Is it better sell my house by owner ans offer 5% to the buyer's realtor?or go to a reputable real estate co?
3 other properties have sold during that time in this gated community at a higher price. PLEASE ADVISE!
Answer:
Pick the best agent and move on
How are you planning to market your home? how are you planning to price your home? If you ask even 5% over you may lose 70%+ of the buyers out there.
* According to Thomas M. Stevens, President of the National Association of Realtors for 2006, "Finally, the plain fact is that hiring a professional pays off. The typical home represented by a professional last year sold for 16 percent more than those sold without a professional’s help. That profit more than pays for the agent’s commission. Millions of homeowners know it, and that’s why they will continue to call on experienced real estate professionals."
Read More about why NOT For Sale By Owner. http://burlingamerealtor.com/serendipity.
Instead, invest your time finding a good Realtor and you'll win, in my opinion. If you would like to be referred to a highly qualified Realtor anywhere in the US or Canada, I would be happy to personally refer you.
Do you want to do your own marketing?
Do you want to qualify buyers or arrange financing if they need it?
Are you willing to run your own open houses and deal with the public traipsing through your house criticizing it?
Do you want to chase down leads and do follow ups?
Can you handle the legal stuff, titles, liens, inspections, closing?
I bought my current house owner to owner but still employed a Realtor to manage all the paper work (for and arranged fee).
Decide how much time you have to invest and that 5% may be a deal.
If you have decided to sell your home on your own, you’ve joined a growing crowd of For Sale By Owners (FSBO’s) in this area.
May I ask if the other homes that sold for more money were the same floor plans as yours? Did you visit the homes to compare?
Might they have had multiple offers which would mean another buyer wants to live in your gated community in your floor plan.
Did your Realtor have control of the marketing plan, or must they differ to a large agency?
Please know I'm not a Realtor, but I work with them every day and the age old adage is true. 80% of the sales come from 20% of the agents.
More and more people are choosing to work without a Real Estate Agent. The main reason: Saving Money.
But for the unprepared FSBO home seller, this process can bring them to their wit’s end. Unexpected calls, last-minute walkthroughs, and the thought of being stuck with two homes are all very real concerns. You could lose thousands of dollars in the process if you are not careful. I have a FREE Report which is designed to arm you with the information you need to sell your home fast, and get top dollar. We’ll show you:
• How to avoid the 7 Most Common Home Seller Mistakes
• How to get top dollar for your home and make it sell FAST
• How to ensure that you don’t waste time with unqualified buyers
• How to obtain our FREE “For Sale By Owner Survival Kit”
Mistake #1 – Moving Out before You SellThere are a number of reasons we advise you not to move out before you sell. The main reason is that vacant homes take longer to sell. Did you know that scientific test have proven, time and time again, that vacant homes are more difficult to sell, because they appear to be lonely, cold, forgotten places?
Mistake #2 – Not Developing a Marketing PlanYou might be under the impression that all you need to do to sell your home is put up a “For Sale By Owner” sign in your yard and then wait for the calls to come in. This is untrue, and making this mistake in thinking will cost you dearly. Think of other ways you can promote your home. By selling on your own, you are saving thousands of dollars you might have paid a Realtor®. Use a small portion of this money to market your home. Here are some specific ideas:
• Place an ad in the Real Estate section of your local newspaper.
List a few of the amenities, as well as how large the home is,
what the price is, and how the buyer can contact you.• Create a flyer about your home, with a photo of the home, a list
of its amenities, and how the buyer can contact you. When you
get calls from interested buyers, offer to mail them one of these
flyers or have them come by and pick one up.• Learn more about our “For Sale By Owner Survival Kit”, which
will show you how to receive buyer leads, FREE! It will also show
you how to get Top Realtors® to help you sell your home,
for FREE. More information on this FREE kit is available at the
bottom of this report.Mistake #3 – Improperly Pricing Your Home Price is the most important item to consider when selling your home. If your home is priced too high, your home will languish on the market for months and developed the unflattering distinction of “problem property”. If the price is too low, you will lose thousands of dollars in hard-earned equity needlessly. Remember - It's not what your house is worth, but what someone is willing to pay. You need to gauge market conditions properly for your area, and then set a bit lower than the average. If you price your house according to the market, it's not likely to sell quickly. That's because the top 10% or 20% of houses with the best prices are selling each month in this area. If your house isn't in that lower 20% range, then it isn't likely to sell as quickly.
You have a busy lifestyle and you shouldn’t waste time dealing with buyers who can’t afford to buy your home, or worse, with buyers who are not really interested, but why are just “seeing what’s available”.
Because of this, you need to ensure that everyone you deal with is a qualified prospect. We offer a FREE service that can pre-qualify your prospects for you, so you never have to deal with this issue. It’s included FREE as a part of our “For Sale By Owner Survival Kit”. To get the FREE report click here http://www.freerealestatesecretssouthern.
