If you want to “shoot yourself in the foot”, this is the best way! So here you are, trying to do yourself a favour & save money while selling your home. The discount brokerage has promised you certain services for a certain discounted fee.
It may be something like $499 for basic MLS exposure or $999 for a full service deal, or possibly it’s simply a percentage brokerage that offers to sell your home for 2% of selling price. Sounds great right!?
Now…imagine for a moment that you are a professional Real Estate Buyer’s Agent & you have Buyers looking for homes in this area. Being the professional you are…
– you’ve gotten your Buyers pre-qualified with a proven mortgage broker
– educated & advised them with respect to financing, home inspections & the buying process
– spent many hours talking with them, not only determining their perfect home, but advising them on neighborhoods, values, Sold comparables & future resale features
– spent countless hours performing searches honing in on just the right one, possibly even previewing potential homes to see if they’re worth your Buyers time to view
– many times negotiating your commissions to help the Buyer (happens often)
– spent time/money already showing them homes for days/weeks/months – not finding that perfect fit yet or simply to give them a better understanding of value in certain neighborhoods, etc, etc.
…You have a choice to make. You can take your Clients to other comparable homes that are offering you a full commission or you can take your Clients to this home that’s offering a very small percentage. What would you do?? Bear in mind, it’s been a slow market for about 3.5 years now & you have a Family to feed!
Professional Agents work hard & spend hard to take care of their Clients. *Imagine going to work on payday only to learn that your employer has decided to give you a small percentage of your paycheck!
Now…here’s a dose of reality. The market determines whether or not these discount brokerages hold any water. If it’s a busy Seller’s market, homes are selling quickly & there isn’t much inventory, there’s a chance your home may sell using these services..simply because the Buyer’s choices are extremely limited. If however, the market is slower & we have a huge inventory of homes to choose from (like now)…well, I think you get the idea.
Who benefits? Let’s think about this for a moment. You’ve paid these people a fee or agreed to pay a small percentage to sell your home. Though, now we know you’re not really receiving the same attention as Seller’s offering full commissions. In truth, the only one benefiting in this situation – is the discount brokerage…& here’s why; they’ve already got your money &/or they are generating Buyer leads from your listing!! Which means, they can take the Buyers that call on your listing & go show/sell them ANY home. Possibly even one offering full commissions!
Currently buyers are worried about spending. Our economy has tightened many purse strings out there. They’re worried about job/career stability & what the future holds in store for us. Currently, Buyers have many homes to choose from, strict financial qualifying restrictions & as much time as they want in many cases to choose a home.
The fact remains that professional Real Estate Agents do EVERYTHING possible to sell your home. Spending their own money marketing it…not taking anything from you until they’ve performed the service & performed it well.
So, you’ve already given the discount brokerage your hard earned money & lost 3 months of market time because it didn’t sell…now what?
I’m sure like in any business, there are genuine sincere people involved who believe they’re trying to help Sellers save money, but the fact is…they may be causing you more grief & wasting valuable marketing time. If however, you’ve been one of the lucky ones & have actually Sold a home this way recently. My hat’s off to you!
Intended to inform & educate the general public.
#DiscountBrokerages #EdmontonRealEstate #HomeBuyingPro #DwayneHorvath