Selling your Home without a Real Estate Agent

Have you ever considered repairing your own car? Anyone can buy the tools and parts. However, most of us just don't have the knowledge, training, experience or the extensive commitment of time to do the job properly. Besides, there are plenty of experienced professionals to do the work for us.

There is also an excellent choice of real estate professionals to help you sell your home. Nevertheless, you may be tempted to do it yourself and "save" the real estate commission. For most of us, this is false economy and makes no more sense than trying to rebuild our car's transmission.

Selling your home is a complex procedure, involving large sums of money stringent legal requirements and the real potential for very costly mistakes. It requires a tremendous depth of knowledge and experience, as well as a substantial amount of time to follow-up on every detail promptly and properly. Your REALTOR^® has these qualifications and expertise, and is committed to spending the time it takes to help you sell your home successfully – so you can focus on the things you do best and enjoy the most.

Still thinking about selling your home yourself?
First, ask yourself these hard questions:

1. Will you really "save" the real estate commission? Most buyers equate a "For-Sale-By-Owner" sign with a "bargain" as they know you don't have to pay the real estate commission, and as a result, they'll probably offer you less than fair market value.

2. Do you have the time? How much will you really save when you factor in the considerable time you'll have to invest? Without a REALTORS^® support, you're the one who will have to write and pay for the ads to market your property, remain available day or night for calls from prospects, run open houses on weekends and show your property on short notice, screen potential buyers fill-out all the paperwork and do the dozens of other things required to sell a home. Do you really have the tie for all this? And what is that time worth – the time spent apart from your family, friends and work?

3. How will your reach potential buyers? What kinds of ads should you write, where should you run these ads and how frequently? When you work with a REALTOR^®, your home receives far-reaching market exposure through the Multiple Listing Service. MLS^® is a computer-based system that relays valuable information about your home to a vast network of REALTORS^® and potential home buyers in your market. And the greater the exposure your home receives, the more likely you are to find a buyer willing to pay "your price".

4. Do you really know the true market value of your home? Setting a sales price is the most difficult and yet critical step in the home-selling process. It requires extensive knowledge and training, as well as access to sophisticated market-analysis developed over years of experience. Do-it-yourselfers usually lack these resources and often end up "guessing" at their price.
If you set your price too high, you won't attract buyers too low, and you could leave thousands of dollars on the negotiating table. One of your REALTORS^® most important roles will be in helping you decide upon a realistic price for your home. (See Determining your Asking Price)

5. Are you ready to "pre-screen" every prospect? Do you know what kind of questions to ask to protect your interest and make sure those buyers are qualified buyers and not just wasting your time? Do you have the time to do all that is required in that aspect? Pre-screening prospects is absolutely necessary to weed out the "lookers" from serious buyers. Your REALTOR^® knows how to do this effectively.

6. How are you at selling and negotiating? Can you remain firm and impartial through the negotiations? Negotiating the sale of what often is your biggest investment can be very emotional. Should you react negatively to a low offer, you could offend the potential buyer and loose further negotiating power where a REALTOR^® could have handled this professionally and brought the offer substantially higher.

7. Are you up-to-date on real estate law? Remember when you bought your home and had to deal with all those papers thrust in front of you for your signature? Selling your home is equally complex from a contractual and legal standpoint. In the excitement of receiving an offer, will you be able to recognize terms and conditions that not in your best interest?
Your REALTOR^® knows how to help protect you from these potential legal pitfalls.

8. What about companies that offer partial assistance? Some of them will get you on the MLS^® system for a nominal fee but you'll have to do all the legworks. Others don't have access to the Multiple Listing Service^®. Are you really getting your money's worth? Will you save enough in commission to justify all the extra work? Will those savings make up for the lack of exposure?

Let a REALTOR^® help you sell your home. Most of those who sell their homes in Canada do so with the assistance of a REALTOR^®. Of the few who do try it themselves, most change their mind and end up going with a REALTOR^® because the process is too complex, too time consuming, and too dangerous without the help of a professional. Working with a licensed real estate professional to sell your home will entitle you to an exceptionally broad range of services and benefits.