Anyone ever tried to sell a house with Comfree?

[distrbd]

What was your experience with Comfree? would you recommend their service?
Our house is probably one of the very few houses available in our neighborhood and the demand i have found out is higher than what's available so selling it should not take long,a bidding war is also very likely,so we are contemplating selling it ourselves.
If you have used Comfree in the past please let us know what you think of it ,was the money you saved substantial/worth the effort .
Thank you.

[J. Vibert]

I've never used Comfree, but what I do know is that their listings are not listed on the MLS. So basically unless someone knows enough to look on the Comfree website, or happens to drive by your home, they're not going to know it's for sale. That might make a possible bidding war less likely.

Best of luck with your sale.

[mreza]

I've never used Comfree, but what I do know is that their listings are not listed on the MLS. So basically unless someone knows enough to look on the Comfree website, or happens to drive by your home, they're not going to know it's for sale. That might make a possible bidding war less likely.

Best of luck with your sale.

That was old days. Now their listing shows up on MLS also, for a small fee.
When it was boom days here in Alberta many people would sell with Comfree. Even these days many use, my neighbor two houses down from me sold her house 2 months ago with comfree in 11 days only $3k below asking price and the asking price was quite fair (and I think at the end she got more than what she would through a realtor).

The downside is: even though it is listed on MLS it shows it's a comfree listing. So realtors know there is not money there to show it to their clients.
What you could do to increase your chances is to say something like "Realtors welcome" and you'd pay something to a realtor if s/he brings a client to you.

[J. Vibert]

That was old days. Now their listing shows up on MLS also, for a small fee.

Ahh... Good to know. I've seen several Comfree signs on the front of yards in my area, and none of the ones I was interested in were listed on MLS, (I'm in the market so I do check those kinds of things ). I just assumed that's the way it was.

[red_langford]

80% of the houses here sell privately. I saw a sale of a floating house where the closing listed on the sales form said "one week after ice out"

If you are not in a hurry to sell, try privately first, you can always add ComFree later.

[stotto]

That was old days. Now their listing shows up on MLS also, for a small fee.

I follow real estate fairly close and have never seen a Comfree listing on MLS. They have their own website but not MLS.

I have not ever listed with them but have viewed a number of houses listed with them. They always seem to be way over priced. My theory is that a homeowner is biased, will always put more value in their home than a realtor who has a better knowledge of market evaluation and is not emotionally attached.



If you are truly serious and dedicated to selling your house, know the market extremely well, know how to stage, are willing to take the time and are a great salesperson ( closer). Use Comfree. If not, find a good realtor. They are not easy to find but are out there.

Avoid the ones wearing plaid jackets, white shoes, wide ties, fortrel slacks, who wink a lot or nudge you while they talk.

That is my two cents.

stan

[mreza]

Stan, here is one that is a couple of blocks away from our house:

http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetail...dKey=478419328
http://comfree.com/2-storey-for-sale...alberta-297676

Note that the MLS listing specifically lists comfree as the realtor and if click on it it goes to comfree site.
I'm sure there are many others, if you look carefully. According to Comfree site you can have your listing shown on MLS for $299.

I agree that a lot of people listing with comfree are asking too high of a price but if you know the market value (which is not hard to find out) and do a good job of showing the house and (this one is the most important) the market is a sellers market you'd do quite fine. I know quite a few people who sold back in 2007 (the boom) above asking price in less than 2 weeks with comfree.

[Andrew_K99]

Personally I look at houses listed with comfree (or similar) with caution, for a few reasons. 1) Price, a home owner will always be biased and think their house is worth more. (Maybe they're listing privately because they didn't like the price a realator suggested/wanted?) 2) The home owner is trying to save money by not using a realator, what else have they tried saving money on? Cheap maintenance/repairs? 3) If I were interested I wouldn't want to deal with the home owner, they're too emotionally attached and might not like what you have to say if you're looking for a price cut. (IE The house needs to be painted as the colours are horible = owner, but I love those colours! I won't give you a credit to paint) 4) Will there be any delays or issues dealing with someone that is not familier with all the paper work involved?

