It May Cost You NOTHING to Hire an Agent to Sell Your Home!

Real estate is expensive in Northern VA as compared to much of the country, which can leave plenty of room for pricing errors, negotiating errors, and or paperwork/disclosure errors. Hiring the best Northern Va listing agent who invests in aggressively marketing your home as a opposed to hiring a cut rate agent or listing the home FSBO can put money in your pocket. Here is a recent article that may also help, 5 Things Your Listing Agent Must Do. This is not a gimmick, it may cost you nothing to hire an agent to sell your home in Northern VA!

It is easier to sell your house when using the services of a local real estate professional. The agent will provide:

• Greater exposure to more buyers

• The skills of a professional negotiator

• A layer of protection from possible legal liabilities

• Professional guidance in navigating any pitfalls that may arise

• A level of safety while showing the home

There is no doubt that these services are valuable to any family that decides to sell. The only question is – how valuable? One of the main reasons For Sale By Owners (FSBOs) don’t use a real estate agent is because they believe these services are not worth the fee an agent charges. But, what if those services didn’t cost the seller a penny?

A study by Collateral Analytics, however, reveals that FSBOs don’t actually save anything and, in some cases, may be costing themselves more by not listing with an agent.

In the study, they analyzed home sales in a variety of markets in 2016 and the first half of 2017. The data showed that:

“FSBOs tend to sell for lower prices than comparable home sales, and in many cases below the average differential represented by the prevailing commission rate.” (emphasis added)

Why would FSBOs net less money on their own than if they used an agent?

The study makes several suggestions:

“There could be systematic bias on the buyer side as well. FSBO sales might attract more strategic buyers than MLS sales, particularly buyers who rationalize lower-priced bids on with the logic that the seller is “saving” a traditional commission. Such buyers might specifically search for and target sellers who are not getting representational assistance from agents.” In other words, ‘bargain lookers’ might shop FSBOs more often.

“Experienced agents are experts at ‘staging’ homes for sale” which could bring more money for the home.

“Properties listed with a broker that is a member of the local MLS will be listed online with all other participating broker websites, marketing the home to a much larger buyer population. And those MLS properties generally offer compensation to agents who represent buyers, incentivizing them to show and sell the property and again potentially enlarging the buyer pool.” If more buyers see a home, the greater the chances are that there could be a bidding war for the property.

Three conclusions from the study:

1. FSBOs achieve prices significantly lower than those from similar properties sold by Realtors using the MLS.

2. The differential in selling prices for FSBOs when compared to MLS sales of similar properties is about 5.5%.

3. The sales in 2017 suggest the average price was near 6% lower for FSBO sales of similar properties.

Bottom Line

Thinking of selling your home in Alexandria, Arlington, Burke, Centreville, Chantilly, Dunn Loring, Falls Church, Fairfax, Great Falls, McLean, Oakton, Reston, Tysons Corner, Vienna, or anywhere in Northern VA? Hiring an agent solely based on lower commission or FSBOing may end up costing you money instead of saving you money.

Article originally posted on my KCM blog, here.