Why Sell Privately?

As you’ve read week after week in this Blog, the Ottawa Real Estate market is busy!  There are literally thousands of pre-approved Buyers looking for homes with Realtors all across the city.  A Realtors job when working under a Buyer Representation Agreement is to help their client find, negotiate and ultimately purchase a home that fits their lifestlyle, their budget and their needs.   And, as Realtor, I would suggest that most of us do that part of our job really well…in fact we do it so well that Buyers who aren’t Working With a Realtor are often left buying overpriced, under negotiated properties in a private sale.

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against someone trying to save commission and sell privately…in fact I bought my Carson Grove home through a FSBO five years ago.  But, being a Realtor and realizing the advantage of using one, I’m pretty confident that I know what I’m talking about when it comes to FSBO’s. 

For Sale by Owner

The single greatest motivation for the typical home owner to sell a home privately and not co-operate with Realtors is the perception that they will save thousands of dollars by not paying commission, right?  They think if they list their home at $250,000 for example that a pre-qualified Buyer not already working with a Realtor will like their home enough to pay them full asking price and thus save them the 5% listing fee which in this case would be $12,500.  That’s 5% more in the Sellers pocket, right?  WRONG!  There are a number of reasons why you should sell with a Realtor and pay the extra commission…let’s talk about a few of them.

First of all, how did the home owner in our example come up with the list price of $250,000?  From what their neighbors have told them their houses sold for or from their favorite Uncle who seems to know everything about Real Estate?   They have been uneducated as to the current state of the market, the recent and most accurate comparables and the actual value of their home – this is one major reason a Realtor is worth every penny.    Pricing your home for sale competitively and properly is the first step in ensuring that it will sell fast and for top dollar…unlike the majority of FSBO’s that I’ve encountered. 

The second reason to use a Realtor to sell your home is marketing.  Let’s assume that our Vendors have listed their home for $250,000 and the first day on the market someone gives them a full price offer…they would be dancing in the streets and so happy that they would accept it with no negotiation.  But wait, if you showed your home to 5 people and 1 person liked it enought to pay asking price…what would happen if you showed it to 50 people?  And thats what a Realtor can do.  MLS.ca is without a doubt the #1 website for Buyers to search homes in Ottawa, thousands of people everyday look through it and check out the ‘hot new listings’ in their favorite neighborhoods, and MLS.ca is only available to those people selling their homes with a Realtor.  But, on top of MLS.ca most Realtors will advertise their listings on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, OttawaLiving.Ca, Homes and Land Magazine, Ottawa Real Estate Guide and other great spots to ensure that the most Buyers see the home in the least amount of time. 

And its not just about adding a listing to outside marketing that will help it sell and make the 5% commission worth it to the Seller, its about presentation.  At Capital Homes we professionally list everyone of our properties with home staging, photographs and HD videos, strategic write-ups and staffed Open Houses.  This makes a world of difference when any Buyer sees your home – it shows better, looks better, is advertised better and will most likely sell better than a home being sold privately not offering any of these services. 

Another great reason to sell your home with a Realtor is safety.  Yes, safety.  When listed with a Realtor your home will only be shown to Buyers working with a Realtor, you won’t have to allow strangers into your home when your kids are there and you won’t need to worry about Buyers rooting through your closets and drawers without being supervised.   Realtors ‘show’ homes, at least the good ones do, they don’t just unlock the door and let the Buyers roam free.  We point our features, benefits and drawbacks and provide our clients with educated comparables and selling information.  In short, because you are listed with a Realtor and our 2.5% commission (a Buyer agent will get a set commission on MLS) does not need to be negotiated, Realtors are working with you to sell your home not against you to sell the one down the street because you don’t pay our commission. 

And we haven’t even talked about legal issues that could arrise by selling your home privately.  There are horror stories of both Buyers and Sellers that have sold and bought privately and it ends up costing thousands of dollars with missing chattels and fixtures, undisclosed cracks and leaks and an unorganized and messy property on closing.   But. that’s a Blog for another day. 

Anyways, as a Seller you are able to make your own decision when it comes to paying for a Realtor or not…but in this type of market, and with the advantages of listing your home for sale professionally it is my opinion that you should use a Realtor.  And hey, why not Capital Homes? 

The Monopoloff

Big news with The Monopoloff, my 24 player Monopoly tournament which was originally scheduled for April 6th at the Royal Oak.  Due to the fact that people always wait until the last minute to register and get interested in an event like this, we have decided to delay The Monopoloff until April 28th.  We have secured a couple of new sponsors, I’ve done 3 or 4 interviews on the radio and in print about it, Bill Quigley will be playing live and we’ll have the entire Royal Oak at our disposal – it will be packed!  So…there is no excuse if you are in Ottawa and have read this Blog this far in…you should be there.  Register online now – DO IT!

Twestival

Yes, I attended a Twestival…Twitter Festival.  And it was a blast!  A get together of everybody from Twitter and some who either follow me or that I follow and it was great to meet new Tweeps and put a face to their Tweets.   Haha.  I’ve been telling everyone about it and people love the idea – this specific one was at the Westin Hotel and raised $13,000 for the Royal Ottawa hospital.  Congrats on a great event.

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER

Thank you for reading…and have a great week!