wrote in message
ups.com...

Greg O wrote:

My cousin tried to sell a house a few years back on his own, got a few
bites, but nothing near what he was asking for it. He finally gave in and
hired a realtor to sell the home. The Realtor appraised the house at
almost
1-1/2 times his original asking price. My cousin figured he was crazy,
but
they went ahead on the deal. Two days later he got a call from the
realtor
with an offer within a couple grand of the "new" asking price! Even after
paying the fees he was way money ahead!

1) a few years ago. Prices have gone up since then.

Read the story again and you won't be confused.

2) Realtor - while some people don't like them, a good one is
very valuable. They know the prices of what sold in the area, what
condition
they might have been in, know people looking for a house and can guide
you thru all of the paperwork. Our Realtor was
a joy to work worth and she deserved her 7%. She was scrubbing our
floors with my wife an hour before the realty tour! That was amazing.
She brought
in bids about 20 - 30% higher than asking. Wow!

Apparently, she wasn't as up to speed on market conditions as you thought.
And if I thought I could get 7% of the value of my home at sale, I'd gladly
scrub some floors.

3) Do-it-yourself homes are not listed on MLS. A lot of people use
the MLS online to guide them to homes.

Not quite true. My BIL sold his house via some web site that for a few
hundred dollars, would send someone out, take some pictures, and put the
house on the MLS. I suppose you could argue that it wasn't
"do-it-yourself", but it's a damn cry from hiring a full-service broker for
6 or 7% of the selling price.

todd

MJ Wallace