After contacting a listing agent directly...
oldisnew2015
7 years ago
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elpaso1
7 years agoUser
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Are Listing Agents Worth the $$?
Comments (12)Not everyone is good enough to do it themselves. Alot will waste their money trying, and go full service. You will need more time, and alot of patience. Some agents will avoid you, and some may send ringers. But if you frequent here, you may have the passion it takes. And you will save a BUNCH of money. I have sold 2 times with flat fee (FF) listings. I have also tried to buy FFs on 3 different occasions, but didn't win. These were great homes I saw on the net (4 bed, 3 bath, 3 car, big yard, good schools, etc.), and of course these went quickly no matter who listed them. A clean, well priced house sells itself. My agent never said a word about them being FFs when I told her I wanted to see them - maybe because we didn't have a signed agreement, and I could have cut her out (I wouldn't do that though). If she would have refused any - she would no longer have been my agent. Here is my advice on FF selling: You will need to be comfortable negotiating at a disadvantage with the buyers agent. Buyers Agents will use several tried and true tricks that you as a seller will not recognize like a seasoned agent. CMAs can be tailored low or high. Avoid negotiations with the BA directly if you can - use a fax or a friend to receive the offer as it will get emotional. Even discount agents will act as an intermediary in this day and age, even if it is just to fax in and out. Since the internet is so important now - get the best pictures you can, and make sure they are bright enough. Many monitors show perfectly normal pictures as dark. Of course you have to clean, declutter, depersonalize, deoderize, fix, etc. All of that should be a given when selling. Watch all the cable shows for cheap fix-ups. People don't want to do $#!+ anymore, so make it look good. The flyer must be professional looking. Keep it simple with concrete information like sizes, mechanicals, schools, upgrades, and new replacements (wood floors, gas fireplace, granite, new 16 SEER, ). Skip the flowery descriptions, and don't list everything. Go look a several flyers. Border it, and put a legal disclaimer in small print on the bottom to make it look professional (no discrimination by race, measurements are approx, etc.) Put the discount agents name and number on the flyer. Do not put FSBO or flat fee or "save by buying through us!" ANYWHERE on the document. Let your agent tell the interested party its FSBO, it will be a nice surprise (paid just the $395 vs. $7.8K on my first sale since the buyer went directly through me). Have the flyers printed at a copy place with some gloss, not on your computer. MOST IMPORTANT: DO NOT USE THE RED FSBO SIGN. Scares away a lot of people. Also, people with agents may feel guilty. Find a FF lister with a good sign - this is very important. If your only FF lister doesn't give a sign, then make one and ask if you can put their name on it as eg. FOR SALE, MLS# 12345,agent STEED SMITH, 555-1234. You must get a lockbox, and you must leave when an agent is showing. If a person is not using an agent, ask if they are approved, and get their mortgage co's number. If you are frail, then you may just accept buyers with agents only. And finally - price it right under the last comp, and always offer the full 3% to BAs. Keep it under a price point on realtor.com ($349.9K instead of $352). If you don't think the last comp is good enoug - THEN DON"T SELL NOW. As Nickleson once said, "You can't handle the truth." I also don't understand why offering an agent more is any better than lowing the price or offering allowances, but some feeble minded people can be intimidated by their agent so it may have some value. Thats all I have to say about that......See MoreNeed objective opinion on listing agent
Comments (27)Depends on the situation. It can be a real slap in the face if you've worked really hard and pulled out all the stops to get a place sold, only to see the listing go at the price you've been saying all along to another agent and sell in a week. The problem with the OP & their realtor is they probably never should have listed with the agent to begin with, they used him for the wrong reasons, hoping he would sell it since they overpaid. The realtor.com listing is minimal plus the listing link on the agents site doesn't "stay".. how does someone keep a link like that when shopping for a house? If there is no relationship, get out of the contract. Sit down and talk to the agent, tell them why you want out. If they say give me two weeks with a price drop, either give it to them or not. If you choose not to, tell them why... It's one of the reasons that a two month listing simply isn't enough. No agent is going to pour their heart and soul into selling a listing knowing that in 8 weeks it could be gone to the competition. I've had sellers insist on short listing contracts and unless the house is priced to sell straight away, I won't even consider taking the listing. I'm lucky (touch wood) I've only ever had 3 listings expire, and two of those were thanks to shorter listing agreements and deals that fell through. Both of the sellers knew that the deal dying had nothing to do with me - I FIGHT to keep transactions together, but sadly a bad taste is still there and most sellers can't help but associate their realtor with it and want to start over fresh. Those are the really tough ones, but I can't say I blame the seller really, they just want to shake off a bad experience and start over. We signed a 3 month. Even though the house hasn't sold yet (think we have 30 more days) we know it is not our agents fault and are still very happy with her. We are 99% sure we will list with her when the contract is over. It's hard to find the "right fit" especially if you're in a small town like me where a lot of the agents are doing it part time. From what I see none are aggressive....See Morelisting expired, agent hasn't noticed, request to view
Comments (26)Jane-thanks. Managed to get bronchitis before recovering from food poisoning, but I'm great now. Sweet Tea- nothing in our subdivision on the market now. Other than the house I was talking about, the most recent sales were 11/2 to 2 years ago. One smaller house & lot sold for $263 and the one across the road from us which was also smaller house and lot for $275 (can't believe they got that price, much smaller). Houses just don't go on the market often here. Our house is average. Right smack in the middle of sq ft and lot size for the subdivision. All brick, good condition. I have a couple of realtor questions. We are interviewing 2 tomorrow & have decided to choose tomorrow night even if we flip a coin to do so. One realtor has a lot of promise. From the area, does agent open houses. The other was telling me that the key is to set the price right. I agree, but he said that he listed a house & had a contract in less than 2 weeks, with 3 other people calling him wanting to know if the contract was good because they didn't get their contracts in 1st. He was very proud, but all I could think was that he could have got more $. Maybe I watch too much HGTV, but they would have had a bidding war. Is his a good pricing strategy? Haven't heard either of their comps yet for our house. 2nd question: Does it matter if our house shows up when MLS is searched for our subdivision? When it was listed before, it didn't. I asked the agent to fix it but he said it didn't matter. The broker that we've already interviewed said that it didn't matter so there would be no need for him to fix it either. Thanks for advice & opinions....See MoreHow to contact the administrators....directly?
Comments (62)"He might just be the person who saves you when you make a stop at a gas station " So you think people frequently need to be "saved" at gas stations? I think that's a pretty extreme view - it's not something I've encountered in my 60 or so years of consciously being aware of when I was in a gas station. But if you think that's a real risk, buy an electric car! That way the gun toters can save someone else at the gas station....See Morenew-beginning
7 years agooldisnew2015
7 years agoC Marlin
7 years agooldisnew2015
7 years agoC Marlin
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoStan B
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