Sarasota Real Estate agent Mike Payne shows house sellers HOW to sell their own house – without a realtor – and save $32,340 in real estate commission.
Who doesn’t want to save money today?
No doubt, $32,340 is A LOT of money…and a BIG commission to pay real estate agents for selling a $569,000 home @ 6% standard sales commission.
At Real Town (my favorite real estate forums @ http://www.realtown.com), the age-old question popped up: “Why pay a real estate commission to sell a house?”
Trying to sell a house (short) to avoid foreclosure is NOT a “fizzbo” (that is, “for sale by owner”) challenge to accept. However, if you aren’t “underwater” and don’t need to short sell, you might be up to the “fizzbo” challenge.
As you would expect, many real estate professionals responding to the question repeated reasons you’ve heard before (albeit valid reasons as well) such as:
- Property owners are not professional real estate agents – the typical seller never has sold his own house before.
- Property owners do not understand the necessary paperwork to sell a house.
- Property owners do not understand the liability involved in selling a house.
- Internet marketing and data entry into the MLS is only a small part of what we (realtors) do.
- Realtors are paid for guiding the seller through the entire selling process: properly helping the seller prepare and “stage” the house for the market; advising on the proper pricing to attract the most buyers; spearheading the marketing and promotion… not only to potential buyers, but to all the other agents in the MLS to get them to show our seller’s house over all the other choices; getting feedback for the seller during the time on the market to determine if adjustments need to be made; being there in the seller’s corner at any and all contract negotiations to make sure that the offer that is accepted or countered best represents the seller’s needs and desires in the transaction; monitoring the 40 or more people (inspectors, appraiser, loan officer, underwriting staff, title company staff, etc.) who just got hired once a contract gets ratified.
- There is a lot more to successfully marketing a property than sticking a sign in the yard, throwing a lockbox on the door, entering it into the MLS, distributing it to a few web sites & (finally) kicking back as it sells (on autopilot)!
What you see above reflects some of the advice realtors shared at Real Town when asked why property owners should NOT attempt to sell their own properties.
Of course, I could add a bazillion more comments shared by realtors. Instead, you can read the whole thread here: http://www.realtown.com/articles/view/what-is-your-value-proposition
I took a different approach in my response.
I took what information I had about the guy selling his own Idaho home and gave him suggestions on how to IMPROVE his chance of selling & saving a real estate commission.
Oh no, I can see the angry mob (from NAR) bearing down on me with flaming torches silhouetting the night sky. I can hear colleagues accuse me of heresy: How dare I part the Red Sea and provide selling secrets? 
In all seriousness, I sincerely believe the more we help people get what they want; the more we help ourselves get everything we want. KARMA!
Click Read More below now for my response to the Idaho property owner who wants to save $32,340 in real estate commission by selling his own beautiful house.
HOW TO SAVE $32,340.00 SELLING YOUR OWN HOUSE!
What you are about to see is my unedited response to Real Town’s CEO Saul Klein who asked us realtors to respond to Saul’s brother-in-law who plans to sell his own house.
Saul Klein says: “Here is the initial posting that generated a flood of commentary on the value proposition real estate professionals bring to the table.
My brother in law is about 68 years old and he is a nuclear engineer. He and his wife are going to sell their home in Idaho and move south. He had a website (www.snakeriverhouse.com) created to help him market his home (not by a real estate professional).
He will then add it to Zillow, Trulia, Yahoo, Google Base and a number of other destination portals. His question is why hire a real estate agent to do what he can do himself. He is willing to pay a member of the MLS a few hundred bucks to get the listing into the MLS, but he will not pay a fee that is a percentage of the sale price
Your answers will help create your “value proposition,” so what are your answers to what you will bring to the transaction?
Is he (Saul’s brother-in-law) an anomaly or the future?
Saul
Saul Klein
CEO, Point2 Technologies
My Response, which does NOT take the conventional approach of (trying to) convince Saul’s BIL to hire a realtor to sell his house. Instead, I chose to offer suggestions to HELP Saul’s BIL.
Hi Saul,
Congratulations to your BIL for accepting the challenge – to sell or not to sell.
(IF) your BIL can hold his asking price (currently $539,000), not paying a 6% list/sell commission ($32,340) will give him (more) leverage to negotiate a better net.
Who doesn’t want to SAVE money?
To your question, you have received EXCELLENT feedback. Certainly, your BIL will seek a real estate attorney’s help/advice with all necessary paperwork and liability.
Of course, I don’t know your BIL – I certainly don’t know his marketing ability or his network. I don’t even know who the target buyer is.
