We are/may be in the very early stages of selling our current home and finding another locally. H and I have completely different mind frames about what needs to be done to a home before putting up for sale. I read Zillow/Realtor.com like its the daily newspaper (LOL) and he hasn’t thought about house buying since we bought our current home is some rough shape 24 years ago.
We want to have a realtor come out and tell us what we should/shouldn’t do to get our home ready to list and to also give us an estimated listing price. I have a couple of realtors I know or have a slight relationship with (one was my son’s realtor and one is a casual FB friend from church/school days).
Is it a good idea/wrong idea to have more than one come through? I’ll eventually only be able to pick one of them to represent us - though actually they both work for the same realty company - is that a problem to have them both come out representing one company? I liked my son’s realtor - and she did well with them and a couple of his wife’s family members…but I also know the other person seems like a good realtor - i.e. she seems to be selling lots of homes and she knows our neighborhood well!
We always interview at least three realtors when we go to sell. That said, the marketing strategy will probably be the same if you have realtors from the same office. In that case, I think I’d choose the one you think would be a better fit, and then have others from different agencies.
They should give you a market analysis for the sales price for your home, tips for what you need to do to get it market ready, and then details on how they will market your property.
I agree that you should interview several realtors from different agencies. The only thing that I would caution is that if you are in a sellers market to not let the realtors push you to make a bunch of improvements if houses in your area are selling very quickly. My area is a very hot market right now and there is basically no inventory so if a house comes up for sale there are multiple offers when it hits the market.
I’m disappointed that I realized they both work for the same company! - different offices but same company. I “know” a third who is at another company but am not as confident at her skills. I hate to choose someone blankly.
Just to mention, do you need to do anything to your current house to sell it? My understanding is that, in many places in the US, single family homes are in such high demand that some are advising against doing anything substantial since it will likely sell quickly and at a higher price than the listing price anyway.
I don’t profess to know if this is the correct thing to do. The Bay Area, which is always off the charts on homes, has now proceeded WAY OFF the charts. Things here are selling immediately and far above the asking price.
I am not sure how sustainable that is, but one calculation you might do is how much time (and money) the repairs etc will take and will that help you get a better and faster sale?
Just my (hopefully much more than!) 2 cents worth of thought.
Good luck.
ETA: I would stay away from friends as your real estate agent. We’ve never had success with making that work, but as some folks say, the plural of anecdotes is not data.
Yes, there’s realtor etiquette. You can have as many or as few from one or more companies. If realtors are interviewed from the same company, though, then I’d let them each know.
BTW, technically speaking, and literally no one ever does it this way, you could have an “open listing” (non-exclusive arrangement), where ANY realtor could represent your listing. Now, your house would probably never sell, because every realtor likely would avoid your house like the plague.
Interview 3. We just sold my parents’ house, and there was a big difference in suggested listing price, as well as marketing strategies. We also got the house appraised. In the end we accepted an offer before the house hit the market.
There are many ways “to skin a cat,” but new paint and carpets, refinished hardwood floors, landscaping improvements, etc. and staging go a LONG ways to increase the chances of even getting a higher price. Often, buyers just can’t seem to get past any bad aesthetics. Also, there are ways to reduce or de-emphasize any areas of concern in terms of house and/or location.
I wouldn’t call any of these 3 in mind friends. More acquaintances with something in common like live in the neighborhood or church.
Our home/area is modest compared to CC standards. LOL. And I’m in Ohio. Houses in the neighborhood ARE selling fast. Our kitchen needs to be redone - but that is a huge expense and I think we’d be better off selling with a price that allows for the new owner to do the redo.
What I really need is a realtor to tell my H that he HAS to clean up some clutter and do some obvious minor repairs!
There are varying opinions on the acceptance of pre-emptive offers. I’m a fan of exposing a home to the market. Here in the SF Bay Area, and Northern CA in general, houses can and do sell for 50-100% above listing price in the current market. A pre-emptive offer could look fantastic, but ultimately may not have been the highest and best offer.
