If you are considering selling your home yourself, because you think you are going to save paying real estate commission, here are a few things to consider:
1) No one is going to bring a qualified buyer to you for free, so you can still expect to pay the buyers’ Realtor’s commission, which is typically half of the total commission.
2) There are many aspects to selling a home that you will have to take care of yourself, such as:
- completing a comparative market analysis and determining the correct listing price
- providing a For Sale sign
- providing a lock box
- decluttering/cleaning/staging
- hiring a professional photographer
- posting the listing of the home to MLS, so all realtors can access the information
- booking appointments for people who want to view your home
- following up with the potential buyers’ realtors, to get their feedback
- negotiating an offer if you receive one
Those expenses, along with the time it takes to complete each task, continue to add up and you will be paying up front for these services, whether or not you sell your home.
A Realtor takes care of these things and is not paid until the deal is firm and the home closes.
3) The largest expenses a Realtor incurs is marketing your home to potential buyers:
- creating professional feature sheets with photos and descriptions
- targeted online advertising
- distributing printed material throughout the community
- hosting open houses
- responding to inquiries
- showing the home multiple times
If you don't do all these things yourself, how will you attract buyers? Be prepared for it to take longer to sell your home!
4) A Realtor is a skilled negotiator who ensures you get the best terms in an Agreement of Purchase and Sale:
- price – highest possible selling price in the shortest amount of time
- deposit – a larger amount signals a more committed buyer
- closing date – most convenient to the seller
- conditions – the least number of conditions and the shortest conditional period
A successful negotiation nets the seller the maximum amount after closing costs, including commission, have been deducted.
If you sell your home yourself, the buyer thinks “well they don’t have to pay commission, so I should be able to buy this home for less”. In the end, you net less money than if a professional Realtor negotiated on your behalf and you still have to do all that work yourself.
5) When you hire a full-service Realtor, she or he is available to guide you through the entire process and has a fiduciary duty to act in your best interest.
Until you are going through the process, it is difficult to understand the amount of stress, emotion, frustration and exhaustion you feel.
Only you can decide what being relieved of that burden is worth to you!
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