Anyone ever used Zillow to sell a house?

[fredtoast]

Anyone ever sell a house without a realtor? I have bought one house in my life 15 years ago, but I have never sold one. Anyone ever used Zillow or want to suggest another site?

Anyone ever bought a house on one of these sites?

When I read Freakonomics there was an entire chapter about how realtors want to sell a house fast instead of waiting for the best offer possible. They did a study about how much realtors got for houses they sold for other people and how much they got when they sold a house for themselves. When they sold other peoples houses they did it quicker, but when they sold their own homes they got more money compared to the original asking price. butr even if I ell my house for the same amount a realtor would get I would save thousands of dollars in commission.

I would like to talk to a realtor to get an idea of a reasonable asking price, but I know they will want me to sign a listing contract before they help me out. It would be hard to find comps for my property. It is platted as part of an addition to a subdivision, but it is on a 3.5 acre lot. And there is also a train track nearby that I know will effect the value.

[XenoMorph]

Dont know about Zillow but you should be able to find an appraiser to inspect your house for you for a small fee not attached to a realitor...

[Benton]

One of my sales people moonlights as a realtor. She said she gets maybe one referral a month from web sites. Most of it is from fellow agents or people just driving around an area they're looking to buy in. The ones driving around are the vast majority.

I can ask her next time she's in, but I think some of those sites (like Zillow), you have to have your house in "the book." In other words, it has to be listed through an agent.

The last house I sold I went through an agent. Sort of. I had already put an ad in my local paper the same day I called her. Before the agent had even put a sign in the yard I had a call and offer on the house. I think it was on the market all of two days?

[SunsetBengal]

Fred, I think Benton is correct about Zillow, Truilla and similar sites. They are simply posting places that are listed by local realtors. The wife and I discovered this last year, when we were relocating to Raleigh from the beach. Also, at least on the looking for properties end, they are very slow to update the sites to remove places that have already been sold/rented. I guess that makes them appear to have a larger selection of available properties than they actually do..

If you want to avoid sharing part of the sale in commission fees, I'd go with XenoMorph's advice and get an appraisal. Then, you know what it is worth, and can market it however you choose.

[fredtoast]

If there is no big "For Sale By Owner" website there should be.

People sell everything else they own online. Why not their homes?

[*bfine32*]

We use Zillow all the time to estimate the value of our home.

[StLucieBengal]

(01-09-2016, 04:36 PM)fredtoast Wrote: If there is no big "For Sale By Owner" website there should be.  

People sell everything else they own online.  Why not their homes?

That's a waste Fred. Take your photos like a realtor would. Then make a Facebook ad and blast it all over Facebook. It's way cheap and you get a lot of viewers. You only pay for the ad when they click.

The for sale by owner websites are garbage and only a hook to get you to sign with a realtor.

Also Zillow is not a good also site for values. Zillow scrapes off of the MLS and then has their own formula for value.

If you want an actual value range then look at solds in the past month 3 months.

I am a licensed realtor and I use Facebook ads and get massive results. Craigslist is also something to consider in addition.

[Benton]

(01-09-2016, 04:36 PM)fredtoast Wrote: If there is no big "For Sale By Owner" website there should be.  

People sell everything else they own online.  Why not their homes?

(01-11-2016, 12:13 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: That's a waste Fred.    Take your photos like a realtor would.   Then make a Facebook ad and blast it all over Facebook.   It's way cheap and you get a lot of viewers.    You only pay for the ad when they click.    

The for sale by owner websites are garbage and only a hook to get you to sign with a realtor.  

Also Zillow is not a good also site for values.   Zillow scrapes off of the MLS and then has their own formula for value.  

If you want an actual value range then look at solds in  the past month 3 months.  

I am a licensed realtor and I use Facebook ads and get massive results.   Craigslist is also something to consider in addition.

Lucie has some good advice here. Facebook might be a good way to go, especially if there are any "for sale" groups in your area (mine has more than one, so I'm guessing there might be a coupe different ones you could go with). Outside of that, check into newspapers. Classified listings are cheap.

