My Good News Story

For Sale by Owner

I'm no expert on FSBO.  That is my point in sharing all this information, I'm sure there are a lot of people that know lots of better ways to sell.  Unfortunately, too many of them are willing to take advantage of your ignorance at your expense.  My goal in writing these experiences is to help people realize that anyone can buy and sell and negotiate, it isn't as hard as most presume.  More importantly, I'm here to warn unsuspecting victims of Agents out there that despite losing an antitrust lawsuit are still egregiously overcharging (scamming) unwitting buyers and sellers for their services.  Today there are so many many fair services and options out there that offer service for fair compensation, here is a list of just some of the alternative options out there that I've found as I've gone through this journey.

When I decided to buy the property in Utah in 2025, I realized that using the equity from a rental property I have in Idaho would be very beneficial because the current interest rates were still high especially for investment properties.  I had previous heard of and knew about the capital gains tax advantage of 1031 Exchanges but had never done one myself.  I decided to sell the Idaho property to make this happen.  A 1031 Exchange allows you to transfer all of the equity in an investment property to new more expensive property without the requirement to pay capital gains on the initial property in the year of the exchange, or defer it.  In my case, I saved over $45k in taxes that I was able to use as equity in the new property.   As with all things, there are companies that will help you with a 1031 exchange, but like with Realtors, it is wise to learn what services they offer to know how to negotiate fair terms with those companies as well.   In my case, an afternoon of research and good timing on the closings empowered me with confidence to do the 1031 Exchange without paying the title company's 1031 exchange partner $1000.  Click here to learn all about 1031 Exchanges, I tried to break it down as simple as I could.

In order to sell my home, I first asked my tenants if they were interested in purchasing it and they were, but when they attempted to get funding, the lenders would not give them enough to purchase the home.  They still had a little over a month left on their lease but were generous enough to offer to try and find a new place to rent so I could try and do a "simultaneous" exchange which is where you sell the old property within a few days or same day as closing on the new property so the proceeds can go direct to the new property as a down payment tax protected.  I told them there was no rush because I believed it was unlikely that I could sell the property before I closed on the new property which would require me to use a "reverse"  1031 exchange where I buy the new property before I sell the old property.  This arrangement would require me to use a 1031 company as a qualified intermediary "QI", a fancy name for an entity or person unrelated to me that is willing to securely hold onto the title of my new property until I can close on the old property.  The IRS has a rule that you can't own both titles at the same time if you want the tax benefits.  The reverse exchange is the most expensive because you do have to have to have a QI and 1031 companies are literally set up to be QIs.  But for this service they will charge you $8-10k, which was still better than paying $45k in taxes and losing out on $35k in equity.

My last experience with selling a property in 2023 was not positive.  I ended up paying the full 6% between my agent and the buyer's agent and it just didn't go well.  Similar scenario to my recent bad experience with the buyer's agent but without the the extra deception thrown in.  Back then I was ignorant that I could negotiate those fees as I was later, but that was before the lawsuit and there really were barriers to getting onto MLS without promising to pay the % payouts.  That said, I still felt like the services they provided did not warrant the $18,000 they collectively received in compensation so I was set on doing a For Sale By Owner (FSBO) this time.  He also sold it for $30k less than he told me he could with no penalty to his compensation for this hubristic up sale.  The last time I had a large mortgage payment that I didn't want to absorb for more than a month so was willing to pay some extra to move the house quicker.  This time I had the luxury of not needing to sell my home fast as my payment on the property was low enough that I could absorb it for months before it would equate to the compensation asked by Realtors.

I had already "claimed" the property on Zillow and had already used Zillow as a means to find renters in the past for free.  I found the option on to start a FSBO and updated all of the information on the house and uploaded all the new pictures from the last time we renovated it in 2023.  I had already decided on a price to sell my home based on other properties I found on Zillow that were the exact same sqft in the same neighborhood.  Some were listed for slightly lower than I asked and some were listed for $15-20K more than what I asked.  I placed it in the middle confident that the modernizing renovation we did in 2023 would place it as a solid buy while also being realistic that the yard and fence were a little worn for wear and not kept up as ideally by the renters as I would have.  I then hit the button to put it out there "for sale". They called my contact number to ensure I wasn't a scammer and then within a couple days the property went live as "FSBO".  

Within hours of my posting going live I received many solicitations from agents offering help in selling my home.  One offered to sell my home for $20k over what I was initially asking which would "more than pay for their fee".  If that was true than that would have been a good deal.  Had FSBO not worked, I would have likely engaged that agent with a deal that I would give him full compensation for any amount he could sell my house beyond the price I wanted but no compensation if it sold for my asking or below.    Another agent offered 1.5% flat fee for full services.  Another agent offered .5% to just list it for me on MLS.  It was only later that I found you can use an online service to list for you for $100-200.  Another Agent sent me a .pdf that was very professionally presented that offered tiers of services for different percentages starting at .5% going up to 3.5%.  I really appreciated the transparency of this agent though I still think asking for a % of the sale is not a good deal unless they can definitively generate for the seller more value than they are asking in compensation, the definition of a win-win.  I thanked them for their offers but told them I was going with FSBO in the mean time.

