by Smith Real Estate Services, Inc.
When you sell your home, you want to put the most money in your pocket, right? Sadly, there are 2 common mistakes people who want the most money make.
I. TRY TO SELL THE HOME YOURSELF
The National Assn of Realtors tracks statistics and they show that when you compare the price a seller gets when they list the home with a Realtor can be as high as 20% more than when the seller attempts to sell the home themselves.
Though shocking at first, it makes sense. After all, the agent is a professional skilled at selling homes. Selling a home is more than just putting a sign in the yard and listing it in MLS.
Marketing 101 says that you have to be everywhere because you don't know where your buyer is. Buyers know that they get the services of a Realtor for free and that Realtors have access to 99%+ of the homes on the market. With that in mind, why would a buyer not work with a Realtor?
In a market where prices are decreasing every month, when you don't have proper exposure, you potentially have to mark the price of your home down, repeatedly. When you finally list with a Realtor because selling it yourself did not work, the price is almost always lower than it would have been if you'd listed it with a Realtor in the beginning.
II. CHOOSING THE WRONG AGENT
In point #1 above, we address the importance of marketing the home and giving it maximum exposure. The negotiating skills of the agent have a lot to do with how much money you will get from the sell of your home. This is why choosing an agent with exceptional negotiating skills puts more money in your pocket.
An important statistic to know when choosing your listing agent is what is their average sales price as a percentage of the list price. In Folsom, the average agent sells at about 98% of the list price. In El Dorado Hills, the average agent sells at about 97% of the list price. How do the top agents compare to the average agent on this statistic?
Some are below the agent average, according to the statistics. What might this mean to your bottom line? If we assume a $400,000 list price, with one of the top agents in our market, you would get just $363,400. Choosing another agent for the sale of the same home could garner you $394,120. That $30,720 is money you could have lost by choosing the wrong agent.
Selling your home is a huge financial decision that is worth taking seriously. Since you want the most money from the sell of your home, choose the right agent. It pays to choose wisely.