How to Sell a House Without a Realtor in Indiana

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  Written by Jon Stubbs

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  Edited by Lindsay Stefan

Should I sell without a realtor? | Cost of selling FSBO | How to sell without a realtor | FSBO paperwork | Best alternative: discount realtors | FAQs

Selling your home without a realtor means you won’t have to pay a listing commission, which in Indiana averages 3.0% of the sale price. Considering a typical Indiana house is worth about $216,000, that’s a savings of $6,394.

However, trying to sell a home For Sale by Owner (FSBO) can be tough. You’ll be responsible for every part of the selling process, so it can cost a lot of your time and energy.

Most homeowners in Indiana find that selling a house without an agent isn’t worth the extra stress. Many don’t even realize they can get professional assistance at a reduced cost with low commission real estate companies. 

If you’re thinking about selling a house without a realtor in Indiana, read on to find out everything you need to know to do it successfully.

Should I sell my house without a realtor?

Selling a house for sale by owner in Indiana comes with many pros and cons. While it’s not recommended for everyone, FSBO can help experienced home sellers save on commission—but only if they know what they’re doing. 

✅Selling your home without a realtor might be right for you if…

• You want to save on commission
• You have plenty of time to take on the responsibilities of a real estate agent
• You already have a buyer lined up 
• You’re in a hot seller’s market and you have a desirable home

🚫 Selling without a realtor might not be right for you if…

• You don’t have a lot of free time
• You’ve never sold a home in Indiana
• You want to sell for market value – or higher

If you’re still not sure, check out our thorough guide to selling FSBO to help you decide. If you’re open to other options, some low-commission real estate companies, like Clever Real Estate, allow you to work with a top local real estate agent at half the typical cost.

Cost of selling a house without a realtor in Indiana

Below, you’ll find a list of prices for common services you might want to consider if you decide to sell without a realtor. However, know that if your home is in need of repairs or is in a buyer’s market, you might need to spend a lot more to prep and market your property.

💸 Common costs for FSBO sellers

Appraisal	$325 to $405	To price your home more accurately
Photography	$186	To compete with homes listed by agents
Staging	$1,089	To stand out to local buyers
Real estate attorney	$200 per hour	To assist with paperwork, contracts, and legal requirements
Flat fee MLS listing	$200 to $1,000	To get listed on the MLS
Buyer’s agent commission	2.7% of sale price	To compensate the agent that represents the buyer (it’s customary for the seller to pay)

On average, it costs 7.5% of the home price to sell by owner and about 10% of the home price to sell with a real estate agent. However, the amount you’ll actually save will depend on repairs you need to make, concessions, and other expenses.

Use our calculator to get an idea of how much you can expect to spend if you sell without a realtor.

If you’re considering selling without a realtor in Indiana, check out our friends at Clever Real Estate. Clever eliminates all the hassles and headaches of FSBO while helping you save thousands on realtor commissions.

In Indiana, sellers pay an average of 3.0% to a listing agent. Considering the median home value in Indiana is $216,000, that amounts to $6,394. But with Clever, you can sell with a top local agent for just 1.5%, letting you keep more of your home’s equity in your pocket.

7 steps to sell a home in Indiana without a realtor

Selling a home without a realtor involves many of the same steps as selling with one, except you’re on your own. To learn more about the basic steps to sell, read our simple, 12-step guide to selling a house. 

For Indiana FSBO sellers, here’s what you need to know.

1. Get your home ready to sell

Your home should be more than just clean before showings. Remove clutter like books, magazines, and other knick-knacks from tables and shelves. Take out any excess furniture. You want the home to feel spacious without seeming empty.

As you’re taking down personal items like family photos, patch the holes in the wall. A fresh coat of off-white or light gray paint is a great way to make a room look new and bright. 

Increase curb appeal by cleaning up outside and completing minor landscape projects. If it’s after the last frost (usually after May 15 in Indiana), plant annual or perennial flowers like hibiscus, which does well in Indiana. Replace bare spots in your flower bed with leafy green hosta. 

Professional stagers can help you swap out furniture and suggest ways to make the home more appealing. This costs about $1,089 in Indiana.

📸 While your home is looking its best, snap some photos. 

You’ll need about 25–50 photos of your home’s interior and exterior for your listing, so why not take them when the home is clean. Wait for a sunny day and be sure to take pictures from the corners of each room to show as much as possible. You can also hire a professional photographer, which costs about $186 per session. 

