Why not sell/rent real estate on eBay?

Forgive my ignorance if this is actually happening, but it seems like a good idea that hasn't come into being yet.

Cut out the real estate middlemen and agents. Forget the inflated prices that see properties sit one the market for months and years. Let's cut to the chase and "mark to market."

There are people with rental properties that have been sitting vacant for almost 2 years now, starting to physically decay (property decays faster when nobody is living in it and conducting daily upkeep). They are paying taxes and mortgages but can't sell or rent because they have ridiculous expectations about what their garbagy homes and apartments are really worth. News flash: 2006 ain't coming back, people.

I say, stick that stuff up on ebay. Even if you only get $50 bucks a month or whatever its better than zero, right?

Originally posted by silent thunder
Forgive my ignorance if this is actually happening, but it seems like a good idea that hasn't come into being yet.

Cut out the real estate middlemen and agents. Forget the inflated prices that see properties sit one the market for months and years. Let's cut to the chase and "mark to market."

There are people with rental properties that have been sitting vacant for almost 2 years now, starting to physically decay (property decays faster when nobody is living in it and conducting daily upkeep). They are paying taxes and mortgages but can't sell or rent because they have ridiculous expectations about what their garbagy homes and apartments are really worth. News flash: 2006 ain't coming back, people.

I say, stick that stuff up on ebay. Even if you only get $50 bucks a month or whatever its better than zero, right?

Have you ever sold on ebay?

Ebay has jacked up their fees repeatedly.

Many of the real estate on there are scams. A few years ago I almost fell for a house that didn't exist. The listing had nice pictures and everything.

Some of the 'buyers' refuse to buy after winning the auction. With normal auctions the seller can at least receive a refund of the final value fees, but with real estate auctions the listing doesn't constitute a binding legal agreement, and that tidbit is noted on the page.

Some have successfully sold on ebay, so it's not always bad, but it isn't always as simple as people think.

reply to post by Jessicamsa


OK, thanks for the reasonable answer. No, I'm not an eBay user and in fact I wasn't aware that property was being sold there.

What you write makes sense.

Still...there's got to be a better way...I think prices need to come down hard and fast before we start climbing our way up the ladder again, and I think the Internet could facilitate the "bottoming out" process and make it faster...but I'm not sure how to do this in a reasonable way.

reply to post by silent thunder


Some list on realtor.com

Not sure how you set that up though.

Lots of cheap homes in some places, but most of those places I wouldn't want to live, either.

I have personally purchased real estate on ebay. It went smoothly and without problems.

Many of the real estate on there are scams.

Caveat emptor. Just because you buy online doesn't mean you can't drive out and view the property.

I sold a house on ebay about four years ago. It was fast and easy but I've heard the fees are lot higher now so I'm not sure it would still be worth it.

Ebay has really fallen of the cliff.
The internet and Ebay have been around long enough to reach everybody.
They have been in business long enough for most people to figure out that there are too many scams, no guarantee, and no support.
Me, personally, I like to see stuff, touch it, inspect it.
Ebay sellers lie.
They cheat.
They scam.
And Ebay is like send them an email and work it out.
Oh yeah? Work this out!!

There is FSBO or for sale by owner sites that many people use. This is better then ebay because the fee's are next to nothing to sell your own home and they sell kits to help you out.

eBay's made for bargain hunters.

Have you ever shopped on eBay for cars? People bid no more than 10-20% lower than the KBB price.

Can you imagine how bad and waste of time it would be for home sellers on ebay.

It's just better to go through a local realtor.

I am one of the sellers that will never do business on eBay ever again.

In my case i sold a idem on eBay for about $500 and shipped the idem when the money from pay-pal cleared.

I got a signed receipt from the shipping company that the idem had been delivered.

4 weeks later pay-pal took back the money from my account because the buyer claimed the idem never got delivered.

I then filled a complaint with paypal that i had a signed receipt and that i wanted my money back. and that the buyer only had a complaint with the shipping company "if there" was a problem.

long story was that i never got my money back and pay-pal still owe me $500.

I then put a watch on the buyers eBay account.

11 months later he tried to sell the idem that he claimed he never got.
I then filed another complaint with EBay for that the buyer was now selling the idem he had bought from me and claimed he never got.

EBay did nothing but claim i was wrong.
I filed a police report with the AGs office in my state as the buyer also lived in my state.
There is a warrant out for theft by deception out for the buyer on top of 4 to 5 other warrants for other crimes. (the cops already were looking for him.)

I still have not got my money back from pay-pal/EBay.

Till i do i have no respect for Ebay/Pay-pal.
i will never do business through them again.

i would never buy or rent any property through EBay craigslist has many scams of the same type and with all the foreclosed homes out there the scammer will have a field day selling or renting homes they do not own.

Originally posted by LordBucket
I have personally purchased real estate on ebay. It went smoothly and without problems.

Many of the real estate on there are scams.

Caveat emptor. Just because you buy online doesn't mean you can't drive out and view the property.

Yes, that's what kept me from getting scammed all the way. I went to view the home before handing over the money, and it did not exist. I found a problem with that, so scammer didn't get my money. Some peeps don't do that though and get taken just because scammer had some nice pictures up. I almost fell for it too, but I wanted to be on the safe side, and so glad I did.