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FSBO - Horse Properties~ Has Anyone Had Success Selling Without a Realtor?

[QUOTE=gypsymare;7077310]
As a buyer, I hate when the owner is present to show the property for the first time. I can’t talk about how I feel about the place without offending them and they usually waste my time and wax poetic about some feature they love and worked hard on and I’m thinking OMG, that is hideous and has got to go. I can’t discuss things with my agent openly while touring the place. Also, most buyers with a buyers agent will want you to contribute 3% to closing to cover their agent’s fee. You can refuse of course, but it is almost expected.[/QUOTE]

I thought about this as I looked a place once that had all sorts of animal heads on the walls. Everywhere there were eyes! The owner loved it all…thick brown carpet (yuck), peeling paint (rustic look I guess) and of course the heads. It was unreal so I can see how not being able to discuss it with an agent is a downside.

If you ever watched “Property Ladder” or “Moving Up” on TLC, then you see why a homeowner who is showing their own property has to have a thick skin. With Moving Up each buyer fixed the house, and the previous owner came back and discussed how they thought the changes worked. In some cases it was brutal, and I understand after the first filming they had to go to the video tape critique, because the previous owner really tore into the current one. I had a friend who was leaving for a second showing, and the buyer got there early, and made a nasty remark about a decorating item that there was an allowance to change. Some people are simply rude and nasty, and have no problem with being mean to people.

However, I think if a buyer really wants to sell without a realtor, and a buyer wants to do that also, that it can work out. My first house buy was a cheaper house, and we did do it without a realtor on either side. The people lived close to friends of mine, and the friends told me about the house. In that state you did a preliminary contract with the title company, I went to my bank for a mortgage, and did the paperwork at the title company. Settlements for that state were through the title company anyway, so that worked out very well.

However, I doubt that most buyers will really be nasty to your face, and my friend’s experience is the only really bad one I’ve heard about. I think that if a seller can think of selling as a business process, instead of taking it personally, then I think the sales process will be successful. It would be hard for me to ignore criticism of things that weren’t even staying with the property, but that might be part of selling by yourself too.

[QUOTE=gypsymare;7077310]
As a buyer, I hate when the owner is present to show the property for the first time. I can’t talk about how I feel about the place without offending them and they usually waste my time and wax poetic about some feature they love and worked hard on and I’m thinking [I]OMG, that is hideous and has got to go. I can’t discuss things with my agent openly while touring the place.[/QUOTE]

I think if you would run into this situation with the owner showing the property, you could easily take notes, and if you have a cell phone with the camera option, take pictures and then discuss with your agent what you didn’t like. Anyone doing a FSBO is more than likely going to be showing the place. By taking notes/pictures you can still go to a FSBO property, avoid saying what you don’t like in front of the owner and you might still get a really good buy. :slight_smile:

Sometimes with the owner there, you can ask a lot of questions that the Realtor really doesn’t know. I remember looking at one property when I was farm shopping. If the acreage went one direction(E), I would have a lot of pasture. If it went the other direction(N), I would have had mostly woods. Not what I wanted for a pasture. The Realtor doing the open house didn’t know, which I thought was pretty bad.

Also when I did buy the property where I’m at, the owner was present during the showing, but pretty much stayed out of the way. She knew I wanted to put a barn on the property and have horses. It was January and all I could see initially from the house was open land (no woods but a few pine trees). She did say there was an area in the back that ponded in the spring from runoff further up the hill. While I did walk the entire property, with frozen ground and snow I would never have known about the ponding area had she not been upfront about it. I know I appreciated her input. :slight_smile:

We did!

I actually shared the story on here. :slight_smile: We had our house (3 br 1 1/2 ba on 8 acres with four stall barn) listed on a local horsey website with pretty decent results, but no buyers. A local realtor friend suggested we try CL and within five days the house was sold. :yes: We did NOT expect it to sell so quickly, so our plans changed dramatically as far as moving, but we’ve worked it all out. We’re renting our house back from the buyers until December 1st and we had already bought our new place in Kentucky back in January. Moving day is the day after Thanksgiving. So excited! :applause:

JanM gave me great advice :encouragement: as she has to you regarding making sure the house is spotless and all clutter removed. We filled a 20 yard dumpster :eek: quite easily and will need another when we finally move. We offered our place at a reasonable price because we wanted it to sell and told them they could do an inspection (obviously) but that it would be a check off list for them, not for us. They agreed and everything from the offer to the P&S to the closing went incredibly smoothly. Only snafu was that we had to install a new septic ($$$$), but we were kind of expecting that.