If your home needs too much work to sell to a typical buyer, you might consider selling to a cash buyer. You can quickly compare cash buyer offers against your home’s value on the open market with Clever Offers. Try it for free with no obligation.

2. Price your home accurately

If thinking about the price stresses you out, you’re not alone: 20% of Americans surveyed said settling on a price for their home was the hardest part of selling.

Listing your home for a price too low means you’ll leave money on the table, but a price that’s too high means the home could sit on the market for months. If you’re selling FSBO in Indiana, you won’t have a realtor help you set the price, but you can use some of the same pricing methods real estate agents use. 

Get a comparative market analysis (CMA)

A comparative market analysis—or CMA for short—is a realtor’s go-to method for determining the listing price for a property. A CMA is a report of recently sold homes in the neighborhood that are similar in age, size, and condition to your home. Knowing what other homes are selling for will give you a good idea of what buyers would pay for yours. 

Most realtors will prepare a CMA for all of their new clients, so you could express interest in working with an agent and ask for one. Or, you could create your own CMA. Some flat fee MLS services will provide you with an option to pay for a CMA, too. 

Be honest about your home’s condition. If you opt to create your own CMA, you’ll need to describe your home’s condition. Choosing “excellent” when “good” is more appropriate will artificially inflate the value of your home. If you think you’ll have trouble giving an unbiased opinion, ask a friend or family member to weigh in on those questions. 

Hire an appraiser 

An appraisal is the most accurate method of determining the value of your home. A professional appraiser will come to your home and inspect it inside and out in order to set a value. If you end up selling to a buyer using financing, their lender may eventually send an appraiser to make sure the home is worth the cost of the loan. In Indiana, an appraisal costs between $325 to $405. 

» LEARN: Should I get an appraisal before selling?

3. List and market your home

Before listing your home, read Indiana’s rules about advertising real estate. Most rules only apply to realtors, but you need to be extra careful, since you won’t have a realtor reviewing your listing. 

Start by listing on free FSBO listing websites like Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, ForSaleByOwner.com, and Zillow/Trulia (in the FSBO section). These sites will get your information out there, but you’ll need to list on the MLS to make sure you’re competing with all of the other listings. If you want maximum exposure, think about working with an Indiana flat fee MLS company.

Indiana flat fee MLS companies

The MLS is an online database that includes every realtor’s listing in the local area. Websites like Zillow and Realtor.com pull from the local MLS to display listings. You have to be a realtor to list on the MLS, but as a FSBO seller, you can pay a flat fee to brokerages to list your home. 

Flat fee MLS companies have different service packages which include various photo limits and number of months on the MLS. You can also pay more for add-ons like a lock box or a yard sign. 

In Indiana, this will cost you about $200 to $1,000, depending on which company and services you choose. 

Our top picks for flat fee MLS companies in Indiana are:

• Mentor Listing Realty: Best for hard-to-sell homes
• Flat Fee Realty: Best for inexperienced sellers
• Flat Fee Group: Best bang for your buck

Read our in-depth guide to Indiana’s flat fee MLS companies to decide which one works best for you.

Required Indiana Seller Disclosures

Indiana law requires sellers to provide a residential property disclosure form for the buyer to sign before the buyer can make an offer on your home. Federal law requires that you provide a lead-based paint disclosure form if your home was built before 1978. If you’re near a flood zone, some mortgages require you to provide a Flood Risk Disclosure Guide from FEMA.

Attach these documents to the listing and send them digitally to interested buyers and their agents. Leave copies on a kitchen counter in the home for buyers to take during showings and open houses. 

4. Manage showings on your own

With a little luck, you’ll be busy managing showing times and open houses not long after listing the home. Keeping track of these appointments can be hectic, so it’s important to stay organized. 

Use free tools like Google Spreadsheets and Calendar to record the date, time, and contact information for the buyers’ agents. If your phone rings, pick it up! Most buyers have a long list of homes to choose from, so if a question about your home goes unanswered, they may just move on. 

Keep in mind that it’s difficult for buyers to imagine themselves in the home with the current owners present. Leave the home before buyers arrive so they can tour the home without any interference. Get a lock box from a local hardware store for about $50 so you can provide realtors access when you’re not there. 

💡Tip: Schedule showing appointments back to back. If prospective buyers are passing each other on their way to and from the home, it can create a buzz and sense of competition. Scheduling in blocks like this also helps minimize the time you need to spend away from the home. 