Question: In his area, will a buyer come from the local area or from out-of-state? As you know, Saul, the answer to this question further defines his marketing.
Since I have friends who are realtors in Idaho and Spokane (and we’ve talked quite a bit as I’ve helped them with online lead generation and selling houses using the Internet, my guess is that your BIL’s buyer will come from out of state, probably CA).
If I’m on the right path, please share these recommendations with your BIL:
Recommendation #1 - I see a website BUT I do NOT see a photo slideshow with large photos of all rooms and many exterior shots. I don’t believe your BIL can insert too many photos. At the least, suggest your BIL drop the flash header slideshow and insert a slideshow front & center where the front exterior is. Set the options to stop the slideshow & advance at the user’s pace.
Recommendation #2 – Where’s the video? Your BIL absolutely must create & post a video tour. In fact, the video tour cannot be of the house (inside & outside only) – video must include the surrounding area – up and town the street. If it’s rural, make it clear. Include a video of the town’s amenities that will appeal to your BIL’s target buyer. Obviously, your BIL knows why such a buyer would be interested in his property.
Recommendation #3 - Your BIL must distribute his “listing media” BEYOND the “portals” mentioned. You mention he’s “adding” his property for sale to Zillow, Trulia, Yahoo, Google Base and a number of other destination portals. Unfortunately, that’s not enough, Saul…and you know it, especially if he’s NOT creating & distributing VIDEO…which he MUST. Heavy content distribution on the Internet is a must. At the very least, encourage him to go to www.animoto.com & create several (slideshow) videos & blast them out using www.tugemogul.com. He also should consider www.socialmarker.com.
Recommendation #4 – Prove great value beyond words. We all know most sales occur emotionally. Therefore, ADD more (and better) photos and video. Show off the house and area, attacking potential buyers’ emotional yearning for such a property. But also appeal to the number-crunching buyer. Show me some comps – prove to me that your BIL’s property is a great value. Your BIL mentions taxes but gives no evidence. Make all the “boring” stuff available for the number-crunching buyer.
Recommendation #5 - Offer a selling agent commission at the least before dropping the price. Without repeating all the excellent statements/suggestions your BIL already has received from my colleagues, please allow me to point out a potentially huge strategic mistake: Your BIL already has dropped his asking price AND indicated he wants (needs?) a quick sale. Seems minor but my guess is a FSBO buyer automatically will low-ball him based on this strategic oversight.
Your BIL’s property appears beautiful – and I hope he nets what he wants in the time frame he wants to sell. Where in the South does he want to go? Florida, by chance? If Florida, is he looking at Sarasota? Tell him you know (of) a great Sarasota Realtor who can help him save money on a buy in Sarasota. Perhaps he can make up the money on a buy that he paid a realtor to sell his house.
No doubt, realtors play a vital role in helping sellers sell and buyers buy. Sometimes, a smooth buy/sell makes it appear the real estate agent (s) are overpaid and that anyone can do what we do.
I choose not to debate people who choose to sell (or buy) their home on their own. That’s their choice. Reality is that many sellers and buyers whom I’ve helped over the years with information on how to buy or sell a house eventually have hired me to help them.
They jump in with the best intentions of doing it themselves, but then they realize it’s more involved than they had thought. In some cases the “more involved” is the time needed to manage the project and the people involved in buying or selling a house.
Let me be clear on something: In no way does a person need superior intellect to be a real estate licensee. A competent real estate attorney will recommend all necessary paperwork (in most cases) and help mitigate liability.
PLEASE scroll down and share your thoughts. I know you have an opinion about real estate agents & selling or buying houses. Have you sold or bought w/o a real estate agent? How did that work out for you? Any regrets? If you were a buyer, did you really get a better deal? Make no mistake, 6% is A LOT of money. On the flip side, what is the cost of not paying 6%? Whatever your comments, experience & questions, please share your thoughts. I want to hear from you.
If you or someone you know wants to buy or sell a house in or around Sarasota, Florida, please call me…. I want to help you!
Sarasota real estate buying and selling does not demand realtors be involved…or that 6% be paid. Today, more than 80% – more like 96% recent NAR report claims – of all house hunters hit the Internet to begin their house search. If you’re selling, how well do you know how to market your property on the Internet? Even if you expect your buyer to come from the local area, selling a house today is much more than listing your house on the MLS (that is, Multiple Listing Service), sticking a sign in the front yard with a bunch of professional looking flyers & shooting an ad to the local newspapers.
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