How to Sell a House Without a Realtor in Oregon

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  Written by Alex Long

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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 Oregon averages 2.5% of the sale price. Considering a typical Oregon house is worth about $474,000, that’s a savings of $12,040.

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 Oregon. Especially considering there are low commission real estate companies that offer professional assistance for a lower cost. 

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

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	$400 to $525	To price your home more accurately
Photography	$148	To compete with homes listed by agents
Staging	$1,529	To stand out to local buyers
Real estate attorney	$250 per hour	To assist with paperwork, contracts, and legal requirements
Flat fee MLS listing	$100 to $1,000	To get listed on the MLS
Buyer’s agent commission	2.5% 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 Oregon, 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 Oregon, sellers pay an average of 2.5% to a listing agent. Considering the median home value in Oregon is $474,000, that amounts to $12,040. 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 Oregon 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 Oregon FSBO sellers, here’s what you need to know.

1. Get your home ready to sell

The sale by owner process in Oregon begins with getting your home ready for staging, listing photos, and showings.

• Repair small items around the home
• Paint the interior if it hasn’t been painted recently
• Address any major issues that may scare buyers away
• Minimize clutter
• Clean the property top to bottom

Make sure any major repairs you make are properly permitted and have the correct documentation as evidence of compliance.

If you’re confident in your photography and presentation abilities, you can handle staging and listing photos yourself. If not, you can hire a stager for around $1,529. Photographers are less expensive at $140 on average.

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

Selecting the correct list price for your Oregon FSBO is critical to your success as a seller. Asking too much or too little could cost you thousands, or tens of thousands, of dollars on your final sale price.

The National Association of Realtors reports that FSBO properties sell for between 5–26% less than homes sold with a traditional realtor. For the average-priced Oregon home, that means you could miss out on anywhere from $23,700 to $123,000.

Try the pricing strategies below to help you land on the optimal listing price for your home.

Get a comparative market analysis (CMA)

A comparative market analysis is one of the primary ways real estate professionals determine the value of a single-family home. It involves using the sale prices of recently sold homes in your area to establish a range for your listing price.

You’ll need to account for differences between similar homes — called “comparables” or “comps” — and yours to accurately price your listing.

This analysis is one of the many services a traditional realtor would provide. Conducting one yourself is possible, but proceed carefully and resist the temptation to skew your numbers to justify a higher listing price.

A better option might be to pay a flat fee MLS company to run the analysis for you. They are objective real estate professionals who will give you a fair estimate of what your home will likely sell for.

Hire an appraiser 

Consider hiring an appraiser if you want the highest-quality estimate of your home’s value. Appraisers are licensed professionals and will do the most work and research to assess what they think your home is worth.

Expect to pay between $300 to $435 for a formal appraisal in Oregon. You can check an appraiser’s credentials on Oregon’s government website.

» LEARN: Should I get an appraisal before selling?

If you’re selling an investment property or expect to make a profit in the hundreds of thousands, make sure you have a plan for any applicable tax liabilities as well.

3. List and market your home

Be sure any marketing materials you use comply with regulations regarding how to sell a house by owner in Oregon. Some of these regulations are for brokers and agents, but it’s still wise to familiarize yourself with the rules.

Rules that could apply to you include restrictions on sign dimensions, the amount of time to remove a sign after sale, and the placement relative to things like sidewalks and fire escapes. Rules may vary depending on your city, so check local ordinances.

Like most Oregon FSBO sellers, you should take advantage of the popular free websites available for listing homes for sale, including:

• Facebook Marketplace
• ForSaleByOwner.com
• Craigslist
• FSBO section of Zillow and Trulia

Paid sites are also an option, but there’s no guarantee the additional expense is worth the added exposure.

If you want maximum exposure, think about working with an Oregon flat fee MLS company.

Oregon flat fee MLS companies

For FSBO sellers, flat fee MLS companies are a hugely important resource. These companies allow you to list on the local MLS despite not being a realtor, which is important because that’s where most realtors go to find listings for their clients. 

In Oregon, this will cost you about $80 to $1,000. Our top picks for flat fee MLS companies in Oregon are:

🥇 By Owner Oregon: Best overall
🥈 Congress Realty: Best for pricing help
🥉 Houzeo: Best for easy-to-use technology

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

Required Oregon seller disclosures

In Oregon, sellers are required to share a local seller disclosure form with any buyer who submits an offer. Failure to do so allows them to back out without consequence anytime before closing.

Intentionally withholding information from buyers about material defects in your home, even if they have been resolved, could also lead to a rescinded sale or potential lawsuits. So when in doubt, it’s best to disclose.

