I can tell you one thing. Paying a cut rate just to get in the local listing service is not a good way to sell fast. If you're going to go the no frills, no effort from your agent route, you may as well go For Sale By Owner. And FSBO's get destroyed on price in my area.
We do about 24-36 transactions throughout Southern California each year and never pay full commission. I respectfully disagree. I don't really understand the logic of this position. But to each his own.
National numbers show homes sold with an agent sell for $41,000 more on average than those sold by owner. At 6%, I'm beating brokers in my area selling at 4% and 5% commission by anywhere from $10-20K on a $300,000 home. So a homeowner can save up to $6,000 in commission but give up 2-3 times as much on their sale price. A good agent does make a difference. The key is to find a good one.
I have bought and sold many homes. What do you think makes a good agent? I sold one home in a hot market so any monkey that listed it would have been able to do about the same. Another home was very specialized so i picked a local realtor who actually brough in potential buyers from a pool of people she knows. I have another one that i spent a ton on the remodel (50K on a 200M home) so once again, i think that any monkey could have sold it. The last one i have for sale is bombing. I have put lipstick on the pig (20K into a 285M home) but have had zero offers. It is averaging about 4-5 showings per week so i know that it is priced right, in a good area, etc. THoughts?
To the first question. A good agent is one who pays attention to all the market data and is upfront with the homeowner from the start. A good agent gives an accurate picture of the range the home will sell for. If the homeowner doesn't like it, they can list with someone else. But if you do choose that good agent who was honest with you from the start then it's on the agent to get the home sold fast and and for a price in the higher end of the range quoted. Your agent should be the level head when offers come in. One who has the numbers and backbone to advise the homeowner to hold out for more when a lowball offer is made. Too many homeowners just don't have the nerve or the data to stick to their price when offers start coming in. Why should the homeowner meet the buyer at the middle point when the market data justifies something closer to their asking price. A bad agent presents the offer leaves everything up to the seller and then hopes for a quick payday. If I tell you we can get this amount, I'm not going to recommend you jump at the first offer at a lower amount. Between that and having a leg to stand on when negotiating, I far surpass what agents charging less get for their sellers.
The other thing a good agent should provide is direct access to a wide pool of buyers. I work for the largest, most market dominant real estate company in my area. I won't even think about leaving and going at it alone until my own pool of buyers and contacts is well established. I have the ability to search buyer criteria of those registered with other agents in my company. I can email the agents of those buyers every time something happens with the listing from initial listing, bonuses offered, price changes, updates, etc. And a good agent will have a solid base of buyers that they can match up with their listings as well. Getting the home in front of as many buyers as possible in every imaginable way is essential.
Tracking how many eyeballs are on the listing is another key tool. Our data shows that 200-300 unique web views, should equal at least one showing. And the average home sells around 1000 web views. So when you get to 1000 web views and you either don't have any offers or god forbid any showings, you're priced too high.
Too many agents think the job is simply the listing sales pitch, completing the listing file and photos, facilitating showing requests, and completing all the paperwork. Those are the people you pay 3-5% to and then wonder what's wrong with your house and why it won't sell. I earn my 6-8% by being aware of all the tools and data available to me and using it to get the house sold for more. If someone is going to go the flat or discount rate route with an agent they may as well go FSBO and pay an attorney to do the paperwork. They'll sell for less in both cases but at least they won't have to pay commission in the latter case.
So in a roundabout answer to your final question. No, 4-5 showings per week does not ensure the home is priced right. But I will add that as long as that level of interest is maintained and you're patient it doesn't mean you have to lower the price. It only takes one.