So yes, it can be done! Best of luck to you. :slight_smile:

[QUOTE=MistyBlue;7077694]
bkkone…can you bring a couple friends or family members over and ask them to walk through your property like prospective buyers and make lists of the bad and good things they notice? Much like being barn blind, we get house blind. It’s very hard for many people to see their homes objectively, that’s totally normal. [/QUOTE]

I’ll have to do this as I know for a fact that I think it is all glorious and I’m sure there so may things I over look. I’ve got 6 stalls with dutch doors to the outside run-outs and the doors are warped with paint pealing off. I don’t think just painting is good enough but it’s one of those thing that you just can’t replace one. They would all have to be done. I can feel myself balking at that BUT you guys have helped me see the light and know that if I want this place to look like a showcase horse property I better do all that I can!

OMG: I might have to take back the glorious part…I just noticed that 4 pecan trees sheared off huge branches last night. First project on the books.

[QUOTE=Fessy’s Mom;7078609]
I actually shared the story on here. :slight_smile: So excited! :applause:

JanM gave me great advice :encouragement: as she has to you regarding making sure the house is spotless and all clutter removed. We filled a 20 yard dumpster :eek: quite easily and will need another when we finally move. So yes, it can be done! Best of luck to you. :)[/QUOTE]

WOW! Thanks for the encouragement! Big thumbs up for you. 20yd dumpster sounds like a great purge! JanM has such good advice! Everyone has been a big help. I’m just so thrilled to have so many people weight-in here as it’s insanely helpful to find out what other horsey folks have done.

I built houses and sold them for something like 40 years, and never used a real estate agent. I realize that’s quite different than a horse property, but the only thing I ever did was put a sign out front. Since I never held one over 2 weeks once I put a price on it, the savings of 7 to 10 percent here was well worth the effort. Get an appraisal, and have that to show any prospective buyers. They won’t likely be able to use it for their loan, if needed, but it will be something to validate price, and their appraiser will appreciate having it with all the measurements and comparables. Also have a list of several possible lenders. The buyers may be coming from someplace else, and not know anything about banks where you are. The easier you can make it for someone to buy, the better. Ask for a deposit if it looks like someone wants to buy it. Refundable will be fine if they can’t get the financing. I closed the sale on a lot of my houses in less than a half hour. Once a guy started driving off, and before he got out of sight, turned around, came back, and wrote me a check for the whole thing right there.

One of the key issues that FSBOs encounter (and yes, I AM a realtor who markets horse properties) is qualifying buyers and negotiating both selling price and home inspection issues. Unless you have knowledge of the local market (meaning how quickly homes are selling, what features buyers find imperative, what types of mortgages local buyers are choosing, how to find a farm-savvy attorney, what ARE negotiable home inspection issues), you are at a disadvantage dealing with a buyer who is represented by an agent. And since buyer’s agents are almost always paid by the seller, why would a buyer want to work without representation? And, as someone pointed out earlier, you dramatically reduce your buyer pool if you aren’t willing to pay a buyer-side commission.

I have good advice, because I watch way too much Property Ladder, Moving Up, and the HGTV shows. I’ll probably be sent to HGTV rehab soon, but it won’t work.

By the way, don’t be surprised after you move that you have a couple of things you have to rehome, because we all do that.

I second what Jan Weber said, and if you’re not willing to deal with buyer’s agents, that you are dramatically cutting your potential buying pool down. Without that you’re only dealing with people who have no agent, and since many people on house hunting trips already have an agent before they hit town, really limits the pool of potential buyers. Because there are buyer’s incentives from relocation agents, you’re really limiting the Military, and relocating civilian government worker buying pool, and in some places that is a deal killer. Don’t forget that in a buyer’s market many buyers demand that you pay all or a lot of their closing costs too, so you are just saving the 3% commission you would pay your seller’s agent.

The contractor I used for my post-fire remodel gutted and rebuilt houses, and advertised on the local FSBO site, because he had a good real estate attorney, a customized contract, and the buyer pool there was great. He had several bad sales with not so hot agents, so he started doing the sales himself, but he did deal with buyer’s agents.

