In a hot market with bidding wars, it seems like using a real estate agent could have more tan the usual advantages.
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If we sold out house now, a commission to the real estate agent would cost us about $30,000, maybe more. I doubt a lawyer would cost that much. But thenā¦in the case when we sold directly, all the lawyer did was draw up the closing papers, and arrange the money transfers. Thatās isā¦no showings, no advertising, nothing else. Because we sold to friends.
Lots of folks around where I live put the word out about selling their homes before they list with an agentā¦just in case someone knows someone. We actually heard about this type of thing, and knew both the seller and a potential buyer. It was a win win. Sale was easy, quick, no fussā¦and the seller made more and the buyer paid less than if the house had been listed by a realtor. And that included all the legal costs.
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In my area people donāt used attorneys. My husband is handling a sale right now without a realtor. Heās been apart of over 50 escrows over the years so has a good idea what heās getting into. He would have used a realtor but when he was fixing up the house to sale someone approached him. The buyer has an agent who is handling her side. The buyer is paying her own agent.
One of my kids bought a for sale by owner and it was a nightmare. The woman was all over the map and had no clue what was legal. My daughter had a good friend who helped them out on their side but the buyer wouldnāt pay a commission so my daughter paid her friend a modest amount.
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Would you post it on Facebook in addition to spreading words?
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I tried to do this once many years ago and was unsuccessful. I went with a flat-free MLS listing, and bought some signs from the flat-fee agency. The listing agent charged a flat fee (I think it was about $1000). And I offered a commission to whoever brought a buyer. In return I had to do my own showings and open houses. Several of my signs were stolen when I left them out at the busy intersection for an open-house.
Many of the local realtors refused to show my house. Even in spite of a commission. There is some sort of bias against FSBO and flat fee agencies. The realtor cartel is very strong. After 2 months I cancelled the flat fee MLS listing and hired a full service agent. The home sold within weeks.
In areas with high demand and low inventory (Bay Area, NYC, Washington DC) you can probably get away with this.
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Iād post it on Zillow. Iāve sold each of my houses (three) without realtors. Iāve used attorneys and/or title companies to assist with the closings as I needed a neutral third party to hold the deposit money and to prepare the agreement of sale and the deed.
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Maybe not a bias so much as a case where those realtors donāt want to put in a lot of extra work on a potential sale to have it fall through and not close because of inadequate knowledge and/or inexperience on the other side. Not sure that I can really blame them.
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After a little research, I learned that it is a seller market at the moment. Sellers often get multiple offers. Often goes over the asking. I thought realtors could help to shore up multiple offers and interviewed 4. I had a good impression with two of them. How do you decide which one is the right choice? Of the two, one is younger and methodological. I assume more eager as well. The other one is highly experienced. Sells many houses in my immediate neighborhood. She is a big shot. Iād guess she gets many listings. And busy although she didnāt show it. They Both understand the house, its charm and peculiarities. Which one would you go with?
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@Iglooo Both will be able to sell your house via MLS. I think I would give the young person the nod. It sounds like she is enthusiastic and will make the time to do your house well.
I like to give new folks with enthusiasm and organization a chance!
Do any of your friends or neighbors have personal experience with either of these two? Iād ask them!
Or you could just flip a coin.
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I usually choose based on marketing strategy.
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What kind of marketing strategy? As far as I can tell, their marketing strategy is similar. They advertise in the same space, etc. The younger one had better pictures. Great resolution. You could really see. The notable difference I saw was the established realtor has a more personal connection to potential buyers of my kind of house. My house will be in the lower end of her listing. I can get neglected although she showed up on time and looked genuinely interested. They both agree what ideal buyers would be like.
I might lean toward the more established agent, due to likelihood of large network of contacts. But much of the actual work might get delegated to other helpers in the office(?). Possibly dealing with the less experienced, eager agent would be more efficient.
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Marketing strategy? Photos, staging or lack of it, ads in specific places and publications, realtor open housesā¦ A more established realtor will not necessarily do all the legwork themselves; many RE big shots have associates that do the bulk of work. It can be a plus or a minus depending on the property.
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Our last time selling one of the agents had a much more detailed marketing plan - targeted mailing to their data base, coming soon postcards, pre-showings, strategies to keep the listing fresh on realtor/zillow, etcā¦
Does the established realtor have their own team working for them?
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Yes. She has a good team as far as I can tell. Always answers the phone. The assistant sounded she was on top of everything. They both think I donāt need much staging. The established agent thinks I donāt need to bother with dressing the house up. It is in a good shape and buyers will want to do their own cosmetic touch ups anyway. Thatās also how I feel. I was glad she said that. They both had a booklet for each house they list. The booklet of the younger agent had gorgeous pictures, ultra high resolution. Both had similar advertising strategy, schedule for open house, etc.
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This struck me because itās what happened eight years ago when we sold my momās condo after she passed away. My brother initially liked one realtor because she was experienced in the condo complex (she was the realtor for it). But what happened was that she had multiple units in her listings and it didnāt matter to her which one she was able to sell. Momās condo was not updated and always got pushed to the side in her priorities. I think she didnāt even show it to some of her clients.
In the end, when our contract with her was expiring, I asked the realtor who sold us our house here here if she could help. I knew there was a branch of her company near the condo complex. She talked to the manager of the branch and they figured out which of their staff would be best for us. And so she was! We sold in less than two months after sitting six months with the first agent. For $5000 under listing - but all cash, short close, and no inspections (it was a California buyer; we already knew they were different from Illinois buyers!).
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I think that in this sellers market (especially where I am in NJ), the marketing does not matter much. If you are on MLS and you have an open house, people will come look at it. When the inventory is so low (my town only has a handful of houses on the market at a time during the past year), people who want to live in that town will look at everything that is for sale. Are both realtors charging the same commission?
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Yes, they are charging the same commission. They both rely on preshowings, quiet listing before listing on mls.
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I am curious about the whole preshowing, quiet listing, coming soon approach in this sellers market. If the average home in your area ends up with multiple bids within days of the MLS listing, why start by restricting your buyer pool? If I got an offer before the home was officially listed, I would want to wait to see if I got more offers after the open house. I might feel like I jumped too soon on an early offer when a later offer might be higher?
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I assume itās the current technique in sellerās market to whip up a feeding frenzy(?)