Do You Really Need a Realtor®?

By Don R Campbell
Selling your home is hard work — you’ve got to make some small upgrades to make it more attractive to buyers, hire a Rhode Island real estate photographer to make sure the listing looks nice, set up times for viewings, the list goes on. Of course, you can get help with all this via a Realtor but this isn’t a fee a lot of people are willing to pay.

Are you now, or have you ever, wanted to sell your home but were hung up on the idea of paying a Realtor ®? What often happens to be the case is that the money saved on Realtor ® fees is lost somewhere in the deal (and then some).

Often times the right Realtor ® can attract a buyer who is willing to pay more for the property than you could get if you sold it yourself. Especially if you are to look for the best possible realtor available to you, this is possible using websites such as Rate-My-Agent.com and others that can display a variety of many local realtors and their “ratings”.

However, there are still some considerations to be made when it comes to decide if you will list with a Greensboro realtor or not.

• You know how to market your property. Sticking the property on MLS and waiting is no way to sell a $300,000 asset. You ‘ll want to get the word out to attract as many buyers as you can. This will cost money, meaning newspaper and online ads, flyers/posters, signs, and open houses. Your marketing ability (your ability to drive traffic to the home) will make the difference to selling quickly and at top dollar or having it become old and stale on MLS.
• Do you have a good lawyer? You will want to ensure you have a lawyer close at hand to review the documentation in advance of final agreement. This will be an additional cost. One poorly worded clause or misrepresentation in the advertising or declarations can lead to thousands of dollars of lawsuits and costs.

  Sadly, these mistakes are becoming more commonplace as contracts are being written by buyers and sellers who aren ‘t aware of all of the legal requirements. One way to avoid this is to read your local “Real Estate Sale ” Contract; make sure you understand the clauses and, most importantly, make sure that the clause you are using is appropriate for your local provincial laws.

• Can you negotiate? Most people are not comfortable with the actual process of negotiations, especially with a savvy buyer. There is much more to negotiations than presenting two numbers and meeting in the middle. A professional negotiator can often ensure that maximum dollars are won.

  When dealing with a $300,000 property, knowing how to effectively negotiate can save you tens of thousands of dollars. Do you have a tough time getting a good result when you are buying or selling a car? You may not want to risk negotiating a six-figure deal.

• The Buyer ‘s Realtor ®. Understand that when you list your property yourself on MLS, you are expanding the exposure of the property to more buyers. However, if those buyers are currently working with a Realtor ®, or a Realtor ® sees your property and brings a buyer to you, you will still have to pay the buyer ‘s side of the sales commission.

  In fact, in order to get the most traffic (and most demand) for your property, you will want to explicitly state that you pay a buyer ‘s side commission if a Realtor ® brings a buyer. Yes, you still save on the selling side (usually half of the commission).

Pros and Cons of Selling it Yourself

Pros

• Save the seller (and sometimes buyer) side of the real estate commission
• Freedom to ask the price you want
• Negotiate your own deal

Cons

• Additional marketing costs
• Legal and liability considerations
• Negotiate directly with buyer or buyer ‘s representative
• Still potentially paying Buyer ‘s side of commission

Here ‘s a potential strategy for selling by yourself in a hot market:

1. Put your own sign on the lawn and make sure it looks good. Place a couple of ads to see if there are any quick-buyers who want your property. Sometimes a neighbour or fellow community member will be interested and contact you right away. By starting here you will find out if there is any “low hanging fruit ” or easy sales around.
2. 30 Days – If it doesn ‘t sell in 30 days, list on discount MLS sites and be prepared for all of the considerations discussed above.
3. 60 Days – Get a professional Realtor ® on your team and have them to provide you with a CMA and a complete marketing plan. Make sure part of the plan is to manage the MLS listing so it doesn ‘t get old, stale, and lost.

In Both Cases

You want to be brutally honest with yourself about your ability to maximize the dollars in your pocket at the end of the day. Sometimes paying a professional such as these realtors Lynchburg based to market your property can put the same amount in your bank account than you would save by doing it yourself (with much less hassle of taking the many telephone calls, showings, and negotiations).

Do the math; at the end of the day, your house is only worth what you and a willing buyer can agree upon. It is often not the number in your head, or the number your neighbour told you.

began his investing career in 1985 with a house purchased in Mission, BC. He is Founding Partner and Senior Analyst at The Real Estate Investment Network and currently owns nearly 200 doors in BC and Alberta. A seven-time best-selling author, Don ‘s expertise and passion for teaching Canadians how to create wealth through real estate are far-reaching and have made an impact on the lives of thousands. You can follow his daily thoughts on Twitter – www.twitter.com/ and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thereinman.