Selling your home is a long and strenuous process. It takes time, resources, and an immense amount of planning. When you finally do decide to take the leap into selling your home, you really have two options. Do you pursue the sale alone, or do you retain the services of a realtor?
Let’s look at the few different areas of selling a home that affects the sellers most: Price, Marketing, and Paperwork. We’ll look at how those main areas of a home sale differ when you attack the market as a “for sale by owner” vs using a Realtor. The results might surprise you.
Sale Price
Most sellers want to make the most money they can when they sell their home. At the end of the day, it’s that money that will pay for their new one. When sellers enter the market, they really have two options. The seller can enter the market for sale by owner, or they can enter the market with a Realtor. Most who choose to enter the market FSBO do so because they don’t want to pay the commission fees to the Realtor in the hopes to make more money.
This is where the first misstep is normally made because the reality is, Realtors can help you sell your home for more than you could on your own. According to the Realtors Association, the average price of an FSBO is $185,000 while selling with a Realtor averages a sale price of $245,000. That $60,000 difference is well over the 6% commission rate that Realtors charge on average.
Seriously, let’s look at the numbers:
At the average sale price of home using Realtor, that 6% commission comes out to $14,700 payout on the $245,000 sale. Subtract that commission from the sale, and the seller gets $230,300 of that sale. Compare to the average FSBO home sale price, working with a Realtor can make you $45,300 extra dollars. A realtor’s marketing expertise can make you way more money. Even when you pay them that extra bit in commission on the sale.
Marketing
Getting the word out about your house falls squarely on your shoulders when you go into the market FSBO. That means marketing your home falls on you too. Now, there are a few places that can help you get your home listed on the MLS, but that is going to cost you. The normal fee is around $1000 to list on the MLS as an FSBO, but a Realtor will do this for you. Your Realtor has direct access to your local MLS. The means they can get you set up without having to fork over a fee to do so. Since you are going to pay them a commission on the sale, they will take it upon themselves to get your home listed on the MLS and so much more.
Your Realtor will also help you take your sale awareness to another level. The best groups have multipoint marketing plans to help people know your house is for sale. They will leverage their social media, company contacts, and inner circles to get the word out about your home. Realtors know how to make a splash in the marketplace with a sale.
Paperwork
Yes, this means all the paperwork. Instead of having to go at the mountain of paperwork alone, you can have a trained professional walk you through the process step by step. From filing for sale to signing the closing paperwork, one mistake could be the difference between actually selling your home or not.
These forms can be tricky, so it’s always nice to have a Realtors help when it comes to getting these parts done right the first time. You don’t want to lose a sale because of botched paperwork, and it can happen.
Free Upfront for More in the End with a Realtor
There really isn’t a downside to working with a Realtor. If you really take the time to do the research on attacking the market with and without one, it’s a no brainer. You don’t pay for the services upfront, so there is nothing to lose.
As the one selling a home, wouldn’t it be nice to sell your home for more, get help during the process, and not worry about your paperwork being done correctly? That’s exactly what you get when you hire a Realtor to work with you. It’s about making the most of your sale, and we can help you do just that.
If you’re ready to get more for your home than you could on your own, contact Hama Cazac Real Estate Group for more information. We can help you get more for your home through our proven sales tactics.