Is it sensible selling real estate without a realtor?
It would be foolish to suggest that the worldwide property market is anywhere near the highs of 2008, prior to the US mortgage collapse, but there is certainly interest in many areas of the world. Some of the more depressed real estate markets in the US are now attracting the attention of value buyers looking at the longer term with some property owners now under pressure to sell to reduce their financial liabilities. So, is it sensible selling real estate without a realtor?
The Internet has opened up various opportunities for people to cut costs and to reduce the time taken to sell properties. In some ways it has given people false confidence to go down this particular route because while selling real estate without a realtor can save you significant fees, there are risks!
Contacts in the industry
If you go down the route of looking to sell real estate yourself there are ways and means of doing this but there are also issues if you get it wrong. The paperwork with regards to the sale of the property needs to be perfect, everything needs to be in place and ultimately you need to guarantee will receive the money you were promised. There is the potential to save significant costs here but perhaps we should be looking at this from a different angle?
Quote from PropertyForum.com : “While eBay is perhaps the best-known auction site in the world, craigslist has grown into an enormous marketplace. Whatever you are looking for, whatever products, whatever services there is no doubt there will be somebody on craigslist offering these around the world. Many companies such as craigslist have attempted to break into the real estate market but is selling real estate on craigslist as safe as it is using a realtor?”
As a professional realtor basically makes their living selling property at the highest price there is every chance that they could instigate a potential mini auction for your property. By contacting people they know in the industry, often large-scale investors, there is the ability to push the price of your property sale beyond what you could hope to expect if doing this yourself.
Do realtors pay for themselves?
The bottom line is that if you have numerous bidders looking for your property then they will likely push the price higher than what you could expect with just one bidder. This is the job of a realtor, instigating interest in your property and obtaining the best price. In many ways this is a win, win situation because the realtor will guarantee themselves a higher commission and you will obtain a higher price for your property.
When you bear in mind the various commission rates payable to realtors of today it would not take a major improvement in the sale price of your property to pay for their services. There are also the various regulations under which realtors operates and the protections offered to both buyers and sellers. Would a buyer be confident completing a transaction with somebody who refused to involve a realtor? Would you be confident handing over the keys to your property without the relevant safety net of regulatory protection if something went wrong?
Conclusion
There are many people with experience in the real estate market and there is no doubt many people outside of the realtor industry could and have completed sales in the past. However, in light of the 2008 mortgage crisis the regulatory hurdles have increased, buyers and sellers are looking for more protection and ultimately you may save yourself a few dollars selling your property privately but are you getting the best price?