If your home resides in a high flood risk area, you should make this known to your buyers by including a Flood Risk Disclosure. If you’re not sure about this, you can check the FEMA.gov website for flood maps.

Finally, federal legislation requires any home built prior to 1978 to include a Lead-based Paint Disclosure to prospective buyers.

Provide all necessary disclosures to buyers prior to signing an Oregon purchase and sale agreement, either via email, by sharing paper copies, or by including them in your listing.

4. Manage showings on your own

Staying organized is the key to successfully managing showings. Keep a calendar for scheduling appointments and save all email communications with buyers in their own file.

You can use Gmail, Google Calendar, Doodle, or a physical calendar — just make sure your system works for you.

When it’s time to actually show the house, try these tips to maximize your effectiveness and efficiency:

• Schedule appointments in blocks on the same day
• Verify buyers are still coming the day before
• Use a lockbox to allow realtors entry without you being there
• Make plans to be elsewhere, but stay available by phone or email

Buyers like to inspect a home without someone hovering over them, so it’s best to find someplace else to be during showings. However, it’s also common for questions to arise regarding the house, neighborhood, or utilities, so you should be ready to answer those questions if possible.

If you plan to share hard copies of disclosures or flyers, make those easily accessible by placing them on a kitchen countertop.

5. Review and negotiate offers

Offers to purchase your home should come as an Oregon Residential Purchase Agreement — verbal agreements are not legally binding in Oregon and should be avoided. Offers normally have an expiration date, after which they are no longer valid. 

Occasionally buyers will try to gain an edge by including a personal letter (also called “buyer love letters”) to the seller describing reasons why they should sell to that buyer. Although you might be curious about what the buyer has to say, having access to personal information about them might make you vulnerable to claims of discrimination and possible lawsuits. Oregon realtors suggest you avoid reading “buyer love letters” and discourage their inclusion in offers.

When evaluating offers, you can accept, reject, or counteroffer. Read the offers carefully and make sure you understand everything included before you make a decision.

If there is anything you don’t understand about the offer, ask the buyer’s agent or a real estate attorney for an explanation. Although real estate attorneys are not required in Oregon to sell a home, hiring one may still be a good idea to ensure you comply with the law and don’t miss important fine print in an offer.

Offers can be complicated, depending on the terms, so pay attention to high-importance items such as:

• Purchase price
• If it’s financed or a cash offer
• Pre-approval amounts
• Buyer contingencies
• Closing timeline
• Earnest money amount

Many Oregon FSBO sellers are inexperienced and get tunnel vision with the purchase price. That’s an important detail, but you can use other elements of the contract to negotiate a better purchase price, or vice versa. 

Remember that paying for repairs or offering seller credits will deduct from your bottom line, which is the same as settling for a lower sale price, so you should negotiate with those things in mind.

6. Allow the buyer to conduct due diligence

The due diligence period is the time reserved for the buyer to have the property inspected and appraised, and to conduct a title search. This takes place between both parties signing the purchase agreement and closing. This is also the stage where you will be happy you disclosed known issues with the property, because those are not valid reasons for the buyer to back out of the deal.

During this period, buyers may initiate the following processes:

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

A buyer can only back out of the purchase without forfeiting their earnest money deposit if a contingency clause is triggered during the due diligence period. Depending on the terms of the agreement, this may include a low appraisal, a major issue with the home, or failure to sell their own home.

If a contingency clause applies, you may need to renegotiate the deal or allow the buyer to walk away. Speak with an attorney if you want to back out of the deal without a contingency clause.

If the buyer completes due diligence and no issues arise — or you successfully renegotiate — you will be cleared to close.

7. Close

Closing takes place on the date specified in the purchase agreement. These appointments are usually conducted by a third party like a title company or a real estate attorney. During this appointment, you’ll sign a series of forms, including the deed transfer.

You’ll also receive a copy of the closing statement, which itemizes all aspects of the transaction and provides the final amount necessary to complete the sale. Since Oregon is a dry-funding state, it will take a few days before you receive the proceeds of your sale.

For sale by owner paperwork in Oregon

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

• Oregon Residential Purchase Agreement
• Seller Disclosure Form
• Lead-Based Paint Disclosure
• Flood Risk Disclosure

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 Oregon

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 Oregon: 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 Oregon 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!

Cost to Sell a House in Oregon: Seller Closing 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.

How to Sell Your House – The Ultimate Guide: Our guide breaks down the process of selling a house in 12 steps. We discuss how to find and choose a realtor, list your home for sale, review and negotiate offers, close, and calculate capital gains tax.