How Informed Home Sellers Choose a Real Estate Broker
Copyright © 2014- 2019 AUTHOR: Paul R. Marino, REALTOR®, e-Pro®
When it comes time to sell your home, it's time to get selfish. As in, "What's in it for me?" And why shouldn't you. While every home seller situation varies, many of you have likely paid tens of thousands improving, expanding, or renovating your property. Others may have bought at an inopportune time (i.e. market peak of 2006-2008). For whatever reason, it's time to sell, and you want to leave the closing table with more than a handshake. You want that money back.
It's important to know that real estate markets can be cruel...very cruel. But the one thing every real estate market is, is fair. Meaning, it treats everyone the same. It doesn't matter if you're selling an 850 square foot ranch on the Maine/Canadian border valued at $80,000, or a 12,000 square foot Long Island Sound waterfront mansion valued north of $10,000,000. Buyers are only willing to pay what others have recently paid for roughly commensurate housing. It's really that simple.
Markets do not care that you bought your home at peak market (maybe at $400,000), poured $80,000 into it for kitchen and bath renovations, and now want to net at least what you paid for it, plus the tens of thousands in renovations. So, you whip out your calculator, add $80,000 to the $400,000 paid, pad in a typical 6% real estate sales commission, throw in a 3% buffer for "negotiations", and price it at $528,000 . Sorry folks, it doesn't work that way.
The only thing that really matters to a buyer is, "Why would I pay $528,000 for your house, when the exact same house across the street (with a gunite swimming pool in the backyard) is asking $495,000?" While sales comparables (properties similar to yours that have recently sold) are important in gauging value, buyers care most about what is available now, at what price. And if you're not competitively priced, you're simply going to be ignored. So when the fifth real estate broker comes out to your place, puts on their best "dog and pony" show, and tells you they can get top dollar for your home, and easily snag that $528,000 figure you're fixated on, be skeptical. No one, and I mean no one is smart enough to fool the market!
So how do you choose a real estate broker in today's market? There's certainly no shortage of them. One day, I decided to run the numbers. Just how many real estate brokers (or agents) are out there anyway? I chose Connecticut at random, although I'm sure the numbers are similar in any other state in which Landfall Properties, LLC is licensed (MA, ME, NH, and VT). It turns out, that nearly one out of every 100 over eighteen adults in Connecticut is licensed to sell real estate. Wow! Imagine that, in the course of a day, you encounter dozens of them. They're everywhere. Most of you could rattle off a half dozen or more. Some sellers don't have any choice in their selection of broker. I'm reminded of a young couple in my own subdivision that recently sold their property. At a summer picnic, they volunteered they'd be listing with their nephew. They didn't have any choice. The seller joked that if they didn't list with their nephew (newly minted real estate salesperson), the conversation at the Thanksgiving table that year would be "strained" to say the least. LOL.
Other sellers surmise, "Hey, I've seen XYZ Real Estate signs all over town...they must know how to sell property." Folks, the caliber of service provided by any real estate office is only as good as the caliber of the specific individual agent or broker listing the property. You may get fantastic service from one, and abysmal service from another. It's not like buying a Honda Civic (arguably one of the most reliable vehicles ever built). When you buy a Honda Civic, you know it's going to last, no matter which one you buy. Doesn't matter if you buy it in Nebraska, or Montana.
Other buyers say, "That broker makes a lot of money selling real estate, so I'm going with them." While that may be true, why would you care how much money a real estate broker is making? Wouldn't it make sense to focus on the more important question of: "How much money am I going to make on my home sale?" At Landfall Properties, LLC, we share your focus. That is, our entire business model is built around maximizing your net sale proceeds. Because by doing so, we generate a massive amount of goodwill. And that goodwill (coupled with seller savings) translates into future business. It's that simple.
The cold hard reality is, all real estate agents and brokers have the exact same recipe for home sale success. And what are those ingredients? Correct price, massive Internet exposure, hype, repeat. Correct price, massive Internet exposure, hype, repeat. If this were not true, then how could you possibly explain how Landfall Properties, LLC sells all the real estate that it does (reference our success stories and testimonials), and never even meet our sellers face to face?
Landfall Properties, LLC has a proven system that works. If you own a home anywhere throughout New England or Florida, and are interested in selling, why not put yourself first, and save yourself a five figure listing side sales commission.