[StLucieBengal]

(01-11-2016, 05:26 PM)Benton Wrote: Lucie has some good advice here. Facebook might be a good way to go, especially if there are any "for sale" groups in your area (mine has more than one, so I'm guessing there might be a coupe different ones you could go with). Outside of that, check into newspapers. Classified listings are cheap.

Facebook ads rock. I sell loads of property off them and can target the ads.

Fred If you need help with them feel free to PM me, I would be happy to help.

[fredtoast]

So people who are shopping for houses go to Facebook?

I have known a few people who were looking for a house and none of them mentioned going to Facebook.

[fredtoast]

(01-11-2016, 12:13 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: If you want an actual value range then look at solds in  the past month 3 months.  

I am trying 

(01-07-2016, 06:26 PM)fredtoast Wrote: It would be hard to find comps for my property.  It is platted as part of an addition to a subdivision, but it is on a 3.5 acre lot.  And there is also a train track nearby that I know will effect the value.

[BengalHawk62]

I'll give ya $10 for it. 



We had an investor come in and offer us $15k less than our asking price for our home over the weekend.  But she had a fistful of cash.  She thought we would give her a good deal on our house if she had the cash with her.  Not so much. 

[StLucieBengal]

(01-12-2016, 12:09 PM)fredtoast Wrote: So people who are shopping for houses go to Facebook?

I have known a few people who were looking for a house and none of them mentioned going to Facebook.

It's not selling it on Facebook. It's just getting your ad in front of people and Facebook is the most efficient way. Everyone checks their Facebook pages for updates more than any other place . And everyone knows someone looking for a home.

[StLucieBengal]

(01-12-2016, 12:11 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I am trying 

You can pull up solds on the Trulia map. It's not gonna be a great way but you can pull some comps and get a general idea.

[Benton]

(01-11-2016, 11:34 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: Facebook ads rock.   I sell loads of property off them and can target the ads.    

Fred If you need help with them feel free to PM me, I would be happy to help.

Depends on what you're selling. I have realtor friends who post houses. Sometimes I look at the house. If it's one of Facebook's ads generated by your browsing history, I haven't ever intentionally clicked one. But that's probably because their suggested ads are always porn, books and STD treatments.

[Benton]

(01-12-2016, 12:09 PM)fredtoast Wrote: So people who are shopping for houses go to Facebook?

I have known a few people who were looking for a house and none of them mentioned going to Facebook.

No, but it might show up for someone who is. That's the rough part about advertising — the majority of it is putting something out there and hoping it hits an intended target. Different forms in different media have different rates of success.

I work at a paper. For our size and our community size, it's pretty surprising but we get 10-20 calls a week for people looking for rental property. I own a rent house and when it's empty I run one classified ad and usually get 20-25 calls. In my area, there isn't any form of advertising you can get for that price where you'll get more than 20 customers off a single run. But that's where people go to look for it. On the flip-side, I sold a car two years ago. I ran a newspaper ad and it got two responses after a week. I posted it on a local classifieds web site (vciclassifieds.com) and had about a dozen phone calls the next day.

I'd suggest talking to some people in your area who've sold houses and see if they used any specific sites or media they used. Hell, every community has at least one free shopper you can take a line ad in.

[StLucieBengal]

(01-12-2016, 06:10 PM)Benton Wrote: Depends on what you're selling. I have realtor friends who post houses. Sometimes I look at the house. If it's one of Facebook's ads generated by your browsing history, I haven't ever intentionally clicked one. But that's probably because their suggested ads are always porn, books and STD treatments.

I don't mean posting listings on a page. I mean the actual Facebook ads . You can target it on various levels and it pops up based on people's interests.

[Rotobeast]

Lucie's on the money, Fred.

Facebook and Craigslist are great for free exposure.

I haven't sold any houses, but when I put one up for rent I have a tenant in a couple days.
 

[Benton]

(01-12-2016, 07:35 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: I don't mean posting listings on a page.   I mean the actual Facebook ads .   You can target it on various levels and it pops up based on people's interests.

yeah, I have less faith in their ads than I do their general networking.

[Rotobeast]

(01-12-2016, 10:00 PM)Benton Wrote: yeah, I have less faith in their ads than I do their general networking.

Yeah, I don't use their ads.
There are generally local real estate groups that you can join and advertise your property.