Obviously these properties sell, but I personally, would be much more inclined to go to a property listed by a realator. Unless the curb appeal and location are perfect I wouldn't likely inquire.

Just my 2¢

AK

[Les@Brownsville]

ditto what Andrew said..

[stotto]

Stan, here is one that is a couple of blocks away from our house:

http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetail...dKey=478419328
http://comfree.com/2-storey-for-sale...alberta-297676

Note that the MLS listing specifically lists comfree as the realtor and if click on it it goes to comfree site.
I'm sure there are many others, if you look carefully. According to Comfree site you can have your listing shown on MLS for $299.

I agree that a lot of people listing with comfree are asking too high of a price but if you know the market value (which is not hard to find out) and do a good job of showing the house and (this one is the most important) the market is a sellers market you'd do quite fine. I know quite a few people who sold back in 2007 (the boom) above asking price in less than 2 weeks with comfree.

mreza,
I sit corrected. This must be something fairly new. Thanks for pointing this out. Smart move on Comfree's part.

Andrew K99,
As far as paper work goes, and it pains me to say this ( my ex-wife was a lawyer) but if you don't have a lawyer looking after title transfer, RPR, closingdate , lock change/ key exchange, etc, you're asking for trouble. Also be warned that you might end up paying a lawyer more if you don't have a realtor involved. All those phone calls and paper clips ad up.

Good luck either method you choose. Selling and buying property can be exciting and stressful.

stan

[Chimera]

I have sold a house privately but we both had lawyers. thus you are protected but neither party havt to pay realtor fees.

I got what I wanted out of the deal...priced it fairly, and it sold in a week...with just a sign in the front window.

[ET.Ontario]

I sold my condo on comfree. It took 48h and I've sold for $8000 over asking price.

They now offer to list your house on MLS for a small fee and to add more visibility to your listing. I feel that when people are looking for a house, they are looking everywhere anyway.

Realtors pictures make all the houses look like crack houses. Comfree sends their agent to take pictures with a camera that has a special software that make everything look better.

Comfree is awesome. An agent does not protect you more than by selling your house yourself, this is realtor FUD (fear, uncertainity, doubt). They provide all the paperwork to close the deal and you just have to fill out the blanks. Think about it, the realtor does the same, he's got all his papers provided by the agency. They are an endangered species.

I prefer to keep that 5% of hard earned money instead of giving it to a ********* that doesn't even know how to spell bathroom.

[Bob just past Ayr]

I have sold houses with Property Guys and Comfree both went quite smoothly and would do it again. I paid the extra to have the most recent one on Comfree listed on MLS but did not feel it was worth the extra. Most buyers are looking on Comfree and MLS and very few agents will sell a Comfree listing because they see it as a threat to their livelyhood.
Beware of off shore offers. I herd of one that came through an agent and it turned out bogas.
I agree with E T Ontario about their pictures.
Selling your oun home is not for everyone but if you can take the emotion out of it and don't mind dealing with the public then it will pay you very for your time and effort.

Good luck

[Andy in Georgetown]

I bought my house through Peartree I think it was. They supplied all the paperwork and things like offer letter were almost identical to that of the TREB papers. I took it to a real estate lawyer and he said all was in order. We paid slightly less than most other similar listings in the area but then the guy had the property listed for almost 3 months and had reduced the asking price twice in that time.

[J. Vibert]

Realtors pictures make all the houses look like crack houses. Comfree sends their agent to take pictures with a camera that has a special software that make everything look better.

Comfree is awesome. An agent does not protect you more than by selling your house yourself, this is realtor FUD (fear, uncertainity, doubt). They provide all the paperwork to close the deal and you just have to fill out the blanks. Think about it, the realtor does the same, he's got all his papers provided by the agency. They are an endangered species.

I prefer to keep that 5% of hard earned money instead of giving it to a ********* that doesn't even know how to spell bathroom.

