Having bought our first house as a "fixer-upper" and spending time & money restoring it to saleable condition, my wife and I couldn't bear the thought of losing 6% of our value to a real estate firm. Because of this we were determined to sell the property "for sale by owner (FSBO)." Though we had never sold a house before, we were certain that our property was unique and in an area that would sell itself. We were sure there was no need to involve high priced real estate firms. We were half-right.

After one month of having the "FSBO" sign in our yard and entertaining only a few calls and even fewer showings, we were starting to get nervous. We had already gone to contract on our new house and were starting to feel the pressure. Once we learned that 80% of homebuyers utilize an agent, it became obvious that the Multiple Listing Service those agents use to find houses for their buyers really was an important aspect of selling a house. We began to look for a way to list our house on the MLS for a set fee rather than paying an agent to handle the listing. We came across only a few companies in the area that were willing to save us money in this manner. We decided on a company to use, and for a fixed rate, listed our house on the MLS. Two weeks later we were under contract.

Once our house showed up on the MLS an agent from another firm brought his client to see it. Our home had always matched the criteria of his client, but since it had not been on the MLS he was not aware that our house was available.

A few weeks later we closed on the sale of our first home. A huge burden had been lifted and we could now focus on our new home. We were very excited, and even though we had to pay the buyers agent 3% in order to sell our home, we only paid our selling agent a few hundred dollars for the MLS listing. In the end we saved over $5,000.

During our home-selling process I found that there aren't many realtors in the area willing to lower their costs to save you money. We felt there was a great need for this type of selling vehicle as there are many people like us with that "do-it-yourself" mentality. Since then we have created Carolina Realty Solutions.

Carolina Realty Solutions will list your house on the MLS for a flat fee, click here for details!!