ByOwnerPros.com | Agents, cats & dogs - oh my!
Agents, cats & dogs - oh my! |
By Lawrance Morrissey
At the For Sale By Owner store we're sometimes asked about our relationship with realtors. One client jokingly asked if we were popular down at MIBOR. Surprisingly our relationship with realtors is very professional. I often explain it's a lot like cats and dogs: The reputation they have is that they don't get along, but in reality, many of them do. For years, I have both a cat and a dog living peacefully under the same roof at home.
I have my Indiana Realtor brokers license and am a member of Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors (MIBOR). I serve as a full-service associate broker under a separate real estate company when our clients request and need that service. We follow MIBOR regulations including those regarding the multiple listing service, now called the "Broker Listing Cooperative" or BLC. We don't always agree with those regulations but that's another article. We have repeatedly written that there are very good realtors in our community and sometimes, very good reasons to use one. Most agents reciprocate by supporting homeowners' rights to sell their own homes - common sense demands it. We've even had referrals from agents and agents as clients.
It's true that about 4 out of 5 people use agents. We believe that's because most home sellers remain uneducated about the home selling process. We are in business to give home sellers an option for selling - an option that typically saves them thousands of dollars in commissions. So we spend much time educating the public. It seems that realtors would like for the general public to remain fearful and uneducated about real estate in an effort to protect their commission. If you'd like to learn more about real estate and selling your own home, we offer a monthly seminar.
Agents often use the following sales tactics and we at the FSBO Store would like you to know the truth.
"List with me - I can get you top dollar!"
FALSE. There is no magic pixie dust that an agent can use on your home to achieve top dollar. In fact, listing agents don't find buyers in approximately 94% of sales, and buyers' agents are working to get their sellers the LOWEST price possible. Agents don't get paid unless and until your home sells so sometimes there's pressure for you to lower your price shortly after listing, and sometimes there's pressure for you to accept a low offer. Prior to listing your home, agents may exaggerate the value of your home especially if they know that you're looking at different agents and selling options.
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"List with me, because most FSBOs will fail."
TRUE. Unfortunately, most FSBOs who try to sell with no help and no advertising do fail. Most FSBOs also do not price their homes correctly. With our professional help, our clients have a very high success rate - higher than the brokers listing cooperative!
"List with me, there's more liability if you sell by owner."
FALSE. There is no liability shift what-so-ever whether you use an agent or not. Preparation of the purchase agreement by a real estate lawyer is included in our marketing package for clients. We also provide sellers the required Indiana sales disclosures that sellers need to complete honestly and thoroughly. Doing so will protect sellers from most legal issues. Selling a home in any condition is allowed - as long as the problems are disclosed honestly. Most legal issues arise when sellers are not honest and don't disclose known problems - and NO ONE will protect a seller from that. What realtors don't want you to know is that they offer no legal protection; in fact, may agents carry "errors and omissions" insurance in the event of a lawsuit, but at the end of the day, their signature is not on the purchase agreement, only the buyers and sellers are!
"List with me. I know a lot of buyers."
Great! If the realtor already knows interested buyers, and your home is going to be so easy to sell, it won't take much effort to market so there's no need to list. The realtor can just bring the buyer and cut the commission in half.
"List with me. I can sell a property faster."
The best way to truly sell a home faster is to reduce the price and have maximum exposure. The most painless way to do that is to price it without agent commission.
"List with me. I'm your friend. I can give you a good deal."
No agent can match the value of selling by owner.
"If you buy with me, it won't cost you anything. The seller pays my commission."
There is no free lunch. Often times if a buyers agent needs to be paid, the home seller often has to mark up the price of the home to accommodate the commission. This step has usually been done by the time a homeowner puts their home on the BLC. Purchasing directly from the seller eliminates all commissions and padded home prices.
We hope this article helps buyers and sellers learn some truisms about real estate. Even though our approach is completely different from traditional real estate, in the end we all want a similar outcome in this dog-eat-dog world.
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