Last blog I did was from the standpoint of a For Sale By Owner. How Owners often are under the impression that a Listing Agent isn’t worth 3% of the sales price of a home, if “all they do is take pictures of your house, and the buyers agent brings the buyer.” I have done Real Estate for over a decade, I have seen my fare share of; misrepresentations, fibbing, double-dealing and out right lying from Buyers or their Agent. It is sad, in this business you run into all sorts of people. Sometimes the Value a good real estate agent brings to the table is being able to see the trees through the forest, to see the “quality, strong buyer” through the misrepresentations of all the other buyers.
A contract is only as strong as the person behind it. I believe a Hand Shake, holds more weight than a contract. In a hand shake you have a sense of honor the person holds, a sense of self-worth, and integrity. These qualities are the driving forces behind the contract. If you are working with a person who has low self worth, gosh the contract they write is going to mean nothing. On the contrary a person who has high self-worth will uphold the timelines of the contract, and obligations they have under the terms of a contract. A good listing agent is able to read these characteristics through communicating with the buyers agent and reading between the lines of the contract. This aspect is only honed after hundreds of transactions and some mistakes along the way. Do you want to learn the hard way? Or might it be better to hire a listing agent to sell your home so that it life’s lessons that costs thousands of dollars you don’t have to stress over?
The Value a good listing agent (might i ad, like myself), brings to the contract for the owner is writing a contract that PROTECTS the owners best interest. Owners look at “SALES PRICE” what is the highest sales price I am offered? This will often dictate the greatest Net Amount of money you receive at the closing table but the Sales Prices is one aspect of the Purchase and Sale Contract. If this is the only aspect the seller focuses on, then they leave themselves open to opportunities for the Buyer to control the contract, and often times drive the NET Amount of money you receive at closing to be reduced…Who is paying to closing costs; appraisals, surveys, inspections, attorney’s fees? What happens when the buyers inspector comes back with a list of repairs that are $2000, does the sale come to an end or do you as the seller have to eat $2000 in repairs? If you write the contract so that as the owner you are protected against things like this you can save yourself thousands of dollars. A good listing agent, will write the contract that saves the owner these thousands of dollars. At the end, using the listing agent, will put more money in your pocket than if you try to sell the house on your own.
According to National Association of Realtors Seller Profiles 2015 Report, “For sale by owners typically sell for less than the selling price of other homes.” The median price of FSBO homes sold was $210,000 while the median for homes sold through Realtors was $249,000. That is 18% higher amount when using a Realtor…Less 3% costs for Listing agent that is still 15% more money in your pocket than if you try to sell yourself. The truth is in 2015 only 8% of sold homes where completed by For Sale By Owners.
I trust you can hear me when I say, hiring a good listing agent will put more money in your pocket most of the time. I suggest interviewing your realtor and asking them some pointed questions, and be open to hearing what they offer besides JUST Marketing the home. Most importantly how they will help you when writing the contract for sale. How their expertise will benefit you at the time of contract and all the way through to closing.