Here’s an idea, if you’re game for it... this is how I sold my house in 2000 during the dotcom crash
Hire a real estate agent for a fee to do a comparison for you. Pay them, say, $100 for 3 comparables in the neighborhood. Tell them that you want to list the house yourself for 60 days (or whatever), and if you don’t sell you’ll give them first shot at representing you, provided you can come to agreement. I would think most agents would accept this; I had no trouble finding one to do it.
Go to a sign shop and have a sign professionally made that says ‘FOR SALE (Phone Number) BY APPOINTMENT ONLY’. When I say a professional sign, I mean a realtor-looking sign, metal, printed. Use simple type, nothing fancy. That will cost about $75. If you’re clever, have them make a magnetized sign that you can attach to it that says, ‘Open House SAT/SUN 1-4’ or whatever. Put that up every other week and have a pleasant but disinterested person sit at the showings for you. Have any questions referred to your email address.
Have a graphic artist make a flyer. Supply him with photos and bullet points of the the best features of the house, including the asking price and an email address to write with questions. You can find an example of one of these outside of most properties that are for sale. Have a bunch of them printed, in color. You could do them two to a page, cut them in half, to save a few dollars. The idea is to have a professional presentation. Total cost, less than $100.
Place ads on Craigslist, in the paper; with permission put the flyers up at the grocery store, coffee shops, etc. Expect realtors to come by and offer advice and pressure you to sign with them. Politely tell them you have someone in mind if you don’t sell
Contact a real-estate lawyer up front and get copies of the proper offer and disclosure forms, and a little bit of advice on selling yourself. I got this for free by telling the lawyer I’d bring him my eventual sale. He was pessimistic, but gave me some free advice anyway (I had questions about what to put on the seller’s disclosure, how to talk about taxes, utilities, neighbors, etc).
When the time came we had our first open house. We got a half dozen offers the first day, all nearly on the money. Did we underprice? Maybe so, but we had a unique house for the neighborhood and were eager to sell so we could start construction elsewhere. With six offers in hand I called our original real estate agent and told her of my ‘dilemma’. She offered to coach me through it for a flat $500 fee. She earned it.
We ended up selling for 100% of the ask and getting 3 months to ‘rent’ back during construction.
Our attorney was very surprised when we called him to set up the sale; we closed in his office. I think he charged us ±$700
Your mileage may vary, but I’d do it this way again if I were a seller.
Very interesting! Saving your post.