The Top 7 Ways Your Listing Agent May Cost You Money

Selling a home is the largest financial transaction most people ever engage in, yet most Realtors have no financial or business background.  The following is a brief overview of the key points throughout the home sale process that I have seen through experience as the best opportunities for sellers to maximize their income from the sale of their home.

1. Initial walkthrough – Prepping the house for sale. This is often overlooked.  My job is to walk through the home and give advice on what can be done to both make the home saleable and increase the price.  The goal is to not make any repairs unless they are necessary to sell the home or will return at least 500% on investment.
2. Photography – Only use the best photographers available. A realtor who cuts corners by using discount photographers or their cell phone costs their clients showings.
3. Price – This is a critical one! Statistically, an overwhelming percentage of views of your home occur in the first 2 weeks after listing.  Pricing too high will cost you thousands of dollars and months of time.  It’s always best to price right along with comparable properties.  Price it too low and people will think the home is in worse condition than it is.
4. Listing Timeline – This seems simple, but it’s not! I find it is best to get the property listed on a Monday or Tuesday as ‘Coming Soon’ with showings starting on Thursday.  Run showings through Sunday with offers due Sunday evening or Monday afternoon.  The goal is roughly 25 showings with 10 offers.  This process will help maximize your price on the sale.
5. Negotiating Offers – Another big one. You’ll see realtors use terms like “Highest and Best” or “Best and Final” offer due by… that means they are not going to negotiate on your behalf.  By negotiating as offers are received and after they are received, I have gotten clients everything from waived inspections and appraisals to thousands of additional dollars.
6. Inspections – In the current market, most buyers are waiving inspections to be competitive. If you do have an inspection on your sale, it’s important to remember that this is, indeed, a negotiation, and you do not have to agree to make repairs or pay simply because the buyers request it.  Side note here: Never list a property as “As-Is”.  This scares some buyers away.  The phrase “seller will make no repairs” is much less rigid and gives you a greater opportunity to get the deal done.
7. Appraisal – In the negotiation process, you, as the seller, can negotiate with the buyer that they will cover the first ‘X’ dollars of a missed appraisal. In addition, it is critical that the listing agent ALWAYS meets the appraiser at the property, pointing out the upgrades to the property, and providing them with comparable sales that support the value. Only the buyer’s agent is not permitted to talk to the appraiser.

Selling a home is a process, as you can see from the above, it is extremely important to hire the right realtor to sell your home quickly for top dollar.

Mike Gular, Realtor & CPA