Why Realtors Are Unnecessary
I run a FSBO blog, I constantly write that FSBO is a very useful thing and Realtors are not. You may ask, how did you, Julie, come to the idea of selling a home by owner? Let me share my thoughts with you.
Having bought and sold 2 homes, I developed an unease and slight mistrust for realtors. The biggest thing is that they do not know the house and they often do not know the neighborhood. More than once, I discovered realtors misrepresenting something or other about the house to potential buyers.
The last two times, I started hanging around during open houses, just to be available to people when they came through. (The realtors don’t really like you to do this, but what can they say?) I found that the moment a potential buyer would find out that the owner was present, they generally made a bee-line right to me to get first-hand information about the house, property and neighborhood. I was able to impart information the realtor could never have known.
Based upon these experiences, I pretty much came to the conclusion that a realtor was unnecessary. When and if I sell again, I will go FSBO only.
July 3rd, 2007 at 2:44 pm
The reason Realtors do not want home owners around when they are doing Open Houses is so that the people coming through can speak openly about the home, not because Realtors don’t know the house or the neighbourhood. Realtors are professionals who have a fiduciary duty to represent the seller or buyer whichever the case might be. They do not intentionally misrepresent anyone. They are hard working people. FSBO’s do not sell homes and 90% of all FSBO’s will hire a Realtor to sell their home eventually. Additionally Realtor can get up to 60% more for your home than if you sell it yourself. Look up the Stats, so you will loose money in the long run. Stop wasting your money on a website that features FSBO’s.
July 9th, 2007 at 7:16 am
Hi Karen, I guess you are on of the hard working Realtors
You seem to have a pretty negative opinion of FSBO, but thank you for your feedback, anyway, I appreciate it.
Welcome to my FSBO blog, I am sure you will not deny the fact that more and more people are taking advantage of selling FSBO nowadays, and there HAS BEEN a significant increase in the FSBO numbers in the last couple of years. Realtors will have to think of something other than MLS to keep clients coming back.
August 28th, 2007 at 3:37 am
No doubt Karen is probably a Realtor (or related to one.) The primary motivating factor for someone to use a Realtor is fear, bred of ignorance of how real estate transactions are accomplished. The propaganda machine the Realtor industry has develeped to instigate, foster, and enhance that fear is unparalled in the corprate world. If the “average” buyer or seller of residential property actually knew how simply most transactions can be accomplished, the Realtor industry would shrink to about 10% it’s current size. The most valuable thing Realtors bring to the process is the MLS, which is really nothing more than a centralized database that eases the “finding a house to buy” process. With the internet, that database has lost some of it’s value, but is still an important aspect of a comprehensive FSBO marketing strategy. Now that “flat-fee” listing services have spung up on the net, and most area markets will have at least one local broker willing to flat-fee, the commission structure that has been the Realtor industy’s bread and butter is going to have be greatly reduced, thereby driving out all but the most skilled and motivated Brokers and agents. A new industry will fill the void left by all those dilettante agents no longer able to make a living. An “Assissted FSBO” professional will help with the nuts and bolts of the marketing and sale, with the enhanced service option of educating the client to the point that they could handle the next transaction themselves, should they so desire. The new world order is here, and while it will take some time for it to become mainstream, those Brokers and agents who resist the inevitable will go the way of the dinosaurs, as they should.
November 8th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
It’s obvious that the lack of knowledge by the initiator of this blog simply is a naive person. Realtors are and do represent the best interest of their clients. Yes, I am a realtor and I do take offense to the negativity of the FSBO’s here. We are a hard working profession, oftentimes working from 4 or 5am until 11pm at night. There are many laws and perils that we protect our clients from. We are worth every penny that we earn. All to often the ignorant FSBO thinks that we are overpaid blokes. True, every industry has their rats, however, by and large we are looking out for the best interest of our clients. We work hard and we are paid for what we sow (positively or negatively). For each consumer that thinks they can “sell by owner” there are ten more that have tried and experienced just how intricate a dance it really is and use a PROFESSIONAL. It’s too bad that Karen and Eric do not trust REALTORS, but that is their choice. I bet they also would not want to pay a doctor, or lawyer to do their jobs too. They probably are ignorant to the fact that those folks have gone to school for many hours and have studied extensively in their fields too. REALTORS have been around for more than 100 years, so with that being said, we must be worth more than what we charge, wouldn’t you agree?