Choose a noticeable place in your home like a kitchen counter to leave out disclosure forms and flyers that include the home’s description and your contact information. 

5. Review and negotiate offers

When you get an offer, it will come in the form of a purchase and sale agreement, also known as a buy-sell agreement. This is what an Indiana real estate purchase agreement typically looks like. 

An agent’s advice is especially valuable when reviewing offers. Since you’re on your own, you need to be extra cautious before making a decision. 

Besides the offer price, here are a few things to pay attention to:

Contingencies. Buyers will sometimes ask for favors to help them buy the house, called contingencies. A common contingency is a request that you wait for their old home to sell before closing on this home. The buyer may also ask that the sale is contingent on them being approved for a loan, meaning they can back out if the loan falls through. Consider if any contingencies are worth it to you before agreeing. 

Cash vs. financed offers. Most home purchases are financed by a mortgage lender. Financed offers are a bit more complicated than cash because the lender has to make sure the home is worth the amount of the loan. Cash offers are typically preferred, but there are some exceptions. 

Repair credits. Some buyers will list specific reasons why they’re offering less than the asking price. For example, if the roof is leaky, they might offer the asking price minus the cost of roof repair. In some cases, this might be a simple way to deal with repairs that are too costly and time-consuming to do before selling. 

You have three options for responding to an offer: accept it, reject it, or make a counteroffer by amending the form. Your counteroffer can include changes to the price or any contingencies the buyers are requesting. 

If you get a lowball offer, you can simply reject it. For offers that are close but a little less than what you hoped, consider making a counteroffer. Know that if your counteroffer is too aggressive, the buyer may walk away. If you need guidance on negotiation, read our comprehensive list of negotiation strategies. 

A real estate attorney isn’t required by law to sell a home in Indiana, but hiring one to review the purchase agreement might give you peace of mind.

6. Allow the buyer to conduct due diligence

Once you accept an offer, you’ll enter into the “due diligence” period in which the buyer (and their lender, if applicable) will make sure the home is a good investment. 

During this period, the following may occur:

• Inspection
• Appraisal
• Mortgage underwriting
• Property title search
• Final walkthrough

If an inspector or appraiser uncovers something that changes the value of the home, you can return to negotiations. In the worst-case scenario, the buyers will walk away from the deal. But if all goes well, you can move on to closing. 

Both the seller and the buyer are free to walk away from the deal at any time during this process, but we recommend talking to a lawyer before doing so. 

7. Close

In Indiana, closings are usually held at a broker’s office, but they can also take place at the office of a title company or an attorney. All co-owners are required to be present. You’ll sign a lot of documents at the closing appointment, the most important of which is the deed transfer, which officially makes the buyer the new owner.

At the end of the closing appointment, you’ll receive a statement that includes all of the details about money earned on the sale, minus your closing costs. In Indiana, you’ll receive a check or bank transfer for the final tally the same day.

Indiana for sale by owner documents

Here’s a list of the Indiana paperwork you’ll need to sell your home without a realtor.

• Seller Disclosure Form
• Lead-Based Paint Disclosure
• Flood Risk Disclosure
• Indiana Real Estate Purchase Agreement

Not finding what you’re looking for? Check out our comprehensive list of paperwork for selling your house without a realtor.

Best alternative: work with a discount broker

For many people, trying to sell without an agent isn’t worth the hassle. If you think you’ll need some help along the way, a discount broker is a good alternative.

Discount brokers are full-service real estate agents who are willing to work for a reduced commission rate. Sellers can save thousands while still receiving assistance from an expert local agent.

» READ: The Best Discount Real Estate Brokers in Indiana

For discount broker services, we highly recommend our friends at Clever! Clever pre-negotiates with top agents to offer you low commission rates without compromising on service quality.

Related links

If you need some extra help with selling your Indiana home, check out these other seller resources:

Average Real Estate Commission in Indiana: What’s Fair in 2022?: Realtors earn a commission for each property they sell. Find out how much Indiana agents expect to earn and what you can do to negotiate a lower rate. 

How to Sell a House By Owner: Paperwork You Need: If you decide to sell without a realtor, you’ll be responsible for completing all the required documents. Find out what forms and paperwork you’ll need here. 

Top We Buy Houses Companies in Indiana REVEALED: Need to sell your home fast? Find out if working with a We Buy Houses company is the right option for you.