Regardless of what market you’re in, I’m sure you’re inundated with television commercials and targeted ads from discount real estate brokerages claiming they’ll sell your home for “thousands of dollars more.” Their real estate brokerage fees might seem slightly less, upon first glance, but I can nearly guarantee that the level of service you get, and the return you get will also be less.
I recently listed 1037 E. Glenrosa Ave.
As is our usual process when prepping a home for listing, we did some preliminary home “edits” of the homeowner’s current furnishings and added in some light staging in preparation for professional photos and 3D walkthrough imaging. Additionally, we did around 10 days of pre-listing marketing on MLS and our business social media accounts. This prep work resulted in an over list offer in hair prior to going active on MLS.
When the listing did go live on a Friday we had no less than 60 calls related to the property. I answered and/or responded to each call and agents were most of the time shocked and always appreciative of it. My response to them: I’ve been hired to sell a house, I should be answering calls, voicemails, texts and emails.
The weekend of listing, I held an open house and it was by and large one of the most heavily attended open houses I’ve held. By that Sunday, I had received 13 over list offers, plus two more that came in on Monday.
On Monday morning, I reached out to each and every one of the agents who submitted offers on behalf of their sellers to give them the general terms of the best offer received and to see if their clients wanted to adjust any terms prior to my clients final review. Once again, both the buyers and their agents were shocked, and appreciative that I would take the time to communicate and give all of the buyers a fair shot.
At the end of the day, the “work” I put in for these clients got them the following offer:
- Purchase Price $470,000 – a whopping $70,000 over list price
- FULL appraisal waiver
- 5 Day Inspection Period, with no repairs requested
- 30 day post possession to the sellers, at no cost to them
- $433.58/SF which SMASHES the resale rate for comps within a 1-mile radius
None of the terms were on an originally submitted offer, and none were a part of a buyer’s “highest and best.” All were negotiated after all offers were received. Sure, it takes more time, but if you’re paying someone to sell your home don’t you want to know they’re putting the time in?
Had these clients opted to save 1% of the listing fee by going with a discount brokerage (in this case, approximately $1,500 if they’d taken the first offer) , they would have left $55,000 on the table.
Need more proof?
I personally purchased a property recently which was listed by one of these discount brokerages. The property never was live on MLS and I was able to procure it in a “Coming Soon” status. My offer was $5,000 over list price, which I’m sure compelled the seller enough to accept my offer. However, the property appraised $2,000 over where I offered and where I paid. Meaning that I effectively walked in with equity and the seller left money on the table.
Bottom line: Even in a seller’s market, the right agent can net you more! Send us a message if you’re ready to hire someone who truly has your best interests at heart when you sell or buy your next home.