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Do you think the market will command $500k for an apartment in a multi dwelling that might include absentee landlords in the next few years ? And $30k profit for showing an apartment, wow ! I should get a license to sell. Definately save the $30k and go the FSBO route.

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I may be selling my condo in the next couple of years and was thinking about the FSBO route.
Good to know that it is doable because I wasn't thrilled with handing over 6% of the sale price which would be 30K+

Working with realtors when you are selling your property yourself is not the same as listing with a realtor for a low commission. When you sell your house yourself, it's more like you are your own broker, and you split the 5% or 6% commission with the buyer's agent. Brokers and realtors usually cooperate with each other anyway, so why not just be your own broker, do your own open houses, and cooperate with other brokers.

I am not a realtor nor real estate broker, but I do run a sales team in the technology field. That being said, I would not list my house with a realtor who took the listing for a really low commission. They and the agents from the other agencies will have less incentive to show your home than they would for someone who is paying a bigger commission. Sales people are motivated by how much money they could make, not by how little they can make.

ExUWSGuy and all. We ended up doing really well. We had our first open house at the beginning of November, got a good bid the next day and closed on the house by December 15. We ended up saving $20,000. Don't know if it was luck, hard work or a combination and I am not sure if the same thing would work for a condo in the Heights. We are right up the street from Hamilton Park, and we got tons of people who were in the neighborhood and out on foot looking around on a beautiful fall weekend.
One thing I do want to mention is that we got dozens of phone calls from realtors who were willling to work with us for 2.5 to 3% commission. Also, we listed with the deluxe package from FSBO.com which gets you listed on Zillow and multiple listing service. So ExUWSGuy, I would suggest trying it out for a few months and see what happens before you decide to list with an agent. Also, take the time and effort to make your place looks great. Put your crap in storage and go to IKEA. Paint,,hire a cleaning service, get advice from artistic friends and borrow furniture and decorations if you need to. It's worth the effort to show off the features of your place. We have some for sale by owner signs if you are interested, PM me.

100% agree with eckster, I used www.msl2u.com. all the exposure, and 2.5% sommision. Really tough to do it all on your own, could be impossible, and I think you'll get atleast 2.5% more in your pricing going this route.

I sold my condo in April of this year and did it myself. The best way is to get your condo listed on the local MLS. While this will get exposure to real estate agents, and get you on sites like realtor.com, it will not necessarily get you traffic to your property.

Since real estate agents work on commission, you will need to give them a cut to get the proper traffic through your place to get a sale.

So, what I did was paid realmart realty to post the unit on the local MLS. In addition, I offered a commission to the buyer's real estate agent. In April the going rate around JC was 5% commission, which is usually split between buyer's and seller's agents. You should at least offer 2.5% to buyer's agent. Since I already cut once side out of the transaction (seller's agent) I offered slightly more at 2.75%. That got me lots of traffic through my condo since agents are eager for the extra cut.

While you are still paying a commission, at least it is half the amount that is usually charged by a typical broker.

In my case, someone ended up seeing my unit on a website and contacted me directly. We closed the deal without any real estate agent involvement and I didn't end up paying any commission. Total savings was roughly $25K on my sale, but if I had to give up half the commission I would have saved about $12K.

Yeah you can start right here on jclist. What is the sq. footage, number of rooms, taxes, and maintance fee.

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The Young House Love couple sold their house themselves and break down the process here: http://www.younghouselove.com/2010/11 ... -sold-our-house-by-owner/

I think they're fairly realistic about how hard it is, how much time it takes, and how much it costs to do it yourself. Since their full-time job is taking care of and writing about their house, the fact that even they found it difficult (although not at all impossible, and they'd do it again) should give you some food for thought.

As for marketing, you can pay to be listed on MLS and should also take out ads in local papers (probably including NYTimes, although you might do a little more research about that), update a Craigslist ad every day, and put up a for sale sign with a box for fliers and make sure to keep them stocked.

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I am not a realtor. I have bought, sold and managed numerous properties. And I know that Real Estate Agents earn their money. I have often bought without their services, I have never sold without an agent marketing the property for me.

Shop for the right one, don't be fooled by the one that gives you the highest "listing price", they are usually not the right agent.
Find one that has been in the business in your community for no less than one year. Make sure they tell you honest things rather than what you want to hear.

While no one likes to give up the percentage that RE agents collect at a successful sale, they very often bring a LOT of value.

Other considerations to ask about yourself. Are you capable of screening out unqualified buyers who will only waste your time, are you knowledgeable enough to give advice on financing, If the prospective buyer says they have a home to sell first are you knowledgeable enough to know if it can be sold, do you really want to spend your time answering the phone/returning phone calls with people only inquiring out of curiosity (or expecting to buy it for 1/2 the value), and the list goes on.

Again, the key to it is finding that agent who will do well for you as a seller without building false hopes and expectations. Of course, you as a seller must also have realistic expectations. If you do not, the good agents will stay away from you.

My $0.02 but it may be worth the price charged. LOL

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I checked out the site, and only found 3 or 4 condos for sale in Jersey City, so this seems like it would not get you very much exposure.

@linky - keep me posted on how this is going, feel free to PM me. I'm looking at putting my condo in the Heights on the market, and given the glut of condos was considering the self-market route myself to give myself and edge. But Scottacus' point is well taken.

As much as it sucks, the best advice is not to market your house as a FSBO. In this kind of market, you probably need the exposure being in the MLS provides.

Also consider whether someone can be home most of the time to allow for showings, whether you can really set the right price without having access to good comparable sales (the data in Zillow and Trulia isn't always the best). and other such considerations.

Your options for advertising your home are relatively limited outside of the MLS - Craigslist (probably the best choice), Zillow, Trulia. Most sites that pull data directly from the MLS won't include additional listings.

(BTW I'm not a realtor... I've just seen friends try to do this and end up using a realtor in the end.)

We are listing our condo in Hamilton Park neighborhood, but we want to attempt a for sale by owner route. Any advice for marketing the property and getting some exposure?