3 Options for Selling Your Home
As a home seller, understanding your options is the first step in deciding whether you should sell your home yourself through a service that helps you with the process for $350-$900, use a discount broker for a typical fee of $300-$500 plus a 4-5% commission of your home’s value, or use a full-commission agent at 6-7% commission. Any of these three methods can work. How much time and money you want to devote to that process is usually the deciding factor.
1) Sell your own home
Why should you sell your own home? In a word: money. Typically selling a home yourself gets you the most money since there is no middleman who needs to make a commission. So what is the downside? It does require some time to list your home, create your marketing materials (flyers, brochures, signage), arrange for showings, and figure out the paperwork details. The selling process can be a little intimidating.
Stanford and Northwestern Universities concluded from their studies that homes sold an average of 4-7.7% higher when no agent was involved. Add the commission savings and that percentage rises. The studies that don’t show this are the ones funded by the National Association of Realtors® (NAR).
If you’re interested in selling your own home, and it’s your first time, or if you would like more information, visit ListingDoor.com. ListingDoor is your home selling advisor. The website teaches you how to sell your own home and offers step-by-step expert advice on the entire process—including preparing to sell, pricing your home, creating marketing materials, finding a buyer, and closing the deal. ListingDoor. Com has an IntelReport pricing tool that can help you find the right asking price for your home. Even the National Association of Realtors study showed homeowners price their home more accurately than an agent.
“ListingDoor – The Uber for Real Estate” Forbes
The bottom line: if getting the most money is your first priority and you’re willing to put in a little work (most owners say the entire process with showings and negotiating takes about 12 hours) selling your home yourself may be your best option.
2) The discount option
You may not get as much money for your home when you use a discount firm, but for some, the convenience is well worth the cost. If you know you don’t have the 10-12 hours or don’t want to be involved in the details, go with a discount firm. But discount firms have two downsides. One, even though a firm discounts the commission; the cost is still thousands of dollars. Two, the #1 problem with the entire real estate industry, according to the National Association of Realtors, is the poor quality of agents.
“The real estate industry is saddled with a large number of part-time, untrained, unethical, and/or incompetent agents.”
“Becoming a cosmetologist requires an average of 372 hours. But to become a licensed real estate agent requires an average of only 70 hours, with the lowest state requirement being 13 hours.”
The financial incentive is that you typically save 1-2%, but beware. Many of these firms use cheap generic graphics or no graphics at all in their marketing materials. They usually put a lock box on your home and have no personal contact with the buyer nor receive their feedback. Besides that, you are typically paying a fee plus 1% to list your home and will also owe a commission to the buyer’s agent.
The bottom line: discount firms are a good option for sellers who don’t want to pay a full 6% and don’t mind less agent involvement and generic marketing materials.
3) The full-commission option
A good agent is typically experienced and has a track record. Unfortunately, there are members of this industry who pose as experienced agents, who don’t have the substantial experience required, or they just want to sell a home at any price to get the commission. If you do decide to use a full-commission agent, be sure to ask for references from recent clients.
A good agent can reduce the time it takes to get a listing ready, show your home, and be a middleman between you and the buyer. It is important that you compute an idea of the commission you will be paying.
Estimated selling price x 6% commission= Commission to be paid at closing
A full-commission firm is an option for sellers who don’t want to spend time with the details. But remember, most agents are NOT trained in negotiations. They will operate as a middleman, but you should be the one to negotiate the terms of the sale.
THE TAKEAWAY:
If getting the most money is not a priority but your time is, consider a full-commission firm. Do your homework and calculate the cost of the commission to make an informed decision.
The bottom line…two things sell home:
- Pricing—Overpricing your home presents a huge delay in selling your home
- Marketing—Have great marketing that is personalized to showcase your home
