Selling a home without a real estate agent?

My advice: Don't.

One reason: There are a myriad of city, county, and state regulations and laws you have to jump through and adhere to regarding disclosures, etc.. If you make an error, you could be facing a very costly lawsuit or a failed escrow.

Another reason: Very few people can be completely objective when it comes to selling their own property. When we were house-hunting and saw a "For Sale By Owner" sign, we never bothered, because it nearly always meant dealing with someone who didn't fully know the market or the laws but who had a high degree of emotional involvement. In other words, trouble.

You may be able to ask an agent to take a slightly lower commission since it's a hot market. But I have noticed that even in this market most agents give a lot of thought to how to position a property for a good price and a trouble-free escrow.

My 2 cents.

I would never sell a house without using a real estate agent. “Seller beware” is the way the laws work. The seller has so much liability if something arises in the future, or if something was not properly disclosed. Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish. Also, buyers agents may steer their clients away from FSBO listings, so you might not get as much market exposure doing it yourself. Pay the commisssion. It’s worth it. Also, I’ve heard that many agents will list for 5%. Good luck.

I have a feeling you would get a lot of interested based on how crazy the housing market is here. For example, I'm looking to buy a home around that time and would be interested in working with you. There are probably a lot of other people out there who feel the same. Not exactly the question you were asking but may help in your decision.

Hi,

I successfully sold my home in Cupertino a few years ago. One can now list on MLS without a realtor's license. I was planning to do that plus my own open houses until a neighbor made a bid on the place, so I didn't need to place a listing. After agreeing to the price, we then worked directly with an escrow company (which handles all the legal paperwork). I hired a real estate attorney to make sure I had all my i's dotted and t's crossed. All went smoothly, and I saved on the realtor commission. The real estate attorney that I used was very reasonable and handled my case efficiently - Jean Shrem in El Cerrito (510) 882-9992  Good luck! Elaine

A good agent earns their keep. Most likely, you will get a much higher price is you follow their advice. If you think you understand real estate and have proven that you have a good design sense, try Redfin. Their fees are lower. 

Last year I sold my house in Alameda without a seller's agent for well over $1M I put the house on MLS through a flat fee MLS company (I paid $99 to list the house), and offered 2% to the buyer's agent. I had a lot of traffic, and ended with a very good offer over asking price. I considered hiring a real estate attorney, but ended up not needing one as I am well versed in all things real estate, and a licensed CPA myself, and also the buyer's agent was very helpful and passed me several CAR (California Association of Realtors) forms I did not have access to. You can, however, get access to all CAR forms through interned, but it's a paid service. Overall, it was stressful, but totally doable, and I will definitely do the same next time I sell a house. My advice is not to use FSBO web sites, and put a house on MLS. I initially listed the house as FSBO and got a lot of flaky calls, and people trying to lowball me. Once the house was on MLS, I've gotten a good traffic of serious buyers, and a very good offer within 1.5 weeks. My only regret in this is that I should have countered higher, and most likely would have ended up selling for $10K more than I did. A good seller's agent would have probably helped me with that, but whether that is worth 2-2.5% of the listing price is for you to decide.