CHOOSING A LISTING AGENT
For Sale By Owner?
Please know that you can sell your house without a real estate agent. This decision comes with limitations though.
- Most homes for sales are advertised on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Selling without an agent will prevent you home from being advertised with this principal exposure.
- Due to less exposure and traffic, your property may sit on the market 3-4 times the average market time.
- The majority of buyers overlook For Sale By Owner (FSBO) homes.
- FSBOs don’t advertise all in one spot. Some may advertise online (various websites), some in the newspaper, some via flyers, and some not even at all. This makes it very difficult for buyers to even find FSBOs.
- Selling your home opens you to liability if you are not well-versed in real estate contracts, inspections, procedures, and your rights.
- Lastly, and maybe most importantly, it will be very difficult (if not impossible) to determine true, fair market value on your home without having access to tangible, real-time market data that a Realtor® can provide.
Some challenges that you will face selling on your own may include:
- Do you have market data at your access to help you price and negotiate your home correctly?
- Since 96% of Buyers begin and conduct their real estate search online, how are you going to showcase your home on the internet?
- Are you going to host your own Open Houses?
- Do you have a plan in place as to how you’re going to show your home to prospective buyers?
- Are you going to host every showing yourself? Taking the time to qualify the buyer over the phone, take time away from work, etc?
- Finally, are you knowledgeable about the legal, contractual, and title work components of a real estate transaction?
Are you trying to save from paying the real estate agent commissions?
Most sellers that have tried the FSBO route were doing exactly this; trying to save the real estate agent commission. However, most failed FSBOs end up seeking a professional Realtor’s® services.
- An experienced agent is able to effectively advise on how to best highlight and showcase your home’s charm according to current market trends.
- It is an agent’s sole responsibility to bring you more value than the commissions being paid by maximizing your sales price, negotiating strategically, and ensuring that all of the contractual obligations are fulfilled.
- Without professional representation, how much will your potential mistakes cost you in failed negotiations, liabilities, and concessions paid out?
- Lastly, how are you planning to navigate the title work and closing process?
Many of us homeowners have contemplated the idea of selling without an agent, but hiring a real estate professional will save you time, frustration, anxiety, and likely money in the end after a successful marketing campaign, negotiation, and executed contracts bring you to the Closing table.
Choosing a Listing Agent
It has become more and more prevalent for Realtors to post past client reviews online. Along with asking friends and family for a recommendations, this is a good place to start your search for a qualified listing agent.
You can also request a free-market analysis from most Realtors. You can use this free-market analysis request as your opportunity to “interview” various real estate agents. After all, think of a real estate agent as a contractor that you will be hiring to complete a job. Do you interview just one electrician or just one plumber? As I tell the students that enroll in my real estate seminars, you should interview at least 2-3 Realtors® before selecting one to represent you in the selling of your home. The list below covers several items that you should consider when interviewing real estate agents:
- Is the agent active in your area or knowledgeable about the where your home is located?
- Have you solicited referrals from friends, family or coworkers?
- Can he/she provide references of a past client and a current client?
- Do you feel comfortable with the agent’s character?
- Do you feel they are genuine and not a “salesperson”?
- Do they speak objectively with supportive data? Or do they make generalizations?
- What avenues of marketing can they provide to put your home in front of the largest audience possible?
- Other than on the Multiple Listing Service, where else on the Internet will they market your home? 96% of buyers begin their home search online! Do they have any top-ranked websites to advertise your home? How about an AM or FM real estate radio show?
- Are they willing or have they prepared a Comparable Market Analysis (CMA) to empirically show price justification for your home?
- Will they hold Open Houses? Keep in mind that Open Houses rarely result in selling your home faster, rather Open Houses are more of a method for a realtor to target new buying clients that walk through your home.
- Do they seem proactive to solicit showing feedback from agents that show your home to potential buyers? Buyer agents only leave feedback about 50% of the time. It will be up to your listing agent to “retrieve” feedback from this elusive other half of agents!
Beware of the “bobble head” agents that agree with everything you say. If the agent does not seem grounded and guided by factual data, it may be time to move on!!