Would you trust a gymnastics instructor who had never
participated in the sport, but who had read about it in news articles? Would you trust your neighbor to diagnose and
fix a startup problem with your car even though they have never driven a car? What about your cousin to create a marketing
scheme complete with logo, banners and pamphlets who just turned 7? These questions are pretty straight forward
and easy to answer without giving much thought to it. We have the same sentiment when it comes to
why property owners should be using real estate professionals when deciding to
list their property for sale. A house is
one of the largest investments you will ever make and it comes with its own set
of complicated contracts and due diligence in terms of financial and legal
obligations. For Sale By Owner and iBuyer
programs are enticing but let us explain you why you should consider all of
your options.
1. How Will You Valuate Your Property?
“Well, Zillow says my house is
worth…” Oh how this statement makes real estate professional cringe. Zestimates have a 5% variance from actual
market values. That sounds good at first
but if your home is worth $290,000, you could potentially under sell it by
$14,500…ouch! Zillow acknowledges that
their Zestimate is a sophisticated algorithm using public data to figure the
valuation of a property. They also are
well aware and acknowledge that it is NOT a complete market valuation. What is the difference? Accurate market valuations are done by
actually walking a property. A computer
cannot determine an accurate market price without seeing the condition of a
house. Public information will not give
details such as the current condition of the home, how old its mechanical components
are, if a kitchen was recently remodeled, if the neighbors take care of their
lawn, noise level, if the architectural style is “in”, if building materials
have been upgraded, what warranties are current for the property, etc. All of these have an affect on the home’s
value in one fashion or another. Some of
these actually increase or decrease the market value, other factors will weigh
heavily on the days on market forecast, both of which can affect your bottom
line when you consider money in your pocket and the value of time.
2. I Don’t Have The Time Or Flexibility Of Keeping My Home Show Ready
I think people often forget that
real estate agents work for YOU, the client. We are here to provide a service to you which means it is part of our
job description to serve you in a way that is convenient and comfortable to
your liking. You work from a home
office, have clients in and out of your home for meetings, you have 2 small
kids at home, 3 dogs and a parrot. It
takes too much time to clean the messes that arise from your lifestyle and it
is just not the sort of flexibility that you can currently support. There are ways around this! Open houses, open door showings, restricted
access to just certain days and times are just a few ways that we can work
around your lifestyle. Having a pet
sitting service, an additional babysitter, a cleaning service, staging service,
etc are all sorts of concierge type add-on’s that real estate professionals
utilize to keep you relaxed and comfortable. A good agent has a network built and can help
find solutions to these inconveniences.
3. This iBuyer Program Said They Would Give Me $xxx,xxx For My Home
That’s great! Believe me, you will always find a buyer to
buy a product at an extremely discounted rate. If you’ve ever filled out an offer request, you know that a team member
from the program will reach you almost instantly with an offer ready to
go. These programs use similar AVM
(automated valuation model) as Zillow and other techniques that other real
estate professionals have access to, but do you think they are going to offer
you market value? NO, why would they? For example, we had a property that we valued at $180,000 when an iBuyer
offer was presented at $149,200. That is
a 17% discount! Then, more fees are ADDED! A 5.5% service charge (3% for commission, a 1% service fee and 1.5% risk
fee) was added in addition to closing costs and repair costs…wow. They are in business to make money as
well. Either you, as the home owner
pocket the equity that you have earned or you can just give it away to
them. I know which plan I would go with.
4. The Internet Is Full Of Resources To Reduce The Need Of An Agent
This can get you in trouble. While you can research, Google, pay for discounted
marketing services, discounted contracts, etc you cannot replace the experience
of an agent who has already gone through the home sale process countless times. Think about WebMD vs a physician. EVERY transaction is different! Different hurdles that pop up could include:
Negotiating
issues on inspection related repairs. Some of these can be mandatory for
certain types of buyer financing, some are fluff, some are required by Fair
Housing Laws and even some by utility or other service providers.
Buyer backs out
of contract a week before scheduled closing. Do you know what type of recourse you have? Deposit forfeiture, additional funds owned,
was it because of a seller issue, false advertisement? What about if you have already made plans to
purchase another property? What happens
then?
Title issues can
get very murky. What if an estate is involved,
separated party sellers, or what if liens have been issued and have not been
satisfied? What does that means for you
as the seller and the future of your deal? You need an agent that is working on your behalf to help explain your
options. Although agents are not legal
counsel, they are your liaison to make sure that your rights are being
protected. This is an area that sellers
can be taken advantage of in an instant. Don’t fall into that trap.
Remember when we
touched on a concierge type service? Your agent should almost work as your project manager between you, the
buyer’s agent, financing institutions, repair and inspections teams and your
closing attorney. There are a lot of
moving parts with specific deadlines that need to be kept organized. Agents know deadlines, realistic and
unrealistic expectations and how to manage the varying breadth of steps each
invested party member must walkthrough to get a deal to the closing table. There are tools out there to start the
selling process, but not many that explain what to do during the meat of the
contract period.
5. I’ve Been Through The Process Before, I’m Going To Do FSBO
We touched on this in the point
above. There are many tools out there to
start the selling process, but not many to advocate for you throughout the contract
process. There are companies that will
help you setup a legal contract and offer contact services to closing attorneys
in your area. They are offered at a very
discounted rate because these are very limited type services. They aren’t explaining your options when presented
with multiple offers on a home, how to connect with buyers without making it
public, how to deal with negotiations during certain contingency periods, they
don’t have the relationships established with other agents, etc. They are very automated which sounds more
efficient, but for the sake of efficiency (on the service provider’s side) you
can lose out on equity without ever knowing it.
Bottom line is real estate
professionals provide benefit to your overall selling experience. If you are interested in learning how we can
help you maximize your equity and help navigate you through the process, give
us a call. We love talking about
marketing strategies, pricing options and we genuinely love helping people!
Collaboration - Michael and Jana Lambros, Lambros Realty, LLC