I think we all have too much stuff, and it’s a drain on us having too much. There is no point storing, moving, and rearranging stuff that you don’t need or want. I think if you’re selling a farm you really need to declutter, especially outbuildings, and storage rooms. Just going through my own garage I found stuff I didn’t need or use, and I only moved in three years ago. However, if you are moving and want to sell after you move, then you could stage a house yourself with excess furniture, and I know people that had so much stuff they could do this. When they sold they gave the buyers the option to keep what they wanted, and they donated the rest. Rooms with furniture look bigger, and it doesn’t have to be great furniture either, because a matching bed in a bag, or a slipcover or two can make old furniture look great. I now it seems strange to say rooms look bigger with appropriately sized furniture, but they do. That’s why model homes have furniture in them, and why people pay to have homes staged. A staged home (and you can do this yourself, or get a friend with good taste if you need another opinion) sells faster and for more money, and it’s something we all can do. Ideally your house should look as if you don’t live there, but look neutral to appeal to the largest segment of the buyer pool. If you look at home with a lot of pictures on realtor.com, then you’ll get a great idea of what staged looks like. It’s a room with no personal touches, but looks comfortable, and without a bunch of big furniture that isn’t needed, because you never want a buyer to think the rooms are smaller than they are, or need major work. You don’t want to have rooms with wild colors that are difficult to paint over. I’ve looked at houses that had entire dark red rooms, and because that’s not my taste I know it would take a major effort to paint over it-probably three or four coats of primer and paint, so it would be a big drawback in a market with lots of inventory in the similar price point.

Kind of a spin off

I know and agree with no personal pictures (human) etc when you are selling, but if you are selling a horse farm, what about 8" x 11" framed pictures of horses? Or hanging equine-based tapestries and needlepoint pictures and pillow?

I have several framed pictures of my previous and current horses that were done by professional photographers. My Mother and Aunt did a lot of needlepoint pictures and pillows that are of horses, hunt scenes, etc. and I have several medium to large hunt scene tapestries.

Do you suggest I take those down and store them away as well?

[QUOTE=Tom King;7078639]
Once a guy started driving off, and before he got out of sight, turned around, came back, and wrote me a check for the whole thing right there.[/QUOTE]
That’s a great story! Tom!

Unless you have knowledge of the local market (meaning how quickly homes are selling, what features buyers find imperative, what types of mortgages local buyers are choosing, how to find a farm-savvy attorney, what ARE negotiable home inspection issues), you are at a disadvantage dealing with a buyer who is represented by an agent

All good points but with my last 3 deals with realtors I felt like I was at a disadvantage working with them. Not to go into details but all seemed great at the beginning of the process. One gave advice that was completely wrong and thank goodness I went to a lawyer to find the truth before the deal went through. My mom used a great realtor so I know there are good ones out there :slight_smile: I would for sure work with a buyer’s agent.

I have sold three horse properties, one with a realtor (though I ended up finding the buyer), one FSBO and one with a discounted flat fee. It definitely can be done.
My frustration with realtors is that the ones I encounter do not understand what they are showing (same with appraisers). Horse properties are different!

If I did it again I’d stay with the flat fee as I liked being on the MLS listing, I felt it was that important. If someone comes without a realtor to see the place I stay out of the way unless they have questions. I hate being followed around as a buyer!

Good luck!

msj-unfortunately, you shouldn’t put out any item that is something you would miss if it disappeared. I’ve had friends that had silver (the good one) picture frames with their wedding pictures stolen, a friend had the little glass paper weight size figurines stolen (Lallique I think-however it’s spelled), and other personal mementoes stolen. Especially hide all financial paperwork, blank checks or credit card info, and your computer passwords (I have mine on a small rolodex), and that means in your car trunk or other secure place. Don’t keep spare keys out where they can be easily found either. Otherwise, you might find someone wandering through your home when you least expect it. Showing houses today is sadly something you really have to prepare for, and you need to make everything secure.

Decorating the way you describing sounds lovely, but remember your buyer might not be a horse lover, but want the place for flower greenhouses, be a car collector, or raise llamas, so you don’t want to limit the decorating to horse owners only. I know that sounds silly, but when buyers are touring a bunch of places in a few days, then you need to be memorable, and look as if you can move quickly. Plus, if you say ‘quick possession possible’, then mean it. Friends were looking in the D.C. suburbs, and wanted to move in quickly, and looked at a ‘quick possession’ place that was packed full of stuff by the owner’s relatives. The relatives obviously had done nothing to prepare to move, had 3 or 4 big storage buildings in the back yard, and would have needed many moving vans to leave, so that one was off their list immediately. Fortunately, you don’t run into a situation like that very often. Another tip-if you have animals in the house, or even if you don’t, get a picky friend to come over and tell you how the house looks, and how it smells. I’ve walked into places that smelled so much like animals, or dirt, or had some other icky smell, that I would be very reluctant to consider them.

