How to Sell a House Without a Realtor in Louisiana

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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 Louisiana averages 2.7% of the sale price. Considering a typical Louisiana house is worth about $187,000, that’s a savings of $5,086.

However, trying to sell a home For Sale by Owner (FSBO) can be tough. It will cost you a lot of time and energy.

In the end, selling a house without a real estate agent isn’t worth it for most homeowners in Louisiana. Especially considering there are low commission real estate companies that offer professional assistance for a lower cost. 

If you’re considering FSBO in Louisiana, 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 Louisiana 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 Louisiana
• 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 Louisiana

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	$395 to $450	To price your home more accurately
Photography	$165	To compete with homes listed by agents
Staging	$1,700	To stand out to local buyers
Real estate attorney	$100 per hour	To assist with paperwork, contracts, and legal requirements
Flat fee MLS listing	$250 to $500	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)

Overall, 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 Louisiana, check out our friends at Clever Real Estate. Clever eliminates all the hassles and headaches of FSBO while helping you pay less than you would for a traditional realtor.

In Louisiana, sellers pay an average of 2.7% to a listing agent. Considering the median home value in Louisiana is $187,000, that amounts to $5,086. 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 Louisiana 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. 

To sell FSBO in Louisiana, here’s what you need to know.

1. Get your home ready to sell

Even if your home is in immaculate condition, it’s probably not quite ready for showings. You’ll need to declutter the rooms, removing as much furniture and decor as possible to make the interior look roomy and move-in ready. Since you don’t have a realtor to help you stage your home, ask a friend or other neutral party for help deciding what to remove. 

Minor landscaping projects outside can help shape a buyer’s first impression of your home. Many flowers bloom year-round in Louisiana, so find some bright blooms that will add color and curb appeal to your home. 

A new coat of neutral-color paint in the living room can refresh and brighten the interior. Be sure to put away all personal items like family photos so it’s easy for buyers to imagine themselves living in the home. 

If you need help staging your home, or if you’re not happy with your current furniture, you can hire a professional stager for about $1,700 in Louisiana. 

📸 While the home is looking its best, take photos. 

Wait for a sunny day and take about 25-50 photos of the interior and exterior of your home. Be sure to photograph each part of the house in its best light, which may be at different times of the day for different rooms. If you’d rather hire a professional photographer, you can book one in Louisiana for about $165 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

Settling on the right price for your home is one of the most important and difficult decisions you’ll make as a seller. In fact, 20% of Americans surveyed said that pricing their home was the toughest part of selling. 

The stakes are high when pricing your home: a price that’s too low means lost money, a price that’s too high could lead to the house sitting on the market for months. If you have a home for sale by owner in Louisiana, you won’t have the experience and knowledge of an agent to help, either. Luckily, there are other resources you can turn to.

Get a comparative market analysis (CMA)

A comparative market analysis (or CMA) is what all realtors use to decide the list price of a home. A CMA is a report of recently sold homes in the area with the same size, age, condition and other features as the home you’re selling. If you know what people are paying for similar homes, you can get a good idea of what they’d be willing to pay for yours. 

Many realtors will prepare a CMA for a client who expresses interest in working with them. Or, you can learn how to create your own CMA. If you choose to work with a flat fee MLS service, they may offer a CMA for an added fee. 

Watch out for personal bias when creating your own CMA. You’ll need to be objective when describing the condition of your home for a CMA. Usually a realtor takes this task on. If you’re doing it yourself, it might be best to ask a friend or family member to give an honest assessment of your property to avoid overpricing. 

Hire an appraiser 

An appraisal is one of the most accurate methods for determining the value of your home. An appraiser will visit your home, inspect it, and provide their professional opinion of how much it’s worth. If you end up selling to a buyer who is financing the purchase, the lender will likely send an appraiser before closing anyway, so it’s not a bad idea to get an appraisal of your own early on. In Louisiana, an appraisal costs between $395 to $450. 

» LEARN: Should I get an appraisal before selling?

3. List and market your home

Before listing your home for sale in Louisiana, be sure to read over the rules for advertising real estate in the state. Many of the rules apply to realtors, but since you won’t have a realtor of your own to review your listing, you must be extra careful that you’re not breaking any rules. 

To start, list your home on free FSBO listing websites like Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, ForSaleByOwner.com, and Zillow/Trulia. These sites will give your listing some visibility, but in order to have your listing seen by buyers’ agents, you’ll need to list on the MLS.

The MLS is where all listing agents advertise the homes they’re selling. As a FSBO seller, you can’t list on the MLS directly—only realtors can do that. However, you can work with a broker who will list your home on the MLS for a flat fee. If you want maximum exposure, think about working with a Louisiana flat fee MLS company.

Louisiana flat fee MLS companies

Paying a flat fee MLS company to list your property on the MLS will put your home alongside all of the homes listed by realtors. This means that when buyers and their agents are browsing for homes, they’ll see your listing. 

In Louisiana, a flat fee MLS listing will cost you about $200–500, depending on the service package you choose. 

Our top picks for flat fee MLS services in Louisiana are:

• Congress Realty: Best for pricing support
• Flat Fee Realty: Best for rock-bottom pricing
• FSBO.com: Best for showing off your home

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

Can I use a For Sale by Owner sign in Louisiana?

