Discount brokerages (real estate companies with reduced fees or that allow the seller to do it yourself) are not for everyone. I had a client decide to sell his property himself in order to save the commission expense. He kept me abreast of the progress as he wanted me to represent him on the purchase of his new home. We had discussed ahead of time the pros and cons of using me to list his house versus doing it without an agent. Thirty days into his "listing" time he had had tons of showings but no offers. He was pretty fed up with the agency he had signed with because they weren't giving him any feedback from the agents who showed his house. They weren't communicating with him at all. Finally in frustration, he called and asked me to come and do my listing presentation. Since I had represented him in the purchase of his home, I came equipped with a comparable market analysis. He had overpriced the home by 10% over other sales in the area and that was why he was not getting offers. His fiance, he and I talked. He was amazed at how hard it was to sell a home. He had thought he could just put it on the MLS, run an ad, and put pretty brochures in the brochure box. He hadn't even considered that he had to find out what houses sold for in the area. He questioned why the "do it yourself" company hadn't helped him with the pricing. My answer was a tactful version of "You get what you pay for". He "wasted $1,000, just threw it away" in his words, because he didn't know what a REALTOR knows. He and I have a good relationship, so we had a sad laugh over this. I listed the house at the CMA price, called all the people who had been through and in 7 days had 2 offers. Why? Because I had the info, experience, market knowledge, and training that he did not. Will he do it again? Not on his own! Next time he's going to save his $1000 and call me first!
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