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Used a realtor to sell your house? Come inside.

P

propellerhead

Golden Member
Last time I sold my house, I went For Sale By Owner. I learned a lot about buying and selling houses. This time, we decided to list our house with a realtor. If you've been through this, what should I watch out for? What parts would you do different if you could do it all over again?

Thanks.
 
make sure you dont just accept their "standard commission rate" and try to get them down... at least to 5%.
 
I would make sure that any contract specifies that they miust show the house. Sounds stupid, but our first realtor did not show our house for six months. We signed a contract and could not ditch him until that time was up. Now I lived in a very sluggish area ral estate wise, but still damn they should be able to at least attract a few people to see the house.

Bah, I hate realtors in general. I eventually sold this house fsbo. Which worked out quite nicely.
 
I have always had a short term contract with my Realtor.. basically I could ditch her at any time if I wanted, but she did a good job and I stayed with her.
Ask alot of questions such as how they advertise, what will they do to sell your house. Open houses typically don't do much besides let nosey neighbors into your house.

 
You should always use a realtor. And don't worry about knocking them down on commission... they earn it by getting you a higher price and handling all of the details.

I alway recommend people go with the bigger outfits like Coldwell Banker, Century 21, etc., although even the small brokers will get you on the MLS. Smaller brokers will usually give you a break on the commission too but aren't likely to have a handy list of pre-approved buyers.

Like most things in life... you get what you pay for. 😉
 
Originally posted by: Crazyfool
You should always use a realtor. And don't worry about knocking them down on commission... they earn it by getting you a higher price and handling all of the details.

I alway recommend people go with the bigger outfits like Coldwell Banker, Century 21, etc., although even the small brokers will get you on the MLS. Smaller brokers will usually give you a break on the commission too but aren't likely to have a handy list of pre-approved buyers.

Like most things in life... you get what you pay for. 😉
Click to expand...

Totally agree. Have been my experience aswell.
 
Originally posted by: Modeps
make sure you dont just accept their "standard commission rate" and try to get them down... at least to 5%.
Click to expand...

you can get them down to 4%, most realtors are hungry for work that 4% is still sufficient
 
If you have a costco membership, you should at least check out their referral program if you don't already have a realtor in mind. You might be able to haggle a better deal with a realtor than the cash back you get from costco (lendingtree), but we were happy with our experience.

Of course, we may have just been lucky, the agent we were referred to was great.
 
Originally posted by: Ameesh
Originally posted by: Modeps
make sure you dont just accept their "standard commission rate" and try to get them down... at least to 5%.
Click to expand...

you can get them down to 4%, most realtors are hungry for work that 4% is still sufficient
Click to expand...

Most realtors that will take 4% aren't worth it quite frankly. My wife is a realtor, she will not take any less than 5% and she works her butt off. She will advertise, hold broker's open houses and hold open houses almost every weekend until the house sells. She handles all aspects of the transaction from start to finish and she knows her stuff.

A good realtor is worth the money.

She works for Coldwell Banker BTW.
 
If you live in an area such as mine - ultra high priced homes, lots of executives transferring here, etc - a good agent will have a lot more potential buyers available and will know how to market your house to those people for top dollar.

However, there are a LOT of lousy agents out there.

Best way to find a good one is to look thru the last few years of listings sold, and pick someone who (1) has sold the most houses (2) has sold the most houses similar to yours. Also, speak to several real estate lawyers and find out who they respect as good agents.

The GOOD things that an agent does:
screens your potential buyers
hopefully, has access to potential buyers that you wouldn't if you were FSBO
knows the market better than you do
knows a few tricks to get buyers to make a decent offer fast, such as lying that another person is just about to bid and you'd better bid more right now to get the place.

If you aren't getting an agent that can do those things well, don't bother with an agent.
 
Originally posted by: badmouse
If you live in an area such as mine - ultra high priced homes, lots of executives transferring here, etc - a good agent will have a lot more potential buyers available and will know how to market your house to those people for top dollar.

However, there are a LOT of lousy agents out there.

Best way to find a good one is to look thru the last few years of listings sold, and pick someone who (1) has sold the most houses (2) has sold the most houses similar to yours. Also, speak to several real estate lawyers and find out who they respect as good agents.

The GOOD things that an agent does:
screens your potential buyers
hopefully, has access to potential buyers that you wouldn't if you were FSBO
knows the market better than you do
knows a few tricks to get buyers to make a decent offer fast, such as lying that another person is just about to bid and you'd better bid more right now to get the place.

If you aren't getting an agent that can do those things well, don't bother with an agent.
Click to expand...

Thank god we don't have those here.
 
I am taking a realtor course right now, the whole class is full! Some of these people look kinda sketchy, I wouldn't even trust them to sell my used computer for me. Make sure you pick a good agent.
 
Originally posted by: Crazyfool
You should always use a realtor. And don't worry about knocking them down on commission... they earn it by getting you a higher price and handling all of the details.

I alway recommend people go with the bigger outfits like Coldwell Banker, Century 21, etc., although even the small brokers will get you on the MLS. Smaller brokers will usually give you a break on the commission too but aren't likely to have a handy list of pre-approved buyers.

Like most things in life... you get what you pay for. 😉
Click to expand...
I deal with realtors everyday of my life and I can tell you that the company they work for has little to do with the quality of the agent. Bigger companies have larger budgets in which to employ more people, meaning the overall quality will suffer. Smaller shops tend to have more experienced agents that have been working in that market for longer. Though this is not the case with all shops of course.

The best way to get a good agent is by word of mouth. Talk to your family and friends and see who they have used, and who they know of. It's also a good idea to ask your loan officer or loan processor who they have been dealing with for a long while and who they feel is a good person to deal with.

Most realtors that will take 4% aren't worth it quite frankly. My wife is a realtor, she will not take any less than 5% and she works her butt off. She will advertise, hold broker's open houses and hold open houses almost every weekend until the house sells. She handles all aspects of the transaction from start to finish and she knows her stuff.

A good realtor is worth the money.
Click to expand...
She makes plenty good money for that work she is doing. I know many realtors that will take 4% without question most of the time.
 
Originally posted by: richardycc
I am taking a realtor course right now, the whole class is full! Some of these people look kinda sketchy, I wouldn't even trust them to sell my used computer for me. Make sure you pick a good agent.
Click to expand...

🙂 funny
 
Lots of good pointers here. Thanks.

The big one I wasn't aware of before was having an option to bail out of the contract if there is no activity. I'll make sure I bring that up when we pick a realtor or when we are going over the listing agreement.

Any more?
 
I have used a realtor one time and it was a pretty good experience. Here in San Diego now, there are so many realtors causing alot of competition so people are now offering to sell your home for 4% and some will even say they will take only 2% if they find the buyer for you.
 
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