Hey All,
I’ve ready conflicting articles about using Realtors. I just wanted to know (from your experience) is it worth selling a property via Realtor, or to DIY?
Mike
A profound YES because of a couple things
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Buyers think Realtors are a free cost to them , they don’t realize their cost is included in the price of the house.
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There are thousands of Realtors who hate taking listings and talking to sellers so they become “Selling Agents” that’s an agent who works with buyers. They actually drive buyers around and show houses. Because they don’t have the balls to talk to sellers if they see a FSBOer they typically wont approach them and take a short term listing to show and sell the FSBO.
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Realtors have convinced the public that the process of buying a house has numerous traps and legal issues that you need to concern yourself with and have scared the buyer into thinking they better hire a Realtor… Besides a Realtor is much more ethical…lol
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However the biggest reason is that you earn 25% equity when you buy a house. Realtors typically only earn 6% to sell that house… Ask yourself which would you rather be doing buying or selling and which is the highest and best use of your time… Naturally that doesn’t mean that you cant sell your own house… However it is like fighting a 1000 man army by yourself…
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Lastly if you cant hire a Realtor becasue their isnt enough money in the deal to pay them you should not do the deal.
Good Luck
Michael - Real Estate Investor
PS I am a Broker and Realtor too.
My take on it is that if it’s a problem house (poor location, poor layout, doesn’t appeal to the general public for some reason) and will require a crapload of marketing to sell, then it MAY be worth it to hire a Real Estate agent to sell it. If the house is in a desirable neighborhood and you have done a great job of rehabbing it so that it is at the top of its’ competitive market then price it right, invest a thousand dollars or so marketing it yourself, and put the commission where it belongs, in YOUR pocket,
jmd_forest
If you can find a good one, the answer is “yes”. A good agent is worth her weight in gold. Good luck on finding a hard working agent, though.
Locally, the agents seem to have lost heart. I notice that advertising is way down. Home sales magazines have become very thin. My opinion is that in order to sell, you have to advertise, and if your agent won’t advertise your house, what are you paying them for? Their job is to sell your house, and they won’t sell it if they don’t put any effort into it.
Silo
Yes, but I suggest you do both. I am an investor who became a broker too. For my investor clients I do exclusive agency listings.
This gives them the right to find a buyer and not pay a listing fee. It also allows me to market the property too, and the winner gets the commission. I win 9 times out of 10. And if the agent wants to win he better hustle, he just can’t list and pray. It is also sort of a way out with a poor agent.
Tatertot comments on the lack of current advertising. That is sort of right but a good listing agents job to to sell to the other agents, not advertise a specific property, as a matter of fact I have a better chance of selling property A if I advertise property B, old pros will know what I mean.
Currently 80% of buyers are working with an agent. My job as a listing agent is to reach that 80% and get their agents to show my listing. Plus I still use my other sources to find a buyer.
The way I figure it…it’s better to pay no 6% commission than it is paying one, as lon as the end result is the same, and worth whatever extra hassle is involved.
The question is…are you able to do that yourself?
I used to list everything with a $995/listing flat-fee agent, and paid only that plus 3% at the time of the sale. Looking back, I might have saved thousands by doing it myself (and by doing it myself i mean giving a checklist o an assistant and saying “please do this”)
So try running ads yourself, taking calls, showing the houses, and see what results you get. Then figure what it would cost to pay someone $10/hour to do what you did. Then ask yourself if it is worth it.
For me, the added hassle of followin up on an assistant completeing the Sellin Houses Checklist was ALWAYS worth saving thousands of dollars per house.
The only downsides, though, are that your marketing might suck and your house sits on the market while no one makes an offer on it. Plus, you have to have some upfront money for ads, and you might not have the funds. But do it every time and you’ll have more cash on hand from saving 3% on every deal.
Absolutely hire an agent, unless you have a buyer already or are an agent. Some people flip, assign or wholesale their properties to other investors or buyers they have lined up. Many people try to sell their home themselves and end up getting much less than an agent would get even after subtracting the commissions. And they take a bunch of their time, it takes longer and they self inflict much more stress.