I'm thinking extreme short term with potentially selling my current home. I happened to buy right before the down swing, (yay for me) so if I sold today I may make a few thousand tops, before agent fees that is. This has made me think real hard about selling privately or through Comfree. I simply can't afford to pay an agent to simply list my home on MLS and stand there during veiwings.

Even though this wasn't my thread to begin with, I'm glad to read all the positive feedback from those who have sold via private services. Looks as though I may have to go the private route, and keep what small amount of equity I've earned. The only downside is I like my realitor, and to make matters worse, her past efforts, including her spelling are impeccable.

[distrbd]

This has made me think real hard about selling privately or through Comfree.

I'm still not sure ,it is tempting , know a Realtor who will charge %3.75 ("gold service ) this way we could focus all our efforts on finding a decent place to retire,we'll see.


Thank you all for your replies ,I now feel a bit more at ease with using comfree IF we decide to go that route.

[mreza]

Be careful about those low rate Realtors. Typically the system (to which Realtors have access to) shows the commission involved and a buyers Realtor will notice
this and that there is not much money to be made for him/her (just like a private listing) so the chances of the showing it to his/her clients is very small. Thus you get
nothing more than a listing on MLS with them.

In my opinion most (not all) Realtors do very little (or next to nothing) beyond a posting on MLS. They are (right next to car salesmen) those profession that I feel
are not really needed for most people (every time I bought a car I knew more about the car and all its features and details than the salesman trying to sell it to me)
If you know the value of the house and have a good inspector (as a buyer) and a lawyer to close there is not much you'd need. There are some numbers (like sale prices of similar houses
or how many times a property is re-listed) that MLS doesn't show you, but in an ideal world if these numbers are all public, I don't see where the Realtors could help most home owners.

[dickandjane]

Be careful about those low rate Realtors. Typically the system (to which Realtors have access to) shows the commission involved and a buyers Realtor will notice
this and that there is not much money to be made for him/her (just like a private listing) so the chances of the showing it to his/her clients is very small. Thus you get
nothing more than a listing on MLS with them.

In my opinion most (not all) Realtors do very little (or next to nothing) beyond a posting on MLS. They are (right next to car salesmen) those profession that I feel
are not really needed for most people (every time I bought a car I knew more about the car and all its features and details than the salesman trying to sell it to me)
If you know the value of the house and have a good inspector (as a buyer) and a lawyer to close there is not much you'd need. There are some numbers (like sale prices of similar houses
or how many times a property is re-listed) that MLS doesn't show you, but in an ideal world if these numbers are all public, I don't see where the Realtors could help most home owners.

When we bought our house, we told our realtor what houses we'd be looking at - any realtor refusing to show certain properties wouldn't last very long with us.(Although I agree that they'd be reticent to arrange for a viewing on a comfree property.)

I don't know what'll happen with realtors/MLS in the future but I can't see Comfree etc going away. Now that they have opened the MLS to non-com folks it's going to get tricky for the full fee guys.

[RosyComFree]

Hi Stan,

Since January 2012, ComFree's business model has evolved. In Alberta and in Ontario, the services to homeowners are provided by Commonsense Network, a brokerage duly registered in each of those two provinces under the applicable real estate/brokerage act, and so we post MLS listings for clients under the ComFree network banner. In British-Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, New-Brunswick and Nova-Scotia, the services are provided to private sellers through a "for-sale-by-owner" model.

I hope this clears things up somewhat. Have a great weekend! Rosy Saadeh, Social Media Marketing Manager at ComFree

[OttawaP]

I think it's a tough call with the discount services. When i sold with an agent in 2010 the MLS service was just starting with the discount places. I considered it but with an agent I got the highest price ever on our street to date, three competing well over asking price offers of financially preapproved buyers with their agents, a sale in 4 days, a quick closing, and no work on my part (actually we went away for the weekend). I probably netted out the same in the end I feel. I have sold previously on my own with an ad in the local paper and that went really well too. Selling on your own is not for the faint hearted, you never know who is showing up at your door, like kijiji some people just never show up for appointments, dealing with flakey people is always a frsutration.