Sellers Guide

Just like you wouldn’t want to appear in front of court without an attorney, it’s really not the best idea to try to sell a home without the right real estate agent.

A real estate agent is instrumental in getting you the best possible price for your home, selling it quickly, and avoiding legal issues.

First of all, a real estate agent serves as a buffer between you and potential buyers. Your real estate agent takes care of scheduling showings, evaluating buyers, crafting your property listing description, and marketing your property.

Also, selling your home is a highly emotional process. It’s the place where you raised a family, created memories, and enjoyed spending time with loved ones. It can be difficult to be 100% objective about the market value of your home even in normal circumstances. But that becomes even more difficult when you’re dealing with all the work that goes with moving out of your home, looking out for the next place to live in, and dealing with the selling process.

A real estate agent has no emotional attachment to your home, and can provide a data-based analysis on how much the buyer is willing to pay for your home. Because real estate agents’ job is to market and sell homes, they bring experience and expertise in navigating real estate, negotiations, and marketing.

While those that choose to sell their home on their own typically do so in order to avoid paying agent fees, research shows that home sellers that use an agent typically net more than those that sell their home themselves.

However, don’t think that every agent is as good as the next. You need to carefully consider the qualifications of whatever agent you choose, their track record, and the kind of marketing strategies they offer. Choose an agent that has a solid digital marketing plan, including a strong social media presence, and a good reputation in your area.

At first glance, it may seem like a good idea to price your home as high as you possibly can. After all, there are always rounds of negotiation in real estate, and buyers can always negotiate and make a counter offer... right?

Sadly, that’s a recipe for failure in real estate.

Buyers (and especially buyer agents) are more informed than ever, and have all the tools they need to know how much a home is worth, and what a realistic and market-data-backed final price tag should look like.

If a home is obviously overpriced, buyers won’t have the patience or interest to spend round after round of counter offers., especially if there are alternatives in the market.

In fact, if the price for the home is too high, your home might not even show up in important areas of a MLS or property search sites. For example, if you price a $280,000 home at $350,000, it won’t show up on a property search for homes up to $300,000.

Also, if your home remains unsold in the market for too long, it may start raising questions about whether there’s something wrong with the home.

And opportunistic buyer agents and investors will know that the longer a listing remains in the market, the more it will cost you, and they’ll start making ridiculously low offers. At the end, you could end up with a final price that’s much lower than you could have hoped for.

By far the most effective way to attract buyers is to price your home correctly from day one.

Trust your agent’s advice, and make sure you verify the data that they use to price your property. By pricing your property correctly from day one, you’ll attract more qualified buyers, and your home won’t get stuck in the market unsold.

Few things motivate people more than the feeling that they’re getting a good deal.

So if you really want to attract as many buyers as possible, you need to offer better monetary incentives.

One of the tools that can be best used to your advantage is how your agent’s commission split is used.

While it may seem that your agent gets a disproportionately high amount of money for "just marketing your property", a high percentage of that commission doesn’t actually go to your agent.

A significant chunk of it (typically 40-50%) is used to incentivize buyer’s agents to market your home to their potential buyers, and bring a qualified buyer to you.

The better split that your agent provides for buyer agent’s, the more it will motivate them to bring a qualified buyer.

So when interviewing a real estate agent, make sure you ask about how exactly their commission split will be used, and how much of it will be used towards the buyer’s agent.

Examine what the typical commission split is in your area, and make sure your agent has at least a 50-50 split.

In addition, you can also make your deal more appealing by offering a few thousand dollars towards buyer’s closing costs (which are traditionally covered by the buyer). Or if you really want to take it to the next level, you could even offer to pay for them completely.