it doesn't sound to me like you'd even break even if you sold now, much less earn enough of a profit to make the PITA-ness of showing your house, going through inspections, finding a new house, packing, and moving worth it.

[sterl724]

If you are just interested in seeing what it might be worth now (and potentially if it would be worth it to sell and build your "forever home", which would likely take awhile) I would just have someone come out and do an independent appraisal. Then you have a ballpark number on what you could potentially get now. Then you could analyze what it would potentially cost to list, how much you would profit from the sale, and if the bottom dollar is worth the hassle right now.

[katietornado]

A friend did this. He made $80K on his house in 2.5 years in a super hot neighborhood. Listed himself on Zillow for free, and paid 3% to the buyers' agent.

We are about to list our house the same way. Houses are hitting the market and getting multiple offers the same day. It's a way to save money, but your house won't have as many people seeing it on just Zillow (as opposed to getting a realtor to put it on the MLS).

It's worth a shot. You can put it on Zillow as "make me move" and set your price. That way it's not technically for sale, but people can see photos and ask you about it. I did this a few weeks ago with our house, and I've gotten 5 emails, 2 phone calls, and someone who showed up on my front porch to see the house. It's a good way to gauge interest.

[youbetcha]

Also if you do your own listi g, some agents will take a flat fee to do the paperwork if that part scares you.

[lg28]

I'm an agent.

I would just call your realtor and ask him for a current market value. I'm sure he will give you a ballpark number to make some decisions from. I do that for clients. I don't charge repeat or existing clients to do it, but I LOVE when they give me flowers or something to say thanks.

[isabel]

Jun 21, 2015 12:43:50 GMT -5 katietornado said:

A friend did this. He made $80K on his house in 2.5 years in a super hot neighborhood. Listed himself on Zillow for free, and paid 3% to the buyers' agent.

We are about to list our house the same way. Houses are hitting the market and getting multiple offers the same day. It's a way to save money, but your house won't have as many people seeing it on just Zillow (as opposed to getting a realtor to put it on the MLS).

It's worth a shot. You can put it on Zillow as "make me move" and set your price. That way it's not technically for sale, but people can see photos and ask you about it. I did this a few weeks ago with our house, and I've gotten 5 emails, 2 phone calls, and someone who showed up on my front porch to see the house. It's a good way to gauge interest.

Oh, the zillow idea is a great one! I'll talk to H about that. We're in a similar market and I honestly think we could get close to $70k over what we bought for last year. We've made some improvements and I think the house will show much better.

[isabel]

Jun 21, 2015 11:24:12 GMT -5 devonpow said:

You don't pay to list your house.

Don't forget about CapitalGains tax if you make a profit in your house since you have owned less than 2 years.

Thanks. I hadn't thought about capital gains!

[isabel]

Jun 21, 2015 13:56:57 GMT -5 ste said:

The market here is nuts. Where would you live while building?

That's part of the conversation we're having too. We don't want to move in between, so it may be something where we try to find out how long it would take to build and then list when we get closer to a closing date. This is all daydreams at the moment. We're just looking at the sales in our neighborhood and finding that if we could sell at the same price per square foot as a lot of these homes, we would net quite a bit.

[madringal]

Jun 21, 2015 14:01:02 GMT -5 isabel said:

Jun 21, 2015 11:24:12 GMT -5 devonpow said:

You don't pay to list your house.

Don't forget about CapitalGains tax if you make a profit in your house since you have owned less than 2 years.

Thanks. I hadn't thought about capital gains!

I'm pretty sure you have to make more then 250k in gains. You are fine.

[isabel]

Jun 21, 2015 14:12:23 GMT -5 madringal said:

Jun 21, 2015 14:01:02 GMT -5 isabel said:

Thanks. I hadn't thought about capital gains!

I'm pretty sure you have to make more then 250k in gains. You are fine.

Ha, I think we can profit, but not that much! Lol

[isabel]

Jun 21, 2015 14:08:02 GMT -5 ste said:

Jun 21, 2015 14:04:05 GMT -5 isabel said:

That's part of the conversation we're having too. We don't want to move in between, so it may be something where we try to find out how long it would take to build and then list when we get closer to a closing date. This is all daydreams at the moment. We're just looking at the sales in our neighborhood and finding that if we could sell at the same price per square foot as a lot of these homes, we would net quite a bit.

I can tell you in our experience right now, everyone (buyers and sellers) is looking for fast closing. I think ours is less than 6 weeks. And the rental market is even crazier than buying in some areas (friends of ours just found out their rent is going up 12% - to 2k, for a 1br. Omg)

Jesus. It really is insane. I'm kind of hoping it stays that way for the next year or two though. It would be very helpful in making this plan happen.

Did you find a house then!?

[sjh722]

Jun 21, 2015 14:12:23 GMT -5 madringal said:

Jun 21, 2015 14:01:02 GMT -5 isabel said:

Thanks. I hadn't thought about capital gains!

I'm pretty sure you have to make more then 250k in gains. You are fine.

This isn't true.

If you have not used a property as your principles residence for at least 2 of the last 5 years, you are most likely subject to capital gains tax. They will take your info at closing so the irs can send you a 1099.

If you have lived there at least 2 of the last 5 years, then you can exclude up to 250k for a single person or 500k for a married couple in gains from capital gains tax.

[isabel]

Jun 21, 2015 14:29:13 GMT -5 ste said:

Jun 21, 2015 14:26:43 GMT -5 isabel said:

Jesus. It really is insane. I'm kind of hoping it stays that way for the next year or two though. It would be very helpful in making this plan happen.

Did you find a house then!?

We did. It's not in our ideal area (schools aren't quite what we were hoping), and we are at the verrrrrrrrry top of our budget, and it needs (cosmetic) updating. But we love it, and it's on almost 1/3 acre.

I still can't believe it, and a part of me is waiting in fear for it to fall through somehow. lol

Yay! I'm so glad you finally found something you love! Fingers crossed for a smooth closing.

[mrsfarmer]

Jun 21, 2015 14:12:23 GMT -5 madringal said:

Jun 21, 2015 14:01:02 GMT -5 isabel said:

Thanks. I hadn't thought about capital gains!

I'm pretty sure you have to make more then 250k in gains. You are fine.

Only if you have lived in it at least 2 of the last 5 years.