If
you do decide that you have given it your
best shot as a FSBO and wish to enlist
the services of a real estate agent here
are some questions you NEED
to ask.
Do
you own your own home? If my home sells
quickly and you have not spent much time
and money will you reduce your commission
accordingly? What is your track record?
How many homes have you sold in the last
12 months? How long were they on the
market and the ratio to listing to sold
price? Are you going on vacation or plan
to be away while my home is listed? When
can I expect contact and progress reports
from you?
DO
NOT forget to ask THE
MOST important
question of all, a home owner MUST
ask a real estate agent...
If
I don't like the way things are going and
you turn out to be a flake and have not
kept up your end of the bargain, can
I fire your ass
immediately and sell my home privately or
list with another company as I see fit at
anytime? Will you put all these terms in
writing? If you do not ask these
questions you may find yourself stuck in
a long term relationship with an agent
that is not getting the job done. If they
can't answer these questions I think you
know what the answer is...NEXT!!!
As
a for sale by owner you need to know how
the real estate game works and use it to
your advantage. Did you know that real
estate agents are responsible for all
their own costs, advertising, car and
everything in between. Unknowing home
sellers who list with agents who have
lean budgets in most cases will get just
that, a lean campaign.
In
the times of a hot market, in my
experience real estate agents are
just order takers. There are so
many buyers they do not have to do much
of anything other than place your home on
the market and bang you have multiple
offers. They just made $10,000, $15,000
or $20, 000 dollars, does not seem right
for a few hours work? They will argue
that this makes up for slow times
and it all evens out. I don't know about
you but I really don't care about their
slow times or deals they had with other
people, it's my home and my money
that I care about.
So
as a FSBO, if you go over to the dark
side make sure when you are talking to an
agent initially, you make it very clear
that if your home sells in a day and they
haven't any costs or very little
involvement they will agree to cut their
commission accordingly? Usually something
like this happens...
They
will cry and say they won't, can't, or
they are not allowed but they
will. It's like "gee
thanks for the gift basket and the nifty
fridge magnets" but what
I really want is my 10 grand
back.
Also
as a private home seller you may be
tempted by a flat fee company or will
list your home for $1,000- $5,000. To a
FSBO this may seem tempting but be
careful. What this means is if you list
your home on a flat fee or a reduced
commission basis the listing broker will
get $1,000 if he brings a buyer or this
$1,000 will be shared among 2 agents if
another brings a buyer.
Here
is a "real world"
example of how I was sodomized by this
tactic.
I
was recently looking for a home as an
investment. I was referred to a real
estate agent by a "friend" to
help me locate a property. I was driving
around on my own and saw a nice house so
I called MY broker and
asked about this property. She replied,
"oh that home just sold". I did
not believe her and called the listing
agent myself and he said it was still
available? Although she will never admit
it, what happened was my broker checked
the listing and saw it was listed by a
flat fee reduced rate commission outlet.
She realized that if I bought the
property through her she was only going
to make $500 dollars, so she told me it
was sold! This really pissed me
off so I waited until the
listing expired called the home owner
directly and bought it from the private
home seller. I include this to make sure
you are aware that these things can
happen.
Now
don't get me wrong. I don't mind some
realtors, I just detest the tricky,
inexperienced and lazy ones. If you hand
over the reins to a real estate agent
then I would employ the one that is most
successful in your area. As a rule they
have a support staff, a step by step
selling plan, a large advertising budget
and do not take lousy over priced
listings. They are successful for a
reason, they get the job done. Just look
for the full page ads in your real estate
paper and find the ones that can afford
the big spread. 90% of the money is made
by the top 10% and the rest just beg for
scraps.
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