Selling Your Home Without a Broker


I live in Brentwood.   Brentwood is known for many things.  Its show business residents first come to mind.   But it is probably most famous for the murder scene of O.J. Simpson’s wife, Nicole, and the O.J. Simpson house, which has since been razed.

What Brentwood is not known for is its poverty.   Mind you, among the glitzy multi-million dollar homes there are people who reside more modestly in condos or apartments.   A lot of single women live in he neighborhood.  It is safe and shopping and the coffee shops are within easy access.   But poverty?   There is none to be found.

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There are two times that people eschew realtors and try to sell the house themselves.   The first time is when there is a housing shortage, as there was a few years ago, and people were at your door begging and bidding for the opportunity to move in.   Houses then went for ten, maybe fifteen percent more than listed price.   To sell your house was like shooting fish in the barrel.   So why give the realtor his or her six percent, when you can put that in your pocket?

Even the realtors knew this, since many cut their commissions in half.   Selling a house was easy.  Just list it.   The banks were forthcoming with mortgages for just about anyone.   Appraisals seemed arbitrary, if not a flight of fantasy.   So just put up the sign and close the deal when the throngs come banging on your door.

But there is a second window when people try to sell their houses.   This is now.   This is when the marekt has fallen so steeply that the sellers will be taking such a hit they simply can’t afford to give up the realtor commission.  And since the realtors know that no house is an easy sell, they will hold for the most part to their six percent.   So when your house drops thirty percent from purchase price, giving up another six percent is unthinkable for many people.  Especially those people who bought at the high and are now in the hole.

Come Sunday I will be driving toward the beach down San Vicente Boulevard and with this economic downturn and a further drop in the real estate market, I expect to see even more houses listed with “For Sale By Owner.”   This indeed is a new sign.  A sign of the times.

Author: Gordon Basichis

Gordon Basichis is the Co-Founder of Corra Group, specializing in pre-employment background checks and corporate research. He has been a marketing and media executive. He is the author of the best selling Beautiful Bad Girl, The Vicki Morgan Story, a non-fiction novel that helped define exotic behavior in the late twentieth century. He has recently published The Cuban Quarter, The Blood Orange, and The Guys Who Spied for China, dealing with Chinese Espionage in the United States. He is the author of The Constant Travellers. He has been a journalist for several newspapers and is a screenwriter and producer.