Question about selling a home. What is the best approach with a real estate agent?

fungal_gourmet: Question about selling a home. What is the best approach with a real estate agent?
I have a home in a neighborhood where houses are selling for between 170000 and 190000. The house needs a little work, but a realtor told me a couple of weeks ago that with 2000 worth of repairs(carpet, paint, and a bit of landscaping) it could reasonably list for 179000. His commission is 6%. I haven’t signed a contract yet. I am aware commission is negotiable. My situation is I don’t have the 2000 for the repairs and have no way to come up with it in the near future. My payment is going to increase $ 450 next month and I can’t afford it. Refinancing is not an option. I absolutely have to walk away with at least 160000 and I need to sell pretty quickly. When talking with a realtor should I express my urgency to sell? Should I tell them up front that I have to make 160000 after their commission and closing costs? If I shared this info with a realtor would it hurt my chances of them trying to get me any more than 160000? How should I approach this? Thanks.
I am going to do the painting myself. The carpet is terrible. I want to put in something very cheap but more importantly clean. I just don’t have any extra money. I am in the middle of painting, but currently can’t even afford the paint I need to finish. As far as landscaping, really all that is needed is a few bags of mulch, otherwise the house looks pretty good from the outside.

Answers and Views:

Answer by ogrendle
Be upfront. If you do not tel them everythibg you tie their hands and there wil be un-pleasant surprises later.

Answer by Still reading
They will always negotiate, but you need to be realistic. The likelihood of getting a closing in the timeframe you need without investing the $ 2000 the realtor recommends is probably nil. The houses that sell quickly are either priced way below market value (you don’t have enough room with the dollars you need), or they’re sharp and ready for move-in. I’d share my situation and see how interested the realtor is in helping you. Some realtors might be willing to lend you the $ 2000 to make this happen, but you can’t expect to find a realtor who will do that and come down on commission requirement. Remember, only half the commission is on the seller’s side, so you’re really only negotiating off 3%.

Answer by godged
Ask your realtor to give you a net proceeds sheet. This will calculate what you owe, commissions, your closing costs, etc., and get you the bottom dollar you can accept to get out without contributing.

Be honest with your realtor about the urgency to sell.

Can you do some of the things the realtor asked? Carpet is expensive and not a place you want to cut corners. If it needs painted, paint is cheap and you can do that yourself. Paint makes a huge difference in a home. Also, think about doing some of the landscaping, curb appeal is huge. After driving up to a house, it never ceases to amaze me how people form an opinion about a house in the first 3 seconds of seeing it.

About negotiating commission, as the other poster said, realtors split commission. The 6% is split between the selling agent and the buyers agent, then the 3% is split between the realtors and their agency, so it is actually less than 3% that you are negotating on.

Answer by hollywoodmelody
You can sell it yourself. How does the bathroom and kitchen look? Trying to look at your house through a buyer’s eyes is tough but if your bottomline is you want $ 160,000 then price it correctly by yourself. Look at other homes and compare. Sometimes you can benefit by doing all the legwork yourself.

Sold my own home and am not a licensed real estate agent or realtor. (yes, there is a difference)