What to do? Who to trust?
Updated: Dec 16, 2018
This blog is written from my extremely biased opinion, based off my own observations.
Feel free to take what resonates with you and leave what doesn’t.
Be kind and inform with purpose🌷
So, you have a property you're ready to sell - but you have no idea where to start!?
There are some options:
1. You can slap a sign on the lawn - “For Sale by Owner” - and forge through the unknown
2. You can hire a Realtor - but where do you start searching?
3. Maybe you have a friend/family member who recommended their Realtor to you
(referrals are awesome!)
Either way, it’s confusing and can quickly become a stressful and daunting process.
You want to know that you’re able to trust someone's professional advice, and there can be a lot of fear involved when certain moves will affect money coming into or out of your pocket!
Let's go into a bit more detail -
“For Sale by Owner”:
This can be a lucrative avenue in specific circumstances:
- IF - you are somehow experienced in the transaction of buying and selling Real Estate (ie. You have done it multiple times in the last 5 years, have the right connections, have all the time and money in the world and are a genius at figuring things out on your own).
- IF - you buy a property through a friend or family member and someone lucks out because it was hugely undervalued/overvalued.
Otherwise, how would you have ANY IDEA what is occurring in the current Real Estate market? When it comes to pricing and situating your property to sell, it doesn’t matter how well you've researched comparable prices, spoken to every neighbor/person you know etc.…you will always overprice your property based on emotion and it will generate no offers or very low offers.
Private offers come in 8-15% lower than asking price, and that’s a lot of $$.
Let’s not mess around.
Also, I can only imagine how flared up conversations can get during negotiations where a 3rd party Realtor isn't there to help navigate the bumps.
Hiring a Realtor:
Let me expand on what I understand about Real Estate brokerages who offer a discounted commission to their clients (3%, 2%, 1% eep!!)
I certainly do not want to offend anyone attempting to run a successful business. But, it does create a bit of a block when lay people are not aware of what goes on behind the scenes in the Vernon Real Estate world.
When you hire a Realtor (to sell your property) and they discount their own commission, as well as the commission offered to the Realtor representing the potential buyer– you are believing this will save you money.
Which it might.
That’s probably what you were told.
And I can totally understand how you would feel like it would.
But - I’m assuming a Realtor who operates from that platform would need to work from a volume sales perspective and would be a very busy individual looking to (+) and (-) as many listings as possible to make a decent living.
This means that they will likely manage to sell your property quickly but at a lower price than expected. Yes, you saved money on commission, but you may have been able to squeeze another $15-20,000 out of an offer if you worked the system a little bit differently.
A Real Estate business carrying a lot of listings may look successful from the outside but I wonder how much time they can devote to one-on-one attention, focused on YOU and your listing.
I’m not saying there are not competent Realtors working from a reduced commission and I’m not saying It wouldn’t be a tempting avenue to try and generate more transactions for your business.
Either way, it’s pretty obvious that Real Estate agents want to get paid. If you want them to work their hardest to get top dollar for your property, you have to hire a full commission agent who informs you and respects the value of offering a motivating commission to the buyers' agents. You want to attract the buyers’ agents who are working with qualified people that are ready to go!
Inviting a few different Realtors over to see the property is a really good idea because you can interview them and hear their “pitch”. See how much homework they are willing to do, observe their personality, and feel out what price they would start your listing at.
Can you make eye contact with this person?
Does it seem like they are pushy or “scripted”?
Do they listen when you're talking?
These factors are almost more important because if you don't "click" at the first meeting then it will definitely become a problem when you’re trying to communicate down the road.
Lastly, try to be trusting. When you choose the right Realtor and you have a good rapport with them, know that they are going to do their best to keep you informed.
Obviously, you will always have the final say in any decision regarding your property.
An excellent Realtor will genuinely care that the transaction goes well for you and will be working hard on your behalf.
Try not to let fear get in the way of trusting the steps they are advising you to take.
Buying and selling can be an emotional time and an experienced Realtor will have the confidence and ability to guide you all the way.
