Since, I have a goal of putting my house on the market this Spring, I have to hire a realtor. I sold with a 2 percent realtor when I sold my last house...which was good, of course my neighbors thought I sold for less than I could have, (not sure about that) I just got an unsolicited letter from a full service realtor today that said she could put my house on 3 MLS engines, which sounds good to me. I have also thought of using a help you sell service..which of course would be much less...What do you think is better selling with a low cost realtor or service or a full service one,you have to pay more to help sell and market your home?
My initial reaction is you won't get a useful answer here. Your immediate local real estate market, e.g., quick turnover, slow moving, a hungry realtor, will probably dictate the answer to your question. Some research of your neighborhood's recent sales and current listings might help frame questions to interview potential agencies. Your lawyer could probably suggest additional contract questions and later improve, in your favor, the contract language of whatever you sign. The realtor's lawyer does not represent your interests; I wouldn't trust him (her). HTH. YMMV.
You have to be discerning with the character of the realtor if he is honest or if he sounds honest. More likely you would never know but it's worth a try. Any realtor, whether full service or part time would do you good because your aim is to sell your property and the realtor's job is to sell your property. So I guess that puts both of you on even footing, you need the realtor and the realtor needs you. As they say, it's a deal. So for me, it wouldn't matter much for the kind of realtor except when I am in a hurry to sell my property.
Well I guess I will do some research on this topic and see what it says..My whole aim is to get it sold at my price. When I sold before I interviewed a number of realtors, and I may have to do that this time too. Seeing the house for the price I want is going to be a challenge, and I need to find the best person who can help me do this, so I will look.
If the maths adds up, it might be worth offering a higher commission to a realtor who can sell the property at your desired asking price. Many "estate agents" in the UK can get pretty snotty with you if you don't accept their valuation, but at the end of the day, money talks, and the prospect of a nice pay-day for getting you the higher price can be a prize worth working a little bit harder for.....
Thanks Anders, I am going to start to interview people in a couple of months I think. I am not even sure if any of those discount realtors are working in this area anyay. I made contact with one once, and she never got back with me...guess she really wanted the business huh??? lol. I want someone who is going to really take this on as a project..to get me the best price on my propery.
That's a pretty good bargain. You pay the professional realtor a hefty commission but you get a good price on your property. That's the tradeoff that most property owners desire. However, most of the professional realty agents asks so many conditions like having the keys so they can drop by to the property any time. There was one real estate broker who was acting as if she owns the condo of my nephew. Worse, the condo remained for sale for months with prospects but no serious buyers.
There are a few things to take into consideration. First, if a "full service" agency won't be able to get a higher price than the lower cost person, it doesn't make much sense to pay a higher commission. Second I guess would be the Realtor's reputation. If one of them sells property rather fast and one's known to drag their feet and prolong a sale with always hoping something better would come along, it probably comes down to how quickly *you* want to sell. Personally I'm usually skeptical about someone claiming they can do the same quality of job for a "lot less." Often doesn't turn out that way. Just weigh what you'll be putting in vs. what they can offer you.
Oh no Corzhens...That must have been a real problem for your nephew. Houses don't sell very fast around here..and I will be very lucky if I can get this sold for a good price this summer. On top of that I want to buy a foreclosure..so this whole thing is going to have to be orchestrated very carefully.
You are right on that, a big problem for my nephew since he couldn't attend to his condo unit. We have a suspicion that the broker is renting out the condo on a daily basis like it is a hotel room. One broker told us of that gimmick when the owner would give the broker a blanket authority especially when the owner is staying abroad.