If you’re using a flat fee MLS service in Louisiana, you’re required to rent or buy a yard sign from the company instead of using your own. This is because you’re technically represented by the flat fee MLS company as a brokerage, even if you don’t have a realtor. 

Louisiana law requires sellers to provide a residential property disclosure form. Federal law requires that you provide a lead-based paint disclosure form if your home was built before 1978. 

The Louisiana Real Estate Commission recommends that sellers provide a mold informational pamphlet as well as a Flood Risk Disclosure Guide from FEMA.  

You can attach these documents to the listing, send them digitally to interested buyers and their agents, or leave copies in the home for buyers to take during showings and open houses. 

4. Manage showings on your own

Hopefully, you’ll receive a number of requests for showings soon after listing the home. It’s crucial to keep track of showing appointments and to respond quickly to questions from buyers and their agents. Most buyers have a long list of homes to look at and if they’re having trouble communicating with you, they’ll simply lose interest and move on.

Simple free tools such as Google Spreadsheets and Google Calendar are all you’ll need to keep track of showing times and contact information. You just need to be diligent about keeping everything updated. Some flat fee MLS services provide access to apps such as ShowingTime that can help as well. 

💡Tip: Leave the house before showing appointments. As much as you might like to play host to prospective buyers, it’s important to give them space to explore the home on their own and have frank discussions about their likes and dislikes. Having the owner there stifles that conversation.

Get a lockbox from a local hardware store—it should cost about $50—so you can leave a key for buyers’ agents. 

Be flexible with showing appointments, but if it’s possible, try to schedule showings back to back. This way, buyers will see their potential competition arriving to see the home. This can create buzz and a sense of urgency to make an offer. 

Leave out flyers with your contact information, along with all disclosure forms, on a table or kitchen counter where they’re noticeable. Be prepared to answer calls, emails, and text messages immediately when you receive them. 

5. Review and negotiate offers

When you receive offers from buyers and their agents, they’ll be in the form of a purchase and sale agreement (also known as a buy-sell agreement). This is what the form typically looks like in Louisiana.

If you had a listing agent, they would review the offer with you and give you their opinion on whether it’s fair. As a FSBO seller, you’ll have to reach a conclusion on your own, after carefully reviewing all of the details. 

Along with the offer price, make sure you pay attention to the following:

Is the offer cash or financed? Financed offers are common, but they’re more complicated because the bank needs to research the investment it’s making before lending money to the buyer. Cash offers are faster and generally preferred, but there are some exceptions. 

Are the buyers asking for any contingencies? A contingency is a favor the buyer is asking for to help the deal go through. For example, a buyer might ask that you accept their offer but wait until they sell their current house before moving to closing. It’s up to you to decide if the contingencies make sense for you. 

Do the buyers explain why they’re offering less than asking? Sometimes, buyers will mention specific issues and ask for money as a credit toward repair. For example, a buyer could offer $5,000 less than the asking price to use the savings to repair a deck. Weigh these offers carefully and consider if the price reduction is fair. 

Once you’re through evaluating the offer, you have three options: accept the offer, reject it, or propose a counteroffer by amending the form.

If you get an offer that you’re sure is way too low, you can just reject it. If the offer is close but not quite there, consider a counteroffer. Keep in mind that if you counter with something too high, you likely won’t hear back. 

A real estate attorney isn’t required by law to sell a home in Louisiana, 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, it’s time for the buyer to make sure the home is a good investment, which is known as “due diligence.” 

During the due diligence period between the offer acceptance and closing, the following steps may occur (depending on what’s outlined in the purchase agreement):

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

Any of these steps could uncover things that either lead to further negotiations or, in the worst case, cause the buyer to back out of the sale. For example, a previously undetected leak in the basement that would be costly to repair can change what the buyer is willing to pay. Big problems that affect the value of the home could also affect the buyer’s ability to get a mortgage. 

Either party is free to walk away from the deal at any time, but we recommend that you speak to a lawyer before doing so. 

Once you resolve any issues with the buyer, you’ll be ready to move forward to closing.

7. Close

In Louisiana, closings are usually held at the office of a title company, a realtor, or an attorney. Be prepared to sign a lot of paperwork at the appointment. Once you sign the deed transfer, the buyer officially takes possession of the property. 

Once closing is complete, you’ll receive a closing statement with all of the details about how much you earned on the sale and what you paid in closing costs. In Louisiana, you can expect a check or bank transfer with your proceeds the same day.

For sale by owner paperwork in Louisiana

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

• Residential Property Disclosure Form
• Lead-Based Paint Disclosure Form
• Mold informational Pamphlet
• Flood Risk Disclosure Guide 

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

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’d like some more advice about selling your home, here are a few great resources to check out:

How realtor commissions work in Louisiana: Even if you decide to sell your house without an agent, it’s still a good idea to offer commission to the buyer’s agent. Learn how much realtors expect to earn and what you can do to make your listing more appealing to agents and their clients.

Top We Buy Houses Companies in Louisiana REVEALED: If you need to sell your home in a hurry, a We Buy Houses company may purchase your house as-is for a reduced rate. Find out if this option could be the best option for you here!

How Much Does it Cost to Sell a House? True Costs Revealed: Wondering how much you’ll have to pay to sell your house? Check out this article to calculate your repair budget, closing fees, marketing expenses, and more.