Most traditional real estate agents are on the defensive. Sales are down and they are willing to bargain. A short time ago, many real estate agents acted as if you were intruding on their time to ask them to list and sell your home and get paid a hefty commission. All that has changed.
You can save yourself thousands of dollars if you sell your home yourself and have an attorney do all the legal work for you. Or, you can do like we’ve done in the past, and make a deal with the realtor who has the listing, that if you bring in the buyer the commission is reduced, typically fifty percent or more, and they do all the necessary paperwork. No matter what route use choose, be sure and take lots of pictures. Take pictures from every angle, of all sides of the house and both inside and out. Think about what you’d want to see if you were buying, and take pictures with that in mind.
The normal commission on home sales, bare acreage can be more, is usually seven percent. With the housing market in the dumps, it’s entirely possible that the real estate agent is in a mood to deal and lower the figure by as much as two percent. Two percent doesn’t sound like much but on a hundred thousand dollar deal, it’s two thousand dollars. On a big ticket home sale it can be the difference between walking away smiling or simply trading dollars.
I do a lot of my business on the Internet and have a listing on one service at the moment. I haven’t pursued it to any degree because we aren’t quite ready to make a move. But, by doing a listing at this time, I can get a feel for the market and it never hurts to do your research. In the next couple of months we’ll be ready, and I’ll have the time, to get serious about moving and by then I’ll have compiled the information I need. Craigslist,. eBay and Yahoo are only a few of the possibilities. There are also discount brokers who will list your home on the Internet, take care of all the paperwork and do it at a reduced price from traditional real estate agencies. Many states allow “list only” services from these sources, but they will get you on the multiple listing service that most brokers share. Keep in mind that listings on the Internet are available worldwide.
If you want real estate agents to take an interest in selling your home, put “Courtesy To Brokers” on your signs and ads. This will tell them that you will pay a commission on any sale they are part of. Be sure to get the percentage of the commission in writing. It used to be that real estate agents wouldn’t even talk to you unless you gave them an exclusive, long-term commitment. That commitment didn’t guarantee they’d do anything, and it isn’t that way anymore.