Selling your house privately?

[raab]

Originally Posted by Dean2

Like all statistics quoted to support an argument, 98% are made up on the spot. How is the other guy going to check it.

I find the response from the realtors quite interesting. I have not read much in the way of open hate for realtors, more a whole lot of questions about what you get for your money. I think I have a pretty balanced approach to when to use and when not to use a realtor. What I don't see is the realtors committing to a long list of quality services and behaviours that demonstrate to people the value they ad. A data base of potential buyers is a FAR FAR way from the value people are looking for.

IF a realtor is going to sell me on the value he brings: Lets talk about the formal market analysis to set the listing price, the specific marketing plan, is there open houses, full MLS exposure or private listing, where else will the home be advertised, does he have any pre-listing buyers. Does he use a professional photographer or is it just a few snaps taken by the realtor on his cell phone. Is the realtor covering having a full home inspection done so the home owner knows what to fix and will it be made available to buyers, do they have someone on staff or on retainer to come out and go over detailed staging of the home, do they provide any muscle to help move extra furniture etc to storage, do they have contact and recommendations for storage units, places to rent staging furniture etc,. How do they go about qualifying potential buyers before trooping them through your home and what guarantee do they provide regarding the security of items in your home. (Many realtors will allow buyers to walk through a home unescorted, that can lead to a lot of valuable stuff going missing.)

If you are going to use a realtor, make a list like the one above and get answers to all these questions. If you don't like the answers interview another realtor. There aren't many realtors that will commit to this much work, but the really good ones will. The realtors' job is to make the selling of your house as hassle free as possible for you. If you have to put together the real property report, order the home inspection and do a whole bunch of other work then you might as well do the whole sale your self. If you are paying 15,000 plus in commissions you should be getting a lot more than a sign on the lawn with his mug on it.

I'm not a realtor but I'll tell you what our selling realtor did for us. Created a website for our property, professional photos, ads in the newspaper, ad on mls, dealt with the other agents/clients, handled the paperwork and was a great source of information on pricing our home. Well worth the investment even though it's pricy. When your dealing with major transactions it's always been my belief you should have quality trained people helping you with it.