The Cost Of Selling Your Home Without A Real Estate Agent – Is It Worth It?

Using a real estate agent to sell your home will cost you money. After all you are using a trained professional who has taken a lengthy course and is licensed. But everyone likes to save money, and if you can save thousands of dollars by hiring your own photographer and selling it on line, how difficult can it be?

You will soon discover that this approach will not work, and the money saved will not make up for the time and money lost by selling it yourself.

Here are some of the aspects you should be aware, when trying to sell your home privately:

Inaccurate pricing.

There is a difference between online pricing and what homes are actually being sold for. This information is only available to a realtor. A home priced too high will be on the market for weeks, and alternatively a lower priced home will literally mean money being thrown away. Property listings have a 4-6 week shelf life. The longer it stays on the market, the more likely prospective buyers are going to think something is wrong with it.

Unnecessary time and expense spent marketing.

You are going to have to market the home all by yourself. It takes a lot of time and effort to do this properly. You need to list on on-line sites, newspapers and classifieds. You also need to list on the MLS. This requires finding a broker who will do this for you.

Missing out on a huge networking channel.

Realtors have a huge marketing network they can tap into. They have an extensive print campaign that will get your home featured in newspapers and magazines, both on line and in print.

Buyer’s agents may ignore your home.

If you chose not to pay a buyer’s agent a commission, then expect your home to be shunned, as there will be no financial incentive for the buyer’s agent to show your home to anyone. This will drastically reduce the number of potential buyers. When you use a realtor, the realtor will split the commission with the buyer’s agent.

A lot of time will be spent on organization.

Selling a home has a lot of moving parts – communicating with buyers and spending time organizing showings; dealing with banks or lenders regarding the buyers’ credit worthiness; organizing paperwork with lawyers and mortgage brokers; advertising the home; making appointments….All this requires time. Most people with jobs and families are hard pressed to handle this extra workload.

Your perception of the home may be misleading.

It’s your home and you know everything that there is to know about it. However, you need a second opinion about how it is “packaged” for a potential buyer. A realtor will work with you before your home goes on the market. He/she will use their vast experience and training to make sure your home looks best to a buyer.

Negotiation and sale are unlike any other.

A real estate transaction is not like an ordinary transaction. Due to the magnanimity of the value, it requires skillful negotiation and once the sale has been concluded, there are a lot of complex procedures that fall into place. For those who have not been formally trained in this type of transaction, the chances of mistakes and complications are exacerbated.

There are serious downsides of selling your home without the expertise of a real estate agent. Why not use an organization that has over 30 years of experience? If you are contemplating on selling your home, contact us via email or call us on 604 913 1000 and a real estate professional will be on hand to assist you every step of the way.