The next day I had the first agent call me representing some buyers interested in viewing the home.  We set up a time that I coordinated through the renters and they came through.  They weren't interested, but there were already others lined up to come through and see the home.  Each agent asked me if I was willing to offer compensation and I told them I was willing to offer a small percent if their buyers were willing to pay asking price or higher.  As I did this I realized how the buyers in this scenario were at a disadvantage for using a buyer's agent because they all had likely signed an exclusive agreement that required them to work with their agent.  They likely signed that they would pay the buyer's agent in the event that I as the seller wasn't willing to pay the buyer's agent.  If I tell the buyer's agent that I will not pay their broker fees then this will require the buyer to make an offer less than asking to compensate for their agent fees or they will have to pay their agent on top of my asking price.  Further, if the agent's fees are tied to the sale's price of the home, an agent is incentivized to sell the buyer's a home at the maximum of what their lender will give them. Also, if a seller won't pay their fee, then the agent is incentivized to talk negatively about the home to discourage the buyer's from buying it and steer them to other properties that will pay their fee even though the home may be the perfect fit for the buyer.  Over a week and a half I had about 7 agents reach out to me representing buyers.  None of them had found my home, they were only reaching out because their buyer's had seen my home on Zillow and were interested.  

Before most of the prospective buyers could get in to view the home I received my first call from a buyer directly.  They informed me that they'd like to purchase my home and would pay cash.  The stars aligned and I fully recognize that this is not likely a common scenario, but it still resulted in what I consider a perfect win-win sale.  We discussed basic terms and it was in their interest to keep the tenants in the home.  Again, a perfect scenario because my tenants were so awesome.  I relayed that since that was the case I was wondering if they'd be willing to do a quick sale as I was closing on the Utah home in a week and a half.  They said they were willing to do it by offering to accept the home "as is" with the exception of findings of mold or foundation issues if I was willing to come down on my asking price.  I agreed to the terms and we then negotiated back and forth on the final price.  In the end we were both very happy with the terms and we then found someone willing to do the contract and paperwork for us and we lined up a title company who made it all happen in less than a week and a half so that we could sell it prior to the home in Utah allowing me to do a "simultaneous" 1031 exchange where the proceeds from the sale of my old property were transferred direct from the title company to the Utah title company to become a down payment for the new property without getting taxed.  The key rule here is that the IRS will only give you a tax exemption if the proceeds transfer direct, they cannot go into your personal account or be used by you, they must go direct.  So if the exchange happens such that it can go from title company to title company then it within a few days then it satisfies the IRS requirement.  If you sell the old property too soon, the title company likely won't hold onto your money for you unless you are using the same title company for both deals and the other deal is pending closing.  So if you sell well in advance of buying the new replacement property you again will need a QI, someone to hold onto the proceeds for you until you can put those proceeds into the new property.  This type of 1031 exchange is called a "deferred" exchange and is the most common type of 1031.  1031 companies like this kind of exchange because they charge you between $400 and $1500 and they also get to keep all of the interest accrued from your money while they hold it.

Details in what happened in the week and a half before closing.  The same day we verbally made the deal we made the buyer-seller agreement locking in the closing date to happen in a week and a half.   It included the terms that the buyer would accept the home "as is" except for potential mold or foundation issues.  The buyer paid some earnest money into the title company escrow account as "good faith" toward the deal.  The final purchase price was in there as well as any other expected fees or payments per our agreement which was 0 in our case because we didn't use Agents.  Next, the title company reached out to me to get instructions on where to send the money and I told them to send it direct to the title company for my home purchase to facilitate the 1031 exchange.  They also requested signatures from my wife for permission (pay off authorization) to request on my behalf the pay off amount for the outstanding mortgage on the property direct from the lender.  They also coordinated for a mobile notary so that I could sign all the paperwork remotely before the closing date.  Without need of anything from me they also coordinated the swap of me off of all the utilities, HOA and other accounts associated with the home and paid them in full.  After 4 days, the paperwork was ready, I signed via the mobile notary and all money was wired to the title company 2 days in advance of the closing date so all they had to do was make it official with the title on the closing date.  It couldn't have been easier, all facilitated by the title company and no need for a Realtor at all other than to help with the contract for which we paid just a small fee, but even then, we could have done that ourselves had both parties been comfortable doing that.  See more details on each of these steps here: Home Selling & Buying Process Explained.  

In the end, the sale went through smoothly and transparently with minimal expense.  I learned for myself that selling homes yourself isn't rocket science.  There are tons of helps out there to walk you through it or you could call and ask any number of people in title companies etc that can advise you for free.  I learned there are also lots of real estate agents that are willing to negotiate fair terms for services rendered in the event I wanted or needed their help.  My eyes were open to the reality of the market.  I will never get taken advantage of by unscrupulous agents again.  I hope my experience can help you avoid pitfalls in the future as well!

Here is a summary of my Lessons Learned