JanM-thanks for the reply. I’m hoping to not put the farm on the market in the near future but you never know. Fortunately I do have a lot of collectibles but most are behind glass, either a full length cabinet or in the china breakfront. Guess I’ll have to put locks on both.

While the picture frames aren’t of any major value, the horse pictures are so I guess I’ll have to bring in my tack trunk from the barn and lock them in there.

I do know when I had the farm on the market in '05-06 (foolishly wanted to move south away from snow-now prefer snow over hot, humid summer weather)the Realtor had someone in the house and the barn just in case of any possible thefts and the fact I had horses still in the barn/pasture and we didn’t want people messing with them or opening stall doors and not closing them.

msj-that realtor sounds like a very experienced, smart salesperson. I think it’s kind of sad that all of us have to be so conscious of security, but I guess that’s just the way it is. The last time I moved, I applied for a job, never thought I’d get it, and received a call about a week later about moving, so you never know what will happen.

You don’t have to move to Ocala or really far South though, somewhere like Tennessee or around Lexington KY still has winters, a four season climate, and are cheaper for a lot of reasons. Of course, this year has been ridiculously hot and rainy so far (where I am the average rain as of a week ago is 26" to the first week of July, we were 10" above that, and it’s rained at least 4" since, mostly in one hour downpours you have to see to believe), but places like Knoxville have lower income tax, lower property tax, and still is hilly, and has a real winter, but nothing like where you live now.

A friend’s dad was in Oak Ridge TN, and was amazed at the nice properties, and how relatively cheap they are (he’s a part time realtor also), and there are tons of nice places like that with a four season climate.

I was actually considering SW NC, around the Asheville area. After checking daily hi and low temps for about a 3 yr time period AND the dew points to get a handle on the mugginess factor, I was actually glad there were no decent offers on my place. I can deal with the cold by adding layers but I cannot take off enough without scaring the horses, dogs, and neighbors to stay cool if it’s really hot and muggy. :sigh:

By checking online farms I was looking to replace what I had, only a smaller home (~2-2200 sq ft)but a few more acres and the cost would have been ~ $800K to 1.2 million. Course that was before the bubble burst.

As well as packing away, locking up al valuables like jewelry - checkbooks - credit cards - any bills that have personal information on them…take all drugs/prescriptions out of your bathrooms and put them under lock or somewhere they won’t be found. (in a sock in a drawer, etc) It’s sadly quite common to have buyers come to see homes specifically to take prescription drugs out of bathrooms. And to use bills to steal identities. And also if you have valuable collections, pack them away out of sight. It’s not unheard of for viewers to notice these things and come back later for them. (‘casing the joint’)

[QUOTE=MistyBlue;7081590]
As well as packing away, locking up al valuables like jewelry - checkbooks - credit cards - any bills that have personal information on them…take all drugs/prescriptions out of your bathrooms and put them under lock or somewhere they won’t be found. (in a sock in a drawer, etc) It’s sadly quite common to have buyers come to see homes specifically to take prescription drugs out of bathrooms. And to use bills to steal identities. And also if you have valuable collections, pack them away out of sight. It’s not unheard of for viewers to notice these things and come back later for them. (‘casing the joint’)[/QUOTE]

PSA-don’t ever put drugs in your bathroom medicine chest because of moisture in the bathroom.

Hey Misty, if I’m lucky they will come back and take the Hummels, Royal Doultons, Royal Copenhagen, crystal, Wedgewood, etc. collectibles and I can file a claim on my fine arts policy! For sure I’ll never be able to sell them for what they cost as there are a ton on E-Bay that don’t sell. :sigh:

I’ll be honest, I could never put all the collectibles away but I probably could figure out a way to lock the china cabinet and another glass fronted cabinet.

Thanks everybody! I’ll report back with a success story (fingers crossed). Off to mow, mow, mow…

msj-donate that type of stuff to Salvation Army or Goodwill. You get the full retail price I think. There are current price books for Hummel, etc. or online even. Then it will be a manageable amount of stuff to lock away securely.