OTOH, by accepting a pre-emptive offer, you don’t have to do much, if any, work on your home and you also won’t have the public traipsing through your property or you having to leave your house or keep it immaculate because the realtor has an appointment tomorrow night at 6 PM (less hassle).
It is just SHOCKING what has happened in the Bay Area…we have a nice (and very modest) home. It’s sometimes tempting to think about cashing out, but then what happens? You need to find another place to live, and those prices are escalating out of control too.
I just have to say that a year ago, I would have predicted things would have been exactly the opposite of what they are right now. Then again, I’m not much good when it comes to predicting business things.
Definitely interview 3 realtors. In my area, different offices working under the umbrella of the same company (like Windermere) are completely different entities. Do a little bit of your own market research using Redfin etc. to see what the homes sell for in your area to give you a good idea if the realtor’s proposed price is realistic or lowballed. Yes, realtors are in the business of turning tables. The more inventory they sell, the more they make. A realtor might lowball the listing so it would sell faster even if there are no bidding wars. Let’s say, they list the house for $10k below what similar homes sold recently using some excuse that some feature might be lacking. If the price difference is $10k, the listing realtor only stands to lose $300 (3%), but you stand to lose $9k (after fees and taxes)! By lowballing, the realtor is hoping that they will be able to sell quickly, move onto the next client, and then brag that they are a high volume seller. They might tell you that they are hoping for a bidding war. Bad strategy which can backfire. So do your own research! I might get a lecture here on CC that a market price is a market price, but we ditched the realtor who wanted to lowball our house and listed for what WE knew would be a reasonable price. Let’s say, the $90k made a difference for our pockets.
If I may, I’ll offer another opinion here. I’ll try to keep it short.
It’s one thing for realtor to provide an estimated selling that’s below market to quickly sell houses, but it’s entirely different thing if the realtor explains to the seller that the below market estimate is an actual tried and true strategy, in a heated market, in order to generate a “feeding frenzy” among buyers.
Personally, I wouldn’t call it a bad strategy outright, because I’ve seen it work many, many times in specific circumstances. Like right now.
Lastly, the really good realtors also rely a lot on word of mouth/referrals. If they’re leaving a trail of unhappy clients, then that bad reputation will eventually catch up to them.
The clients might not be aware that they did not get what they could have if they did their own extensive market research. The realtor who wanted to lowball our listing is a very reputable one with lots of happy referrals. That said, the Bay Area is a completely out of this world place when it comes to RE…
We sold our house (NC last summer) and my parents (PA last month). Our house sold within 4 hours of listing with several offers on the table; we even left the crazy paint schemes in some of the kid rooms. My parents house was 50 years old; it sold before it hit MLS. The realtor told them not to bother doing painting, staging, etc. They decided to go with a crazy high offer from the realtor’s other client, no inspection requested and no showings. Other than some decluttering and fixing any obvious hazards, I wouldn’t put more $ into it than you need to in this market. Have either of the realtors sold houses in your neighborhood? If they had quick sales over listing in your neighborhood, it could help you narrow it down. You can look up recent sold comps in your neighborhood and get an idea of a good listing price; if houses are selling quickly, you’re probably over thinking it.
We are in a similar situation, planning to sell in early 2022. H and I have discussed having a realtor come over and advise us on what we need to do. Close friends of our recently sold their house and highly recommenced their realtor. I attended the open house and told him our situation and I liked him and got a good vibe. You could try attending some open houses and meeting the realtors in action that way.
I definitely think a realtor will advise cleaning out as much clutter as possible and your H will likely take that better from a real estate professional than from you (it works that way in my house). OTOH the kitchen redo is probably not worth doing, the house can be priced accordingly and most likely the buyers will want to do their own thing. You would not likely recoup 100% anyway.
We have friends that are opting to cash out now, rent while they deal decide what to do next. It sounds like the real estate advise in this seller’s market is that major prep work not needed. But declutter is still important.
Oh I’m 100% sure H will take clutter advice better from a realtor than me! Just being frank!
I suppose realtors are somewhat used to “auditioning “ for the job - to represent the seller or buyer - or both. I’m someone who has a hard time letting someone down so I know I’ll feel bad Choosing one from a few.
