Alternatives to a real estate agent when selling to tenant

[Debbie C.]

We are planning to sell our property to a long-time tenant of many years and are looking for some assistance with the selling process. Because we’re pretty comfortable with this tenant, we would prefer to not use an agent to save on the commission. Do you have any recommendations on cheaper alternatives to agents...mostly just someone to help us through the legal paperwork and make sure everything is legit. We were looking into flat fee brokers, transaction coordinators, and real estate lawyers, but don’t know very much about them and which is best suited for our particular situation. Any advice would be very helpful! Thanks!

[Marcus Auerbach]

@Debbie C. - the cheapest way is to sell it yourself. In Wisconsin you can just download the sales contracts and fill them out, any title company will close the deal for you. 

However, I would not recommend it, for a number of reasons. Money being #1.

Yes, you can save on commission, but in the end you will probably net less money at closing, which defeats the purpose. Buyers know you are a FSBO and will make a lower offer just because of that. Qualified buyers work with a buyers agent, because its free to them. Which leaves you to working with unqualified buyers or at least paying for the buyers agent.

The legal side of things is only getting more complicated and you have significant risk exposure. 

It took me years and hundrets of deals to get to the level where I am. If I can not make a client more money than I cost and someone with no professional experience can achieve the same result, I should quit!

The trick is to find a good agent, most are not. Especially when it comes to selling a rented property you want an agent, who understands working with investors and tenents (for personal experience); well worth to spend some time on that!