December 6th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
I am not an agent but I have worked for many REALTORS over the last five years. I think it is unfortunate that you have a negative view regarding real estate agents. It is understandable though. I have run across a few that I would not work with either. That being said, the bottom line is this: if you needed a heart surgeon, would you seek out a discount physician or even do it yourself? If you needed a lawyer, would you go to court and try to do it yourself? The trick is to find the BEST agent to sell your home; not just any agent. And you’re right…agents should find more than just MLS to sell your home. It’s not in buying/placing ads or having endless parades of open houses. Who really wants “lookers” marching through their home and invading their space? How about showing your home only to serious qualified buyers? How about an agent qualifying a buyer for your safety? Do you really like welcoming strangers into your home? How about the professional who is an expert in reading the most recent comparables in your neighborhood for your home specifically and who will tell you the truth (no matter how painful that may be) about what homes are tending to go for in your area, so that you can CORRECTLY price your home to sell? The only main assets a real estate professional should bring to the table are their contract knowledge, negotiating skills, the ability to net the most money in the shortest amount of time for their clients, and training/support they receive to be able to really know their clients needs and how to assist them in getting there. The professional REALTOR absorbs all of their clients’ issues and handles them with ease for a seemingly effortless transaction. Agents don’t do anything to earn their commission? Some don’t but for the most part, I have seen quite the contrary. I have seen many a good agent lose sleep over issues and seek out resolutions on thier own dime, all for the sake of the successful transaction! I have seen many go above and beyond their duty to achieve success for their client. You mentioned a recent increase in the number of FSBO’s in the market as of late. Could this also correspond to the number of homes that are languishing on the market too? I think so. What causes a home to sell, ultimately? Price. Price overcomes all objections. If you don’t have to sell your home, don’t! Trying out the market to see how high a price you can get only backs up the housing market and makes it harder for those who really have to sell. The longer homes sit on the market, the more they lose value overall. Timing is everything. Getting back to the “open house”, why do you suppose a buyer bee-lines it past an agent directly to the seller? To pull a “deal” from the seller before the seller has all of the facts! An educated seller should want to know how qualified a buyer they were negotiating with in the first place, before going any further. A good agent would find out more for you. This is where an objective third party, who is not emotionally attached to the outcome, can benefit a seller. I know a lot about real estate but this is where a little bit of knowledge can be dangerous. I know enough to hire a professional. All you need is ONE horrendously flawed/failed transaction without representation and then you realize that paying a professional would have been far less in comparison to any incurred legal costs or damages. Lastly, when you look at your settlement statement and you see an agents’ commission, consider this: only a portion of that goes to the agent. The remainder goes to the brokerage who is there to support and represent you throughout the transaction (this includes a staff of accounting, licensing, legal, just to name a few). Also, of that portion that goes to the agent…consider how many transactions that agent does per year. If they only do six transactions that year, you can estimate what their actual annual earnings may be. I think you might be surprised. Suddenly, paying that professional to carry the burden of the enitire transaction doesn’t seem so out of left field.
January 12th, 2008 at 2:17 am
People should be looking at free options too, like craigslist www.craigslist.com or ChoiceA.com www.choicea.com
March 5th, 2008 at 2:52 am
I love FSBO sellers. In fact, I was one myself. I sold my first home. I went to OfficeDepot, and bought a $20 “Sell Your House” kit of legal documents, read up on them, and stuck a (homemade) sign in the yard.
I then proceeded to sell my house. Unfortunately for the first buyer, she didn’t disclose to me that she was buying with an FHA loan. I found this out after the first inspection. He had found a few flaws, nothing major, so I repaired them. But he also sent out a roofing specialist because he was “concerned” about the roof. Well, the roofing inspector said the roof had to be replaced. I wasn’t willing to do it. That’s when I got a call from an FHA representative telling me I had to repair the roof. I told her I didn’t because the contract I signed was NOT contingent on an FHA loan. To make a long story short, I kept her earnest money and she lost the house. I then sold the house to the next person who saw it and pocketed all the extra cash.
Why do I tell this story? Because my wife is now a REALTOR, and I am more convinced than ever that FSBO sales ONLY WORK FOR THE SELLER. Had my buyers (both of them) had representation, they would have been far better off…believe me. In a FSBO deal, the buyers lose protection and the sellers pocket the cash. It’s that simple.
Would I sell FSBO again…yep, I probably would (except that I couldn’t being married to a REALTOR), would I ever BUY FSBO? No way. There’s nothing in it for me!