Is it worth it to sale your own home?

[Janaye Joyner]

Hi there, I am new to this forum and was highly recommended by real estate friends to ask questions on this website.

My husband and I are strongly considering trying to sell our home and buy a new one without real estate representation. I am not a real estate agent but I am currently taking courses to obtain my license in real estate. I won't have it completed most likely by the time we are ready to sell our home. For the past year we have read any book we can acquire in regards to house flipping, selling your own home, and buying. I would appreciate any advice in regards to selling our own home.

Is it worth it? is it legally a risk? We have a few friends in real estate who have encouraged us to do this on our own but a few have warned us of legalities and the issue of being unable to sell/buy a new home concurrently. I have no issue hiring a real estate agent but our goal is to profit as much as possible obviously to use some equity toward a new home purchase and for property investment. Having a hard time with the idea of paying 5 percent to an agent if we can do it ourselves.

We live in California, and plan to buy in the same area. My question is..is it worth it to sell your own home? Thanks in advance to any advice!

[Eric Belgau]

I'm not a real estate agent, so my opinion is anything but expert.

However, I do feel that an agent brings a lot to the table. My wife and I seriously considered selling a property ourselves, largely because it's a great unit in a wonderful building in a desirable area that has a hot market. The 3% we'd lose to a listing agent was going to exceed $10k, and we had a lot of great ideas about what we could do with that money. Marketing it was going to be easy, and my wife is a savant when it comes to paperwork.

We ended up having a conversation very similar to the one you and your husband are having about upgrading the place. We bought it with contractor-grade everything, and other units had had their kitchens, bathrooms, and floors upgraded a lot. I was all set to put my grungy pants on and get to work, but my wife (good woman that she is) sat on the checkbook and ruined my fun.

Ultimately, the upgrade question is what convinced us to use a Realtor. Our agent became our salesperson, so the improvements weren't about how we could make the place rock & roll; they were about how we could equip the agent to sell quickly and effectively.

That saved us money. Instead of major upgrades, we did the cosmetic stuff that would make the place show well. The Realtor also became a great bridge between my wife's more conservative views on improvements and my passionate love affair with The Home Depot. When the inevitable hiccups came, we didn't have to fight about it. We could just blame him!

Finally, if you're getting your RE license, than by selling your home yourself you're missing out on a huge opportunity. With a property to sell and a property to buy, every Real Estate office in Bakersfield is open to you to walk in, get to know agents, look for advice and guidance, and interview all the places where you could end up working. (Even if you already have an office in mind, it's good to keep your options open.) And going through the process with a great agent is an excellent way to learn how to be a great agent.

(With all that said, I would advise you to let your husband do some minor, labor-intensive improvements. There are 49 bright orange aisles full of glittering goodies calling out to him. Have some compassion!)