If you have any trouble spots in your home (i.e. - carpets that need to be cleaned, fixtures that need to be replaced, or paint that is chipping), you are much better off fixing these items yourself, instead of offering concessions to the Buyer to cover the cost of the work. By choosing not to work with a Realtor®, you are making some clear trade-offs. The biggest tradeoff is that you have to answer the phone, conduct your own open houses, and showings, instead of the Realtor®. Don’t make the buyer jump through hoops to get information about your home. Always return any calls from buyers as quickly as possible. Make yourself available to answer any questions they might have and work with the buyer’s schedule for showings. When someone shows interest in your home, but never calls you back, don’t automatically assume they are not interested anymore. Call them and follow up. This is not difficult and you should not be intimidated by the fact that it feels like a “cold-call”. Just use this simple script:
“Hi, may I speak with (Buyer Name)?” Then, when the person you want to speak with comes on the line, say “Hi, (Buyer Name), this is (Your Name). I’m calling because you had previously shown great interest in the home I’m selling. My house will probably sell sooner, rather than later, which is why, before it sells, I wanted to follow-up with you and see if you were still interested.”
By using the script above, you will increase your chances of snagging an interested buyer by 3-4 times. Always follow up. And ALWAYS be friendly, courteous and polite when dealing with prospects, even if they don’t seem like they are interested anymore. Mistake #4 – Wasting Time with Unqualified BuyersMistake #5 – Offering Concessions in place of RepairsMistake #6 – Lack of Access Mistake #7 – Not Following-up with Buyers Effectively Even if you have to hire a handyman to make the necessary improvements, it could still be 3 to 5 times cheaper to pay the handyman than it would be to offer concessions to the buyer at the negotiating table. For a list of items that you should fix ahead of time to avoid this situation, make sure you request a copy of our FREE “For Sale By Owner Survival Guide”, which includes 25 Essential Seller Tips. Information on how to obtain this kit is at the bottom of this report.
Mistake #4 – Wasting Time with Unqualified Buyers
Mistake #5 – Offering Concessions in place of Repairs
Mistake #6 – Lack of Access
Mistake #7 – Not Following-up with Buyers Effectively
We hope this FREE Report has been a great help to you. We want to help you as much as possible, and it’s our goal to see you sell your home faster than you ever imagined possible. That’s why we would like to offer you our FREE “For Sale By Owner Survival Kit”. Here’s what’s included: CONCLUSIONFREE “For Sale By Owner SURVIVAL KIT” CONTENTS:
• FREE! - The Home Seller’s Handbook: “25 Insider Tips for
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Why are we giving all of this away for FREE? Simple - It’s because statistics say that you’ll buy and sell 5-7 homes in your lifetime. This will likely not be the last time you need a mortgage. We hope to earn your mortgage business the next time you purchase a home. We’re sure willing to try.
All the answers here are correct. I just would add that if there is any question in any seller's mind whether to hire a realtor or not, then I suggest you attempt to FSBO for a set period of time. If it sells and you are prepared to deal with it then great. If it doesn't sell then go to plan B and hire the realtor. In your case, that would be the realtor who is obviously dialed into your market.
As an agent and loan originator, I am more than willing to lend a hand with a FSBO if they give me the opportunity to either work with the potential buyers on their mortgages, on the owner's new place, or anything in between and for the opportunity for the listing if and when you decide to list.
As far as your deal, why is the property not selling? If you go FSBO then I would only offer a 2.5-3% commission with a $1000 bonus to the agent if sold by a certain date. If you offer the 5% commission then some of that may end up with the brokerage firm. The bonus can be paid direct to the agent. You save some money and the agent will benefit as well since a 5% buyer's premium is not customary unless it is raw land. Your other concern would be as an FSBO you will have to pay a MLS listing service to market to buyer's agents. There are also several free FSBO listing services out there. WWW.craigslist.org and www.virtualfsbo.com. I have had success marketing on both.
You should sell with the realtor. The commision will be the same no matter. The buyers agent and sellers agent would just split the rate. It is set only buy the sellers realtor and is typically around 6% but there is no set amount.
Definitly choose the Realtor - You can write the commission off your taes anyway and MOST IMPORTANTLY - they have an E&O insurance policy - Basically if there is a mistake the Realtor has an insurance policy protecting YOU!
Trust me use the Realtor - too many benefits to pass up.
www.hqhomes.com
www.cabellahomeloans.com
List it with a Realtor and give him 1% and the buyer's agent 4%. Most people buy their homes by looking on the internet. Most MLS listings get pushed onto online websites like Realtor.com.
If you're in Southern California, give me a call and I'll list it for you.
Regards
GO TO